Walk into any London pub – or really any pub in the country – and you can usually count on one pint being on tap: Guinness. An iconic Irish dry stout famous for its opaque dark colour and creamy head, and affectionately nicknamed ‘the black stuff’, it is one of the best selling beers in the world. Roughly 10 million glasses of Guinness are consumed globally each day – but few fans know the truth behind how this Dublin brew came to be. 

It’s a story marked by scandal, secrets and deceit – and is about to be put into pin-sharp focus thanks to the new Netflix series, House of Guinness, which lands on screens today (25 September 2025). Created by Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame, the eight-episode historical drama hones in on, not only 19^th century Ireland, but also one of its wealthiest dynasties. While some of it has, of course, been dramatised, Knight and his team delved into the history books to ensure the series’ characters and events are depicted as accurately as possible. 

Specifically, the series has tapped into the nous of screenwriter Ivana Lowell, a scion of the Guinness family, whose great-great-great-grandfather’s death in 1868 marked an irrevocable turning point for the brewery and the dynasty that owned it. She told The Times: “We were watching Downton Abbey half-heartedly while chatting and I suddenly thought, ‘Our family would also make such a good TV show – but the difference is it’s all true’.”

Anthony Boyle as Arthur Guinness

Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness

The series opens with the will of Sir Benjamin Guinness – the grandson of Arthur Guinness who, at just 34, signed a 9,000-year lease on a then-disused brewery at Dublin’s St James’s Gate for an annual rent of £45 – being read to his four children upon his unexpected death. While Arthur is hailed as Guinness’ founder, it’s Benjamin who is remembered for taking the beer global, which made him the wealthiest man in Ireland by 1855 and St James’s Gate the largest brewery in the world by 1880. 

Benjamin’s moody “naturally wild” brood is portrayed by a stellar cast: the eldest son, Eton-educated Arthur (Anthony Boyle), the business-minded and ambitious middle brother Edward (Louis Partridge), passionate and morally-strong Anne (Emily Fairn), and the ill-fated baby brother Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea), who is fighting addiction and the fact he is often ignored and overlooked by the rest of his siblings. 

Fionn O’Shea as Benjamin Guinness

Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum, Knight said: “It’s the extraordinary story of a family who happens to be the inheritors of the biggest brewery in the world. They’re young and are given the task of taking on this incredibly successful brand. The first priority is: Don’t screw it up. And the second priority is to make Guinness even bigger.”

The series also hones in on the family’s interactions with characters in Dublin, including Sean Rafferty (James Norton), a fictional character created by Knight to expose societal tensions. Knight told Tudum: “Rafferty is one of the most extraordinary aspects of this series. His relationship with the family depicts how modern the story actually is.”

James Norton as Sean Rafferty

One of its most significant historical aspects is the backdrop of an Ireland in turmoil. During the 1860s, Ireland was still part of Britain, but the Fenians (the Irish Republican Brotherhood) were riling up society with their push for independence. Simultaneously, the Anglican Church – of which the Guinness family were a part – remained the state church despite the country’s Catholic majority, causing deep resentment. In addition, while two decades had passed since the worst years of the Irish Famine, the economy was still reeling from its long-lasting effects, with poverty rife across the country. 

Sir Benjamin Guinness’ wealth was a sticking point, as was his ruthlessness. During the 1850s, he had established a price cutting strategy that ultimately drove out all of the other brewing competition in Dublin and, one by one, Guinness’ rivals collapsed. It was assumed he would leave his sought-after business in Arthur’s safe and steady pair of hands, but his posthumous wishes instead dictated that his eldest son was to work in tandem with Edward – and shockingly left Anne and Benjamin pretty much out in the cold. “The decisions these characters make about personal issues will have consequences for the future of Ireland, which is quite a burden,” Knight tells Tudum. “The pressure adds fuel and energy to all of those relationships.”

Boyle as Arthur Guinness and Partridge as Edward Guinness

On paper, the brothers should be a force to be reckoned with: a dynamic business duo set to take the family business into the 20^th century. Arthur, having just returned from a decade in England and well versed in the etiquette of the upper class, looked good at the helm of the business. Meanwhile, Edward had been learning the ropes of the Guinness factory and had big ideas to take it into the future.

But Sir Benjamin Guinness’ will also dictated that if one of the brothers chose to walk away from the brewing business, they would have to forfeit everything, including access to family land and property. Working harmoniously together would have been the easiest option yet, in reality, Arthur and Edward fought against being “chained together”; too busy revelling in their rivalry to notice how the business was soon running away from them. 

In this battle of brothers, it was Edward who eventually won. He bought out Arthur’s 50 per cent share in the brewery in 1876 and, by the age of 29, had sole ownership of the Guinness company. He can also be credited with the construction of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, which is now a successful tourist attraction, but most of all, he was an unstoppable financial force. 

Partridge as Edward Guinness

Under his tenure, Guinness grew quickly and vastly: production increased exponentially and he floated the company on the London Stock Exchange in 1886, resulting in a £6 million uplift that made him the richest man in Ireland. He retired at 40 as a multi-millionaire but remained chairman of the new public company and retained roughly 35 per cent of its shares. His brother Arthur, on the other hand, threw himself into politics and became a conservative MP and landlord. 

Today, Guinness is no longer run by the eponymous family, although they do still have a £200m stake in it according to the Irish Independent, and family members, including socialite Daphne Guinness, current family head Edward Guinness, the 4^th Earl of Iveagh, and model Jasmine Guinness, remain prominent society figures. It was sold to Diageo – which also owns Johnnie Walker, Baileys, and Captain Morgan – in 1986. Per the company’s website, it prides itself on being the “custodian of Guinness”. Cheers to that. 

House of Guinness is available to watch on Netflix now.

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