The Old-School Guinness Magazine That Wasn't For The Public

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Every beer drinker knows about Guinness, Ireland's famous stout. Guinness trivia lovers may know that Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on its St. James Gate Brewery in 1759, that the beer was once brewed with canal water, or that the company's trademarked harp logo is similar to the Irish state symbol. But many people may be surprised to know that Guinness once produced an employee magazine called Guinness Time. The quarterly publication was produced between 1947 and 1975 and was distributed to the staff at Guinness' West London location, the Park Royal Brewery.

The articles in Guinness Time weren't exactly scintillating material — the magazine featured day-to-day happenings at the brewery, upcoming events and policy changes, profiles on brewery employees, extracurricular activities like organized sports, and goings-on in the local community. Working at the brewery was a hard job, with 12-hour-long labor-intensive shifts that started before dawn. Management created the publication to help foster a nurturing workplace environment where employees were like an extended family.

Guinness Time was a bright spot for workers, if for no other reason than its artistic covers. The magazine's covers creatively featured Guinness in some fashion. In one from 1956, Guinness' popular ad design of a sea lion balancing a pint on its snout is being trimmed into a topiary. In another published during the following year, a pair of toucans sits in a nest, brooding over two pints. 

John Gilroy, the British artist behind many of Guinness' ads and mascots (including the brand's famous toucan and sea lion), illustrated several Guinness Time covers, such as the one that shows a giant bottle of beer being used as a telescope in an observatory. Even if Gilroy himself wasn't the artist, many covers made a nod to his designs. Others were created by well-known illustrators of the time, like Tom Eckersley, Smilby (Francis Wilford-Smith), and Raymond Tooby.

Guinness Time was discontinued in 1975, and the Park Royal Brewery closed in 2005. Yet the magazine can still be found today, though it can be challenging since the publications and advertising artwork are considered collectibles. You may have luck finding them online on auction sites like eBay, though many are in private collections or in the Guinness Archive. You can also find hints of the artwork that adorned covers and advertising campaigns in many Irish pubs around the world. While you may not be able to track the original magazine down, you can certainly enjoy a pint, as long as you know the right way to drink a Guinness.