What is the Guinness Storehouse?

The Guinness Storehouse is the centerpiece of St. James's Gate Brewery, which has been churning out Ireland's famous stout—one of the world's top-selling beers—for more than 250 years. The Storehouse is seven stories tall; at the top is the Gravity Bar, where you can sip a pint of Guinness beer (included with admission) and take in a 360-degree view of Dublin.

Why should you go?

I visited Dublin with my two brothers, and one thing we have in common is a love of beer, which meant this was an absolute must-see. However, it's only really a must if you like beer. The Guinness Storehouse can read as overly commercial if you aren't legitimately interested in Guinness. But that said, it's possibly the most elaborate architectural homage to beer, and that view from the top is mighty good (as is the pint).

Pro tip: To avoid the crowds, get to the Storehouse at 11 a.m. Purchase tickets online the day before to skip the lines.

What's it like?

The walk to the Guinness Storehouse is lovely; we approached on cobblestone streets and turned down an alley, where we came across the brewery gate.

Tours of the Guinness Storehouse are self-guided. My brothers and I managed to see it in a little over an hour, but if you dwell on all the exhibits you could easily spend much longer. Like any good Irish pub, the place is fairly dark, but you'll see exhibits detailing how the brewery was founded, how the beer is made, and how its iconic ad campaigns made Guinness a household name.

The unspoken truth, however, was that we were really there for the Gravity Bar. It didn't disappoint. The experience of stepping off the elevator and into the bar to see all of The Fair City unfurling below was one I'll remember for a long time. We handed our ticket stubs to the bartender and he poured three pints, topping them off with a shamrock flourish in the foam. After the beer settled, my brothers and I toasted and confirmed that the black stuff really does taste better on the Emerald Isle.

Photos: Guinness by Tiberiu Ana under CC BY 2.0 ; DSC_0457 by herooutoftime under CC BY 2.0