After becoming the most popular beer in the UK in 2023, the popularity of Guinness is arguably at an all-time high.
This is sure to continue with the release of Netflix’s House of Guinness, a historical drama from the creator of Peaky Blinders that tells the partially true story of the children who inherited the Guinness business after the death of family patriarch Benjamin Guinness.
The TV show has released to mixed critical reviews but, based on audience hype and the desire to find a worthy successor to Peaky Blinders, many expect it to dominate Netflix’s charts.
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For those who become invested in the Guinness family and their attempts to maintain control of the beer company, however, they will be disappointed to find out that no living Guinness descendant works for the company in any capacity.
Guinness merged with another drinks company, Grand Metropolitan, in 1997 to form a new company, Diageo, which is now the producer of the stout.
Per the Guinness web store FAQs, the Guinness family is ‘still a shareholder in the company but no family member holds an executive role in the company or works within the Diageo organisation’.
Ironically, considering the show’s plot, the last member of the Guinness family to hold the position of Chairman of the company was called Benjamin Guinness.
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He transitioned to President of the company in 1986, and, after this, there was not a single Guinness who ran the company until its merger, and no Guinness has run Diageo.
In 1986, Guinness merged with rival alcohol company Distillers in a hostile takeover that saw the shares of the Guinness family heavily diluted.
This was in and of itself highly controversial, as four men at the centre of the takeover were found to have inflated the price of shares to make the bid possible.
All four were convicted of false accounting and theft; however, the takeover was not reversed.
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Creator Steven Knight has not discussed what possible future seasons of House of Guinness could look like if the story were to continue following the Guinness family up until the 1980s.
The Netflix series, released today, has seen incredibly mixed reviews from critics.
Freelance critic Darren Mooney slammed the show, saying: “I hated it. Hated it. I hated it so much. It's Peaky Blinders without the specificity meeting Succession without any moral insight.
“A trashy soap opera love letter to benign benevolent billionaire corporate overlords. It sucks.”
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The Guardian’s Jack Seale, meanwhile, heaped praise on the show, giving it a perfect five stars.
He said in his review: “With smarts, heart and serious sex appeal, this fine drama from Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight is an irresistible romp – like Succession, only over a booze empire. Knight has never made a better show than this.”
House of Guinness is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, Peaky Blinders, TV and Film, TV, Alcohol
Michael Slavin