Guinness Not Only Brews Lager, It Exports Pubs

MADRID — The fiddle music wails above the whoops of laughter and nonstop chat in the crowded Irish Rover as the bartender pours stout, ale and whiskey for his customers.

A typical pub scene in Dublin or Belfast perhaps. But this is swanky, uptown Madrid. Or is it Helsinki? Moscow? Abu Dhabi?

With a wave of Irish pubs opening in cities around the globe, a few pints of lager could leave you wondering what country you’re in.

Since 1992, more than 800 Irish-style bars have opened in more than 100 cities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. And nearly all of these pubs have gotten started with the help of Guinness in a clever marketing strategy by the international brewery.

Differing from the traditional rough-cut Irish emigrant watering holes that dot cities across the world, the new trendy pubs are designed and staffed in Dublin.

Guinness helped set up two firms to create these instant pubs: the Irish Pub Co., which employs architects, and Action Recruitment, which trains bar staff. Along with videos and brochures, the three provide all that’s needed to set up a pub--no matter where. Prices vary according to style and location.

“Essentially, we offer a turn-key service, you tell us where and we can have a typical Irish bar decked out and ready for you to open in a matter of 12 weeks,” said Brendan Buckley of the Irish Pub Co.

If you want trained Irish staff, live Celtic music or a course in cooking Irish stew and other dishes, all that can be arranged too.

“Every tourist that comes to Ireland says the same thing: ‘Lovely country, lousy weather, but the pubs are great and we love the Guinness,’ ” brewery spokesman John Mullins said in Dublin.

Mullins skirts queries on sales and profits, saying the company is “quietly content” with the venture.

Guinness’ trademark beverage is featured in almost all the pubs and the other beers and spirits on sale are invariably from sister or friendly companies.

With artistic hand-painted signs sporting kitsch Irish names such as Finnegan’s, The Kelly Green Pub or Molly Malone’s, the pubs imitate, and often surpass, the real Irish pubs with cozy booths, hardwood counters and stools, expansive whiskey mirrors and pendulum clocks.

Madrid boasts at least 10 of the new Irish bars. In Berlin and Paris, they run into the dozens. Further afield, Finnegan’s in Abu Dhabi’s Forte Grand Hotel stands out like an oasis in the alcohol-averse United Arab Emirates.

“On a weekend night, the queues to get in here stretch round the corner,” says Brendan Murphy, a 38-year-old Dublin-born barman at the Irish Rover in Madrid.

The Irish Pub Co. opened its first bar in the United States--Fado Fado (Gaelic for Once Upon a Time)--in February in Atlanta. Many more are planned for North and South America.

“It’s the atmosphere that makes them,” said Spaniard Jose Miguel Pineiroas as he left O’Connor’s, a pub that opened in Madrid this spring.

“The Irish are known for drinking and having a good time. So too are the pubs. A French or a Finnish pub wouldn’t mean anything.”