Inside the real ‘House of Guinness’ — an Irish castle built on beer

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In the steamy Netflix miniseries The House of Guinness, the troubled heirs to the dark beer dynasty in the 1860s are seen pulling up to their country estate in the west of Ireland, identified onscreen as Ashford Castle. Except it is not the real Ashford and it is not even in Ireland.  

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Penrhyn Castle in Wales acted as a stand-in and in fact many of the scenes set in Dublin were actually shot in Liverpool. 

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Our arrival at the true Ashford Castle lacked the drama and angst of the show but had its share of charm and wonder. We entered through a gatehouse at the edge of the estate, which was built for one of the signal events in the long history of the place, the 1905 visit of the Prince of Wales, who later became King George V. 

As local historian Fintan Gorman told me, the Guinness family created the entrance not only to impress the prince, but to shield him from irate Irish. Otherwise, the heir to the throne would have had to pass through the neighbouring village of Cong, where the locals had long and bitter memories of bad treatment by the British. 

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“So, they would have most likely been shouting obscenities and throwing objects or worse at George. So that would be embarrassing,” said Gorman. 

We drove along a narrow, serpentine road bordering the golf course (a 1970s addition to the property) before arriving at the castle proper on the north shore of Lough Corrib, the second largest lake on the island of Ireland. We strolled across a stone bridge over the rushing River Corrib to approach the main entrance of a place that has hosted the rich, powerful and prominent for nearly 800 years. 

The interiors are dominated by wood-panelled walls and paintings of past luminaries who stayed there, all suggestive of its use as a hunting lodge for centuries. We were ushered into the Drawing Room, with plush chairs, ornate chandeliers and wide windows offering expansive views over the lough. A delicious lunch was punctuated by bread flavoured, naturally, with Guinness. 

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Touring the castle afterwards was a journey through history, with hallways winding crazily up, down and around the various wings of the property that were added over the centuries. There was the Billiard Room, with a selection of cigars on display, which connoisseurs must sample outside on a terrace. And the nearby wall of fame, with pictures of past visitors — Bob Hope, Ted Kennedy, John Travolta and Jack Nicholson. Brad Pitt reportedly did not care for his picture at the estate and sent along a beefcake shot of himself posing at sunset, possibly in California. The Irish golfer Rory McIlroy had his wedding at Ashford. 

In an unobtrusive nook is a door with a plaque: Reagan Suite, where the former U.S. president and First Lady Nancy Reagan stayed on a state visit in 1984. It is a split-level unit, with a sitting room and fireplace leading up to a four-poster bed, a wide window with a view over the lough, along with his and hers bathrooms, the First Lady’s substantially larger than the president’s. 

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Ashford started as a medieval fortress, built by the De Burgos family (later anglicized to Burke) in 1228. Its ownership passed through a series of prominent families before falling into disrepair during the days of the potato famine in the mid-19th century, a time when the west of Ireland was wretchedly impoverished. That is when Sir Benjamin Guinness picked it up for a fire sale price in 1852. 

Gorman said people thought Guinness was nuts, given the state of the property and the challenges of travelling across the island from Dublin. But the beer baron had ambitions to make a mark in London society, not so easy for an Irishman whose new wealth was built on a brewery. 

“He foresaw that climbing the social scale in Victorian England was going to involve impressing and entertaining political families and landowning aristocrats. With Ashford, he saw the potential of fishing, shooting, sailing, country living,” said Gorman. 

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Guinness and his sons planted thousands of trees, upgraded and expanded the castle and succeeded so wildly in social climbing that the family was able to land the coveted 1905 royal visit, which is commemorated in a display case showing correspondence, pictures and menus from George’s stay. 

The castle passed out of the Guinness family’s ownership in the 1930s and was transformed into a luxury hotel. The cast and crew from the John Wayne film The Quiet Man stayed there in 1951, filming several outdoor scenes on the grounds. The visitors from Hollywood made friends by getting the area connected to electricity to facilitate their work. 

While the food is wonderful and the rooms as comfortable as you would expect in a luxury property, Ashford also offers activities that go back to the hunting lodge days, including horseback riding, archery and a tutorial on falconry. 

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What you will likely not find are good opinions of The House of Guinness series, which was popular internationally but disliked by those we spoke with on the island. The Irish Times wrote scathingly that some of the characters “dress and speak like feral leprechauns.” 

Said Fintan Gorman: “I watched two episodes and gave up because historically it’s just a fabrication.” 

If you go to Ashford Castle

Ashford Castle is about a 3-hour drive from Dublin Airport. 

Rooms start at  about C$1,200 per night for bed and breakfast. The Presidential Suite where Ronald Reagan slept starts at  roughly C$7,900.

It’s in the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way, with spectacular seaside views and hikes along the west coast of Ireland. The lovely university town of Galway with an array of good pubs, restaurants and theatres is less than an hour’s drive to the south. 

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With 350 acres, there are plenty of opportunities to hike around the property. We strolled through the carefully manicured grounds down to the lough, with views out to the many islands just offshore. The castle offers boat tours to many of them, with picnics. 

Fintan Gorman recommended a visit to Inchagoill, which means “island of the devout foreigner” in the Irish language. Appropriate, given that you can see the ruins of a church whose construction was attributed to St. Patrick in the 6th or 7th century. Cannot get more Irish than that. 

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