Nowhere embraced Irish pubs like Europe. Spurred on by the popularity of Irish cultural exports such as U2, Jack's Army and Neil Jordan, Irish pubs sprang up in almost every European city over the past decade. There are now 500 Irish hostelries spread across Germany, 300 in Italy and 300 in Britain. But the bubble, it seems, has burst and an average of 20 of these new generation pubs go out of business every year.
"The Irish pub is no longer the unique special thing that it used to be, people are distinguishing between poor Irish pubs and very good ones," says retail development controller at Guinness, Mr Stephen Lombard.
Guinness has been in the vanguard of promoting the Irish pub concept around the world. Pub training seminars and ready prepared market data are provided for potential investors. The company even offers cash support for investors wishing to open an authentic Irish bar. And why wouldn't it? The combined consumption of Guinness products in Irish pubs around the world is comparable to consumption of stout in one of the top 10 Guinness drinking nations.
So with all the craic associated with the Irish pub industry in Europe rapidly fading, Guinness executives and investors, like many Irish before them, are heading west in pursuit of the American dream.
Since Guinness started to seriously explore the region for potential expansion almost two years ago, more than 90 authentic Irish pubs have been set up. Another 100 are in the pipeline this year and Guinness expects that the US market will support upwards of 500 pubs in the long term.
So if it's that easy why did it take so long? "There were a lot of legal issues that had to be resolved in the States that auger back to prohibition," explains Mr Lombard. "The US is very strict in terms of keeping the three elements of the drinks industry - brewing, distribution and retail - quite separate. In Europe a brewer or distributor could own pubs of their own but this is totally illegal in the USA." These "Tied House laws" make it more difficult for Guinness to promote the Irish pub concept. Under the terms of the law the company cannot provide finance or advice to potential investors as it does in Europe, Australia and Asia.
"Obviously Guinness must be very careful that we don't do anything that would cause the authorities to revoke our distributors licence," says Mr Lombard.
To bypass some of the restrictions on direct advice to Irish pub investors, Guinness works with a system called Spectra - a complex marketing survey which analyses the likely success of establishing an authentic Irish pub in a city or town.
"This service costs Guinness £250,000 [€317,000] a year," says Mr Lombard. "That's something we can offer to the investor and it doesn't cost them anything, but many of the other services we offer in the States we have to charge for. It's not to make money but rather to conform to the law."
Finance was a major factor preventing the spread of authentic Irish pubs to the US. Unlike Europe, distributors are prohibited from financing pubs there, leaving investors at the mercy of financial instiutions. This often excludes Irish or foreign investors who have no credit rating in the US and therefore no means to raise capital.
Yet even for US investors the volatile restaurant and pub trade - almost 80 per cent of restaurants go into liquidation in a year in the US - does not endear them to banks and securing loans can prove difficult.
Guinness has worked hard in the past two years to convince US banks that the Irish pub concept is a good one. The company highlights the less than 1 per cent failure rate and the short payoff period of only 29 weeks to show that the authentic Irish pub is a safe bet.
Yet other quirky legal restrictions have deterred potential investors in the past. In some states in the US a licensee must be a resident which can prohibit Irish investors. While other US states insist on 50 per cent of pub turnover being generated by food. This does not suit the quick drinking high turnover atmosphere of the authentic Irish pub. It also means that Irish pubs in the States have to be larger than their European counterparts in order to accommodate more seating. This pushes up the cost of the initial investment in the US to at least $500,000 (€467,000).
Despite the plethora of legal restrictions and high start-up costs the lure of the US market is proving too great for investors to pass up. "I think there's a great opportunity if it's done right," says former Dublin accountant Mr Kieran McGill, now owner of the Irish pub chain Fado Inc.
He set up the first of the new generation Irish pubs in Atlanta in 1996, well before Guinness swung its weight behind the US Irish pub market. He now has seven established pubs and two due for completion later this year.
"Initially Guinness people on the ground weren't keen on promoting the new concept over here because they didn't want to irritate their existing customers," says Mr McGill. "But the success of the pub in Atlanta encouraged them to get involved."
But how does the new breed of authentic Irish bar compare to the more traditional Irish-American style outlet? "The new Irish pubs are having to differentiate themselves from the old Irish-American bars which tend to be more downmarket," says Mr Lombard.
"These new pubs are female friendly, with a customer profile between 25-35 years, and are more sophisticated than going to a bar where there are 15 televisions blaring," he claims.
However, there is no question of Guinness turning its back on older established pubs, Mr Lombard explains. After all they've been selling stout for years.
But Celtic coolness cannot last forever - even in the US. Fads come and go so isn't there a danger that Guinness could be leading investors towards short-term gain but potential long-term loss?
Mr McGill doesn't think so: "As long as you do not come across Irish pubs on every corner and they're done right, not like some of the poorer ones in Germany or Europe it'll be alright.
"There's a trend towards quality products in the US market and we're able to fill that gap by selling top-grade export beer and stout," he says.
