Beer, Whiskey and the Easter Rising

We have continued to have lots of togetherness over the past eight days. We are still having a great time. But arguments between the kids break out more frequently.  And as all parents know, whatever comes into a kid's head, immediately comes right out of their mouth (no filter). This times four kids brings me to our first topic of the day: booze.

Dubliners (and the Irish) have been known to taste a drop or two. Two of the creators of this magnificent liquid are right here in Dublin: Guinness Beer and Jameson Whiskey only about a mile apart.

We started our day at Guinness. The St. James Gate Brew House is where that dark stout beer got its start over 250 years ago. It is a rather standard tour. Recall that booze is one of my two research areas. I have been on a hundred tours of different breweries and distilleries. This was not only my first trip to Guinness, but the first time my family was able to see what magic occurs when you put water, barley, hops and yeast together.

Guinness was really the first major beer to be exported, as historically most beer was made and consumed locally. Guinness got this chance by the luck of Britain being an empire. Where the troops went around the world to colonize, Guinness followed. Nice to have the world’s most powerful military as your advertising company. At the end of the tour you get a nice sample of the beer in their 360 degree view of the city bar, high up on top of the old brewery. Actually my favorite part of the tour was not the beer, but the floor they had for advertising. In the 19th and 20th century they  used unique and popular advertisements that are still iconic all over many parts the world.

After a few hours of Guinness, we went to the Dublin City Hall and the Dublin Castle, which are next to each other. The Dublin Castle is famous as the English seat of power from 1170 to 1922. It is not one of the English’s most elegant castles, but it certainly protected them over their centuries of Irish rule.

The second buildings was the old City Hall. This had a great exhibit of the City of Dublin from the Viking age to present. It was nicely done. What I found most interesting was the part on the Easter Rising of 1916.

As I mentioned, the English had ruled Ireland for 800 years, and some of the Irish were getting tired of it. In 1916 on Easter Monday, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), basically a guerrilla army, attacked the British at their castle. In the area of City Hall and surrounding streets were the war zones. Actually the British won this battle decisively, and the IRA leaders hung. However, over the next few years, on these same streets, the IRA, under the leadership of Michael Collins, kept after the British until they surrendered. The entire area we were in had been demolished by street fighting over the years. In the surrender, the Irish got lower Ireland back, but not Northern Ireland (that is still under English rule today). The IRA stayed active in that fight though the 1980s. So I found lots of this more modern Irish history fascinating. I also downloaded the movie Michael Collins (Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts) to see how Hollywood depicts it.

After a good guerrilla war, it was back to booze. Ben and I went to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Again, more than a few Irishman (and women) have taken a wee drop over the centuries. There is a great old quote, "If it wasn't for whiskey and red headed women, the Irish would rule the world!"

So, Jameson is the best selling Irish Whiskey of them all. This was a very good tour, better than most booze tours I have taken. They really explain well how whiskey is made, but also what is different about Irish Whiskey (distilled three times for one thing, which makes it smoother). The best part of the tour was the end. Again, they are really proud of their Irish Whiskey. They give you a small shot of American Whiskey (Jack Daniels), a small shot of Scotch Whisky (Johnny Walker Black) and then a shot of Jameson Wiskey. Then they take you through each one explaining the differences in tastes and how they were made differently (JD for example is a lot more rough, as it is distilled only once). Poor Ben just got juice.

So after  hours of booze and guerrilla war, I ended the day by seeing Molly Malone again, and meeting back up with the rest of the family.

Great day in Dublin.