Guinness celebrates 250th by giving Canadians the chance to be remarkable

TORONTO - Guinness is celebrating a remarkable milestone this year - its 250th anniversary - by reaching out to Canadians and giving them remarkable experiences.

In keeping with the history of Guinness, starting July 1, Guinness Canada is inviting Canadians to go to www.guinness.ca/BeRemarkableCanada and share what they consider to be a truly remarkable experience. Guinness will fulfill a number of them over the course of the summer.

Guinness will judge entries based on their reflection of the core characteristics of Arthur Guinness himself: inspiration, dedication, ingenuity and effort. Participants will be asked to fill out a form online describing their remarkable experience. The deadline for entries is August 5, 2009.

"Giving back through remarkable gestures has always been a part of the Guinness heritage," says Ruairi Twomey, Marketing Director, Guinness. "The word remarkable is unique. From climbing a mountain to supporting a meaningful community initiative, Guinness wants to hear directly from Canadians about what they consider to be remarkable experiences so that we might help make some of them happen."

People can discuss how they define the word "remarkable" and share their take on it by becoming a fan of Be Remarkable Canada on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BeRemarkableCanada. They can also follow @remarkable250 on Twitter to receive campaign updates and inspirational links throughout the campaign. In addition, Canadians will share their entries on the website.

In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed the lease for the site of his world-renowned brewery at St. James Gate in the City of Dublin. That was a truly remarkable deal: a 900-year lease at the cost of just (pnds stlg) 45 per year! From humble beginnings, the St. James Gate Brewery has grown from four acres to a 64-acre site today, producing 3 million pints of Guinness every day.

Arthur Guinness and his descendants have been noted philanthropists, supporting charities and donating public works of art and infrastructure. Here in Canada, the Guinness family loaned money to fund the construction of Vancouver's Lion's Gate Bridge, which to this day remains an extremely important part of the city's public infrastructure.

An art, wherever it is brewed

- Since the 1930s, Guinness has spread its wings from its spiritual home in Dublin and is now brewed in 50 locations worldwide - with breweries as far and wide as Barbados, Nigeria and Indonesia. Now, around 10 million pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every day; or remarkably, almost two billion pints a year.

- The St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland brews 4.5 million hectolitres of Guinness every year and almost one in three pints consumed in Ireland every day is a Guinness. Every drop of Guinness enjoyed in Canada is brewed there.

- More than 20 million pints of Guinness are served in Canada every year.

- If Niagara Falls was flowing with Guinness it would take 1.2 million pints in volume per second to keep it rolling.