Sir, – Frank McNally’s An Irishman’s Diary (April 10th) on the origins of “Baby Guinness” reminded me of a time in the late 1970s when Hennigan’s Bar on Wine Street in Sligo first introduced a cocktail list. This served a dual purpose, the double entendre names amused some of the regulars while the alcohol, fruit juice and fizzy concoctions catered to the tastes of visitors to the pub. I asked the proprietor, Hal Hennigan, what was a “Tourist Pint”, featured on the list. “It’s half a pint of Guinness for the price of a pint” he replied. “It’s there as a joke,” he added. How prescient he was, as 45 years later the price of a “Tourist Pint” in Temple Bar is no joke. – Yours, etc,
JOE TAYLOR,
Irishtown,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, – I remember the Baby Guinness very well. My father bottled Guinness for many years in John Clarke and Sons in Irishtown in Dublin. The measures available were the pint bottle (20 ounces), the half-pint (10 ounces) and the split or snipe (8 ounces). The reason for the eight-ounce version was that many of the doctors at the time recommended this to expectant and nursing mothers as a tonic! I must add that my mother, Tilly, ignored their and my father’s advice and refused to drink it. – Yours, etc,
LIAM CLARKE,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – My grandmother used to consume a willow pattern cup of Guinness at noon most days for her health’s sake. We also had small number of ladies who would sip a “whacker” of Jameson as their husbands drank pints. A whacker was a quarter of a glass of whiskey, the measuring of which was closely observed by both the dispenser and the consumer. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL COLLINS,
Limerick.
A chara, – When my late father, Dr Daniel O’Connell, was the head of the radiotherapy department of Charing Cross Hospital in London during the 1970s, he managed to introduce, for his ward only, a daily choice of a bottle of Guinness or Mackeson for each of his resident patients. His irrefutable logic was two-fold: stout contains many nutrients with calcium and iron being the most important. However, the most important benefit was the psychological effect of this “special treat”, with his ward reported as the most positive and happiest in the hospital and, given the relatively low survival rates in those days, this was no mean feat!
Certainly, when he brought us kids into the ward on Christmas Day to help serve the turkey, there was an undeniable buzz about the place! – Yours, etc,
DANIEL O’CONNELL,
Winchester,
England.
