1752 - Arthur Guinness is left £100 in the will of Archbishop Price. Three years later he sets up business as a brewer in Leixlip, County Kildare.

1757 - Construction begins on the Grand Canal at James’s Street, Dublin, allowing access by water to Shannon Harbour and Limerick.

1759 - Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease on a disused brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin for an initial £100 and an annual rent of £45.

1769 - The first export shipment of six-and-a-half barrels of Guinness beer leaves Dublin on a sailing vessel bound for England.

1799 - The last Dublin Ale is brewed at the brewery of Arthur Guinness - and the decision is made to concentrate solely on the production of porter.

1801 - West Indies Porter - a precursor to modern day GUINNESS® Foreign Extra Stout - is first brewed.

1803 - Arthur Guinness dies and his son, Arthur Guinness II, takes over ownership and management of the Brewery.

1830s - Output at the St. James’s Gate brewery exceeds that of Beamish in Cork.

1850 - Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, son of Arthur Guinness II, takes over the Brewery on the death of his father.

1868 - Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness dies and his son Edward Cecil takes over the Brewery. Under Edward Cecil, the size of the Brewery doubles.

1886 - The Guinness brewery becomes the first major brewery to be incorporated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. It is the largest brewery in the world with an annual production of 1.2 million barrels.

Courtesy of www.guinness.com

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