Is Guinness Beer Actually Related To The Guinness Book Of World Records?

When you think of Guinness, you likely think of one of two things: The popular Irish beer, or that big book of interesting world records. Both have been around for ages, and both have become household names.

The Guinness beer company first launched in Ireland back in the 1700s, when Arthur Guinness took the leap and decided to purchase a brewery (per the official website). By the early 1800s, the beer had made its way from Ireland to South Carolina, and the popularity of Guinness was growing. They employed Oxford-educated scientists to help perfect the process, and by the mid-1900s, the beer company had breweries worldwide, in locations as far-flung as Nigeria and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the Guinness Book of World Records launched within the last century, back in the 1950s. Today, it's known just as Guinness World Records, according to their website, and it's become one of the most-sold books of all time. Does this well-known book actually have anything to do with the Guinness beer company?

Yep, the two are definitely related. The idea of the Guinness World Records was brought to life by a man named Sir Hugh Beaver, who was the managing director of the beer company back in the early 1950s.

Guinness World Records' website reports that Beaver found himself in an argument with friends about Europe's fastest game bird. After nobody could find the correct answer, Beaver took the root of the confusion and turned it into a masterpiece. He melded the idea of a one-stop-shop for trivia with Guinness promotion, and hired researchers to get to the bottom of common conundrums and interesting facts, such as which bird could fly the fastest. The researchers compiled the book, which took more than 1,000 hours to put together and was published in 1955, and slapped Guinness on it.

Over time, the book morphed into a World Records book, which has now been around for more than 65 years.