Pint sized pilgrimage into the Guinness family

"So like, what does Guinness do?" she asked. With that innocent question Mansfield ferments a tall pour of a tale about the Guinness family, brand, social responsibility, religion and oh, the beverage.
Effervescence of refreshment, a mug of living history this book is. Did you know that the same yeast strain that fermented the first glass of Guinness has been carefully cultivated and preserved for the glass of modern Guinness? With that same care the Guinness family cultivated a relationship with God, their employees, their country and the world around them. The God behind the brand of Guinness is a refreshing tale of 5 generations of brewers that cared as much about people as they did about beer. Could anyone image from the glass of Guinness, as the last frothy foam is enjoyed from the tilted tankard is a view through a kaleidoscopic porthole into a world of social reformers, Sunday school champions and lover's of righteousness.
What's up with mixing God up with beer? Isn't beer a sin? I mean everyone knows that proponents, purveyors and pursuants of pervasive pleasures (alcohol, liquor, beer and wine makers and sellers) are evil and are only out to make a buck off of the lowly addictions of winos and drunks. Pimps, drug dealers and bartenders are all cut from the same bolt, right? Wrong! The bible is clear in no uncertain terms: Don't get drunk on wine. Another passage states: wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. So if getting drunk is a sin, therefore it stands to reason that anything that can make you drunk should and must be avoided. The Guinness family begged to differ. Getting drunk is clearly wrong but enjoying a glass or two of alcohol is not. Obesity is a sin too, but little is mentioned in our modern society about banning the consumption of food which is scientifically proven to cause weight gain. Food makes 60% of Americans obese so just ban food! Add the next amendment, burn the crops, kill the cows, chickens and pigs. Tear down the supermarkets! The Guinness family taught us moderation.
Mansfield does a very nice job of filtering out the Guinness clan from the sediments of the historical records. I could not put the book down once I started it. You too will enjoy their story.

Book blogger for Thomas Nelson