It's not every day that a 250th birthday is celebrated. Come September, it will be two and a half centuries since Arthur Guinness signed a 9000-year lease on a disused brewery at St James Gate in Dublin, Ireland, and started brewing porter and ale that would bear his name.

Just surviving that long requires a certain level of greatness and that, in part, is what Guinness is celebrating this year. Over the next few months Guinness will have a series of events leading up to the anniversary of that momentous day in 1759.

Guinness started their celebrations last month through community parties and, among other things, will stage at least three road shows at which a patron will win a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.

"We are having an anniversary road show which is essentially celebrating with people and giving an opportunity to win great prizes as we celebrate our birthday and the anniversary of the Guinness brand,"explained Guinness brand manager Garth Geddes.

Each road show will take the form of a big dance. Guinness has over the past year identified a group of dancehall selectors, dubbed Guinness Rhythm Rulers - people such as Fire Links, Sky Juice and Little Richie - who have been the life of parties and dances across the island.

Best of our rhythm rulers

Guinness has also enlisted the services of the Sounds of Greatness champion for 2008, Mad Ras and Rebel T.

"You will see the best of our rhythm rulers and our sounds of greatness and other sounds that had participated in that competition, really coming on board at each road show and providing a real dancehall vibe. Entertainment, excitement, vibe and energy, pretty much putting the best of dancehall on show for the patrons," Geddes said.

In addition to the give-aways, Guinness will provide a boost to pre-existing parties and social events taking place across the island. "Between now and June we have up to 150 community parties that Guinness will be involved in. Essentially street dances and bars will be having parties and we are supporting. We are giving them product, we are giving them give-aways, we are giving them incentives to make their parties a bit bigger than they would normally be," Geddes said.

He added that the parties would culminate with a major event planned for September.