An Irish-American woman is fighting stereotypes one Guinness at the time through Instagram – but whatever you do, don’t call her an influencer.
Laura Murphy is the daughter of an Inverin native and a Castlebar man, so despite growing up in Boston, USA, she is very familiar with Ireland and its culture, having visited the Republic every summer since childhood and hearing several stories from her parents.
However, when she moved from the US to Ireland at the age of 18 to attend university, she discovered a new culture around pubs and Guinness.
Little did she know that a few years later, Laura, who is now based in Galway, would have become ‘That Guinness Girl’.
That Guinness Girl is the name of an Instagram page created by Laura in 2021, to review pints of Guinness across the country. It is described by Laura as a playful persona who looks at tradition with a modern eye.
From Boston to Galway via finance and pubs The idea, she explained, came up for fun and she believes she was the first woman starting a Guinness review page in Ireland.
Laura said: “I was in finance for a good few years but I had no creative outlet. I love Excel, but I needed to do something else.
“So Guinness Girl was born, just as a bit of fun with my friends. I like the aesthetic of pints, I like what pints represent.
She added: “Guinness Guru was doing it and he was blowing up. And I thought, why isn’t there a woman [reviewing pints]? So I just started and I didn’t think it was going to grow. People kind of resonated with it and it just kind of kept growing.”
First pint at Leonard’s in Lahardane with blackcurrant Talking about the journey that brought her to open the page, Laura mentioned her first ever Guinness at Leonard’s in Lahardane, Co Mayo, as well as the simple act of feminism of ordering a beer as a woman and the pub culture so deeply rooted in Ireland.
The 28-year-old said: “The pints are really good in that bar, it’s a really nice pub and the owners are lovely. It just has a nice community in it. So I think that’s probably where I got kind of that fondness for [the pub culture]. There was community and everyone was drinking Guinness. And that’s just kind of where I started from there and then.
Laura Murphy aka That Guinness Girl. Photo: Felicia Garrivan
“I had my first pint [there] when I was 18, I had it with the blackcurrant. People would put that into Guinness and it would be seen as a more ladylike kind of drink. Back in the day [Guinness] was traditionally a male beverage and [women] used to only drink half pints.
“Growing up with my parents from here they kind of had that nostalgic lens on Ireland. So I grew up with that nostalgic lens and thinking why is it only lady-like to drink half a glass? I want the whole pint.
“When I moved here, I was like, it’s all changed. Women are drinking pints, men may find it disgusting, but we’re still going to do it.
“At one stage women weren’t allowed in pubs, and now I can sit openly and just have a pint. Having a full pint doesn’t make me not ladylike.
She added: “So Guinness Girl became kind of a playful persona, kind of poking at a modern Ireland because I grew up with my dad’s old Ireland. It’s meant to be a little bit fun, a little bit cheeky.”
Read more Learning about pints from old men in rural pubs Other than a symbol, Guinness for Laura is also delicious.
To review a pint she takes into consideration different elements from temperature to how it was poured as since moving to Ireland, she also learnt there is so much more behind a pint than one would expected.
“I find the best pints are when the keg is directly under the bar. It can be flowing from different directions. Some people have it upstairs, downstairs and that kind of turns the flavor as well.
“There’s so much to it, it’s crazy.”
She explained she learnt everything about Guinness by being in pubs and talking to people: “When I first started drinking pints, I would go down to my uncle’s, outside of Castlebar, at the weekend when everyone went home for the weekend as students. And we’d go up to this pub in Lahardane, but it would just be me and a bunch of old men.
“So I learned so much just by hanging out there every weekend, basically. It was always good craic.
“And even with Guinness Girl, going into the pubs and talking to the bartenders or even the owners and hearing them explaining.”
Spontaneous reviews on nights out with friends Even with an element of seriousness, Laura likes to keep things light, reviewing pints for fun whenever she goes out with her friends.
“I just do it [reviews] whenever I have the content, whenever I’m out for a pint. I’m not doing it on the night out usually, I’ll do it later, whenever I have time.
