Guinness, the beer that's been around longer than your great-great-(great)-grandparents.

And should be around for even longer.

Back in 1759, a guy named Arthur Guinness signed a lease for an old brewery in Dublin. But instead of your standard five-year agreement, Arthur went all in—inking a 9,000-year lease for just £45 a year. He clearly had confidence in his beer. And, well, he was right.

By the late 1700s, Guinness had ditched ale altogether to focus on porter and stout—creamy, dark, and surprisingly not actually black (it's a deep ruby red, thanks to roasted malted barley). That bet paid off, and by the late 1800s, Guinness was the biggest brewery in the world. Today, 10 million pints of Guinness are served daily, with Nigerians drinking more of it than the Irish. (Shoutout to the four Guinness breweries in Nigeria.)

But Guinness isn’t just about tradition—it’s got a few modern tricks up its sleeve. Ever cracked open a can and found a little plastic ball inside? That’s a nitrogen widget, designed to replicate the smooth, creamy texture of a proper draft pour. Guinness invented it in 1969, but it wasn’t perfected until the “Smoothifier” was introduced in 1997. (Yes, that’s its real name.)

Also, Guinness is responsible for one of the most expensive facial hair problems in history. A study found that bearded Guinness drinkers in the UK waste an estimated 160,000 pints per year—all thanks to foam getting trapped in their mustaches. That’s about $573,000 worth of stout disappearing into beards annually. A tragic loss, really.

And speaking of weird records, Guinness is also the reason we have the Guinness Book of World Records. It started in the 1950s when the brewery’s managing director wanted to settle a pub argument about the fastest game bird. (Spoiler: It’s the golden plover.) That idea turned into one of the best-selling books of all time, which has since inspired everything from extreme hot dog eating contests to the world’s largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs.

Guinness also once created its own holiday—Arthur’s Day, an annual worldwide toast to the brand’s founder at exactly 17:59 (because, you know, 1759). It ran for a few years before getting scrapped, mostly because it was wildly successful—so much so that emergency services saw a 30% spike in calls from the sheer number of people, uh, celebrating a little too hard.

Oh, and one last thing—Guinness was using fish bladders to filter its beer until 2018. If you’ve ever enjoyed a pint pre-2018, congratulations, you were accidentally a little less vegan than you thought.

‍