July 18, 2002
12/7/02 Dublin, Ireland (phill)
12/7/02 Dublin, Ireland (phill)
Dublin's been okay so far. Granted I've only been here for 24 hours but I have some time to write this journal in my book so why not? As I got off the plane late last night I bumped into josh and he was heading to the same place as me. Except he hadn't booked ahead and when we eventually found the hostel it was very much full. Anyway, since we both were pretty much in Dublin to see the Guinness tour we arranged to meet the next day. The Dublin YHA is massive, packed and not overly helpful. My room had about 12 beds in it. The snoring was insane so I decided during my waking moments to get the heck out of the there the following day.
Josh showed up at 8 or 9 am and we set out. Of course we went straight for the Guinness Storehouse for the tour. Nothing like what I expected, all hi-tech and flashy recreations which is very different from the smaller breweries I toured this year. The tour actually was pretty decent though, I suppose it has to be flashy to impressive the tens of thousands who visit it weekly. Needless to say, the highlight was bound to be the pint of the black stuff you get at the end. Rumored by everyone to taste much better in Ireland and specifically fresh from the factory. I gotta tell you though, although the view was great (26 stories in a sky bar above the brewery with spectacular views over Dublin) the beer didn’t taste different! I think you can still be hung in Dublin for saying that! Don't get me wrong; it was, as always, brilliant, but I didn't notice any major difference. Of course this means I'll have to keep tasting it while I'm in Ireland just to make sure I didn't get a bad pint or twenty :)
What else could we do in Dublin, yes yes, they have beautiful gothic and mid-evil buildings and books, but first things first, another tour. This time it was at the Jameson Whiskey (notice the 'e' we're in Ireland, whisky is from Scotland, whiskey is Irish) Tour. I'm not the world’s biggest blended malts fan, I prefer single malt and that's all Ireland has: single malts. Unlike Scotland where there's an abundance of whisky's to blend Ireland on has a handful. Tour was good, followed by the tasting :)
Posted by Admin at July 18, 2002 02:37 AM