OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2025 | 29 After hearing Matt Stevens’ comment about Guinness’ legacy, I had to look into it further myself. According to the Guinness website, Arthur Guinness, who signed that infamous 9,000 year lease at St. James Gate Brewery in 1759, believed it was “important to give back to the city that hosts the brewery.” He passed this “legacy of philanthropic tradition” down for seven generations, remaining in place today. In the 1800s, the Guinness family contributed to the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. Arthur Edward Guinness also purchased St. Stephen’s Green, a private green reserved for the city’s wealthiest residents, and gave it to the city so it could be accessed by everyone. In 1890, Edward Cecil Guinness established The Guinness Trust in London and the Iveagh Trust in Dublin to help underprivileged communities living in the inner city. In Dublin, Guinness supported families through the construction of apartments, a hostel, an in- door clothes and food market as well as a Play Centre: Ireland’s first creche. A system of employee welfare was also pioneered by Guinness. This included higher pay rates than was common at the time, and creating a medical centre that provided free healthcare not only to the employees, but to their families as well. Guinness introduced employee benefits such as paid annual holiday, free meals, annual excursions and a “beer allowance.” In the 1880s, they introduced a pension scheme for all employees. As mentioned, Guinness continues to support various social causes, both in Ireland and abroad – but to Matt’s point, what an incredible example of social consciousness they have set for breweries these last few centuries, and what an honour to step in line with that legacy. food trucks and the like. “We have art pop-ups; we have local artists hanging on the walls. Or, we did, and we will again. His brother Jeremy argues that Asheville is a place that has always prided itself on its independent businesses. And since Helene, there’s a collective worry that “big money” will swoop in and buy up some of the now empty land, for example along the river corridor. They fear that the culture of their city will also end up washed away. “For us, our primary hope and goal is to dig our heels into our space.” They have just under four acres on the river and are currently one of the only businesses in the process of rebuilding. Several tracts of land have been cleared of debris, but what happens next to that land they are not sure. “People seeing new walls going up on the brewery, and a new cold box getting put up outside, and work trucks on site everyday working to rebuild – even if it’s just that one property, just us, I think that that is a speckle of hope that people are clinging to. Because that fear is real. Is the town going to be the same?” Jeremy asks, before adding: “We aint going anywhere.” Jonathan chimes in: “Our hope is to finish that process, and be that space where people can walk back in and exhale, and say, ‘We still have this.’” Oddly enough, as I type a draft of this article, I can hear the sounds of helicopters fighting the most recent fire plaguing Table Mountain, near Tokai. I worry about what our changing climate and landscapes have in store for all of us, and I wonder what kind of role South Africa’s craft beer industry can or will play when it comes to facing the challenges that inevitably lie ahead. But if these stories, and the example they set, are anything to go by, there is reason to be hopeful. THE GUINNESS LEGACY OF PHILANTHROPY