When in Ireland, Drink!

You know what they say, “When in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.” Well, during my short stay in Dublin I adopted the saying, “When in Ireland, DRINK!” Yes is sounds cliche and no the Irish people that I met were far from perpetual drunks, but sometimes you just need to give into the cliches.

My plane landed an hour early and the bus ride to my hostel was way quicker than I expected. Even going at a leisurely pace I still needed to kill about 5 hours before I could check into my hostel. Once I found my hostel I dropped my luggage off and went exploring with only my camera and the will to survive, just kidding, survival was not an issue, but I did have my camera. The first place I stumbled upon was the Jameson Distillery. I didn’t go in though because it looked closed and I couldn’t find an entrance for tours. After a little while longer I stumbled upon the Guinness Storehouse. I wandered casually passed by the entrance to see how much the tour cost, but it wasn’t listed anywhere that I could see. I decided to not be my usual stubborn self and just ask the person at the door. They told me it was 25 Euros. Suddenly, there I was, in the queue to take the tour. I’m not really sure how I got from the door to the queue since I was still very tired from my flight. I figure I must have been sleep walking.

The tour is self guided that includes a complimentary pint of Guinness at the end. I was taken through a museum like experience, full of fun displays of the brewing process. This part of the experience is honestly fun for all ages. There is even a cafe about halfway through if you need a quick bite to eat. Then I was gather into a room with about 20 people to smell the different aromas that go into the beer. They use a cool steam delivery system that comes out of four different aroma columns. After that I was given a sample of Guinness along with everyone else to be shown how to properly enjoy the flavors of the beer. Finally I had a choice on how to use my complimentary pint ticket.  I could either wait in a long queue to learn how to pour my own perfect pint or I could just head straight up to the Gravity Bar on the top floor to enjoy the view of the city.

However I didn’t have to choose. A nice older lady insisted that I take her ticket because she hated beer. I politely tried to turn her down, but she told me that she was only their because it was a family outing and none of them wanted the extra beer. So I was lucky enough to learn how to pour my own perfect pint in the Guinness Academy, then head upstairs to the Gravity Bar to enjoy a second pint while taking in a nearly 360 degree view of Dublin.After I finished drinking my two pints of Guinness, I headed back to my hostel to check-in and take a power nap. (I have never had jet lag hit me so hard before.) When I woke up from my nap I was super hungry since I hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before my flight. After walking around trying to find some cheap food I found a bar where I grab another pint, but they didn’t serve food. That’s okay though because after I finished up my pint, the bartender and I started talking. He asked me what I was up to and what I had done so far in Dublin. He quickly figured out I enjoyed a nice adult beverage. That’s when he dropped some knowledge. He told me that if I was only a limited budge, but wanted to get a feel for some Irish whiskey, I should go to the Teeling distillery instead of Jameson. He said that Jameson was like Guinness where you basically taken through a museum and not the actual production process. He told me that Teeling was a new comer to the Irish whiskey game, but had roots that dated much further back in Ireland’s history.

The next morning I checked online to find out where Teeling was and how much the tour cost. It was in walking distance, so I set off in that direction while exploring some other sites along the way. One of the parts that I liked right away was that Teeling a few options for the whiskey tasting part of the tour.

• Teeling Small Batch & Seasonal Whiskey Cocktail   €15.00
• Teeling Trinity Tasting – Small Batch, Single Grain & Single Malt   €20.00
• A Tasting of award Winning Single Malt, Single Cask and a Vintage Distillery Exclusive Single Malt   €30.00

Naturally, since I was on a tight budget but a sucker for whiskey, I went for the 30 euro option. All of the options include the same tour of the distillery, it is only the amount/types that differ.. Teeling did have a little museum area next to the lobby where the tour starts. The museum didn’t just have information about Teeling, but also about the history of Irish whiskey as a whole. This ended up being a theme throughout the entire tour which began with an induction of our tour guide and a video from the founders of the company. I’m not sure if it was because I was there before noon or because it was a random weekday or a combination of both, but my tour group was small, with six people including myself, which I loved. The small group size made for a much more personal experience while still having a social side. Below is the summarized version of my experience.

This was exactly the experience I was looking for. This wasn’t just a museum like display or on a cheap theme park ride experience, we were directly on the production floor. We saw the people working trying to come up with the perfect combination for the next whiskey, we saw the equipment and most importantly we saw the passion that was put into the final result. The only thing we didn’t see is the maturation room with all the barrels waiting to mature into a smooth spirit with a long history in Irish culture. However that is not Teeling’s fault, there are laws that prevent them from storing the whiskey in the city limits. Something to do with a big fire and streams of burning whiskey down the streets flowing like lava. Sounds like a fun adventure to me, but the city government seems to care about safety.

Finally I would like to point out that this may sound like a sponsored post with how much praise I am giving, but it is not (though I wouldn’t be upset if it was.) I just really enjoyed this unexpected experience that I found out about simply by chance. This is what I believe travel is all about. No plans, just wing-it and hope to discover something new. This is not a complete science. The results won’t always be the picturesque experience. In the long run however, it will all be worth it.