“Sometimes there’s a new pub I want to try, I’ll say to my friends, oh, let’s go here. But usually it’s just, wherever we go on the night out, I just go with the crowd and that’s kind of it.
“Sometimes I’m literally just whacking up the picture of the pint. It’s fairly quick, I get the photo, it’s usually spontaneous, and those are kind of simple and they kind of perform the best.
And living in Galway city, she’s never out of ideas: “There’s always something new in Galway or a new event. Galway’s such a thriving city. There’s always something on in the pubs.”
“And in Galway city [things] are always changing, for example staff turn over in hospitality can be quite high, so then I think the quality of pints are constantly changing too.”
Favourite pint: Cheapest in Ireland at Connemara pub Four years since her first review, Laura also revealed that while she doesn’t have a favourite pub in the city, there is one place that for her is particularly special in County Galway.
“My favourite pint is out in Cashel, Connemara. Johnny O’Loughlen’s pub, I think it has the cheapest pint in Ireland.
“It’s very rural, beautiful scenery, with the mountains there, it’s kind of just nestled in at the bottom and it’s kind of an older pub. It has just really interesting characters in it. And the pints are just amazing.
“I always think country pubs have the best pints. There’s just something about them.”
How Irish pub culture is changing Talking about rural pubs she added how these places can be essential in tightening the communities of small villages and towns, and she can’t but wonder how pub culture is drastically changing.
“Ireland is getting more expensive in general. I know a lot of young people that don’t really drink. Maybe people won’t go to the pub as much, maybe it will affect pub culture more.
Laura Murphy aka That Guinness Girl. Photo: Felicia Garrivan
However, at the same time Laura noticed how Guinness “is having a moment” as drinking black stuff is now considered trendy.
“Now Guinness has been having a moment. When I started this in 2021, it wasn’t. I don’t think any of my friends were drinking it, it was just me and the lads.
“So it’s really like I tumbled into a very trendy area, and it’s weird. But it’s really fascinating to see and I’m really delighted because Guinness marketing is fantastic. It’s great for Ireland, in terms of tourism.
Laura mentioned pints on t-shirts as well as the new Guinness coasters and the tradition of ‘splitting the G’ now reaching a new international audience: “You’re seeing Guinness on loads of merchandise everywhere.
“I know splitting the G is really big in America as well. And then there a lot of international followers as well that are like, I have been to Ireland, been to Galway and they loved Galway, loved the pub culture, can’t wait to go back, I’m gonna follow this trend.”
Every once in a while I get one like ‘so rotten that you’re a woman drinking a pint
Guinness’ popularity unfortunately doesn’t protect her from misogynistic comments as Laura explained how there is still so much to do in our society, inside and outside the pub in terms of gender equality.
“I’ve mainly gotten really nice comments, which is lovely, it’s mainly really positive. But then every once in a while I get one like ‘it’s so rotten that you’re a woman drinking a pint’ or ‘a lovely young lady like you drinking a pint’. And stuff like that.
“People are outraged, they’re like still back in the day, that’s that old attitude. And that’s kind of what the page is playing against.”
Read more Building an online Guinness community These kind of comments remain rare as her page, along the Guinness trend, keeps growing, with thousands now following That Guinness Girl on Instagram.
Laura Murphy aka That Guinness Girl. Photo: Felicia Garrivan
“People are engaging more, they’d send me a picture of their pint saying ‘oh, have you tried here?’. It’s nice, it kind of knits that community a bit closer, because there is a Guinness community online. Now there’s also loads of female Guinness reviewers everywhere. It’s really cool.
“I love people, I love talking. That’s what I think I slots so nicely into kind of that scene is like, I come from a social chatty family, and with a really big, strong love for Ireland. It’s kind of ingrained in me.
However, Laura insists, don’t call her an influencer.
“I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities from Guinness Girl. BBC radio reached out during Christmas, they were like we want to interview you about the Guinness shortage.
“They called me a ‘Guinnfluencer’. I don’t like the term influencer, because I feel like I’m not persuading anyone to buy anything. And I don’t want to influence anyone to do anything, unless it’s something really positive like supporting local pubs. I don’t want to be an influencer.”