Now, my history lesson was over and it was time to understand the real history and culture of Dublin - beer and whiskey. I decided to go to a bar in the 'Temple Bar' area, a couple blocks of nothing but good Irish pubs and since I wanted something local I chose the Porterhouse which is a local brewing company. I grabbed a pint and ordered some chips and enjoyed the scenery and the ability to ease-drop since they speak English - an older couple enjoying lunch and a pint doing a crossword puzzle, a younger couple enjoying lunch and a pint with their less than 1 year old, and of course 3 teenage girls sitting at the bar nursing their hangover with sprite and water telling stories about how they didn't go to bed until 6 am.
After lunch it was time to get down to business. I walked over to the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery, which used to be one of the main production sites however it now just exists as a landmark and museum. I arrived at the right time only having to wait 20 minutes until the next tour and I spent some time in the gift shop before hand, so I would know if and only the items I would want to buy before they got me drunk and had the tour finish in the gift shop - what did I buy?? You will have to wait - the front runner would be the travel sized bottles of all of the different Jamesons. The tour started off with a ten minute movie about the history and what not but ended with something spectacular - they needed 10 volunteers to be the 'taste testers' at the end of the tour, they first offered this to the women and you better believe I was the first male that was given a Jameson baton to prove I was selected as a taster. The rest of the tour was neat, short and sweet. It ended by showing another short video of how Jameson is enjoyed around the world - very interesting. The local choice was with cranberry, NYC was with (you guessed it) Coke, other places were straight up, on the rocks, with apple juice, and with iced tea. When the video ended, the screen turned into a window and you could see the bar with all of the drinks prepared - your choice to pick one.
But, since I was a taste tester I didn't get to make a choice and was directed to a table with a couple different whiskeys. I was hoping we would get to try the different Jamesons - the 12 year, the 18 year, etc but instead it was used as a prop to show how Jameson was the best tasting. They gave you 3 samples:
1) Jameson (of course)
2) Johnny walker black label - scottish whiskey or scotch really, which the women around me didn't like so I drank all of theirs!
3) Jack Daniels
The Jameson really did taste the smoothest and the best compared to the other two, but I would have preferred they use Maker's Mark or Crown Royal to represent North America. After this they gave us a certificate with our names on it that we could roll up and put into the baton which was quite neat!
They then gave us the straight up whiskey as our choice drink since we were expert tasters. During this, I met a couple ladies from London so we went and had a drink in the bar which was nice to have some company for a bit. But I cut it short, quickly bought my Jameson small, plush rugby ball from the gift shop, as I had to hurry to get to my next stop for the day - the coveted Guinness storehouse!
It was a short walk and before I even arrived at the entrance I walked past the famous Guinness gate that was in all of the "Brilliant" commercials.
This tour was self guided which was kind of nice because I wouldn't have been the most attentive listener after my previous visit so I definitely did them in the proper order. It was neat to walk through the process and see the history of the brand and how its made. Fun fact - Arther Guinness signed a 9000 year lease back in the day where the factory and storehouse is in just west of the center in Dublin. AND I found more of my roots as Arthur Price helped him in this!
Proof:
You had two options for how you wanted to enjoy your Guinness - either at the top in the Gravity bar which had a pretty nice view of the city, or on the floor below where you could learn how to pour the perfect pint AND pour your own! Of course I wanted to learn how to pour my own and the one I poured was used as an example by the guy who was telling us how to do it (maybe also because I was the last one to pour - minor detail). Here's how you pour:
1) Tilt the glass at 45 degrees and pull the tap toward you to pour the beer into the side of the glass, slowly straightening the glass as you go
2) Pour until the beer is in the Guinness Harp
3) Let the beer sit for 2 minutes
4) Pour the rest of the beer by pushing the tap away from you - no gas is mixed in - to top off the perfect pint.
Captions: Top - perfect pour!
Bottom - Put my 'MP' stamp in it
You also get a personalized certificate for this!! Overall amazing day in Dublin.
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