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Published: June 17th 2017
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Skipped a day… been enjoying the Guinness and triple distilled Irish whiskey a little too much. Bo kissed the Irish for good luck, but it's been the same set of lips he's kissed for the last 20 years. As we write this, we are enjoying our new favorite drink: Irish ice tea. Discovered it while visiting the Teelings distillery. We hope to buy some bottles in duty free to share with friends and family when we get home. Teelings is the only operational Irish whiskey distillery in Dublin. There used to be many many more, until the US prohibition combined with changes in whiskey technology obliterated the Irish whiskey industry in the early 20th century. We don't have the natural beauty of Iceland here to enjoy, so we mostly partook in the local customs: Guinness, Irish whiskey, friendly tails and storytelling, Irish cream, and Irish coffee.
Turns out, Ireland is not as kid and family friendly as other places in Europe. Don't get us wrong, Dublin is a lovely place. We did visit the local attractions including the Dublin spire, the Dublin Castle, the oldest pub in Europe, and sampled the local shopping and food. We enjoyed local, traditional Irish
music, but had a hard time finding Irish dancing. Ginger tried to get a tattoo but the place she wanted was closed and all booked up. Besides, she made a pact with her brother and sister to get a four leaf clover together as a family event to commemorate their Irish blood.
A few observations: they still smoke a lot over here and Dublin has become much busier and more multicultural then it was when I visited 20 years ago. They don't use the city to its fullest potential, it's not the prettiest city – a little grubby... that said, it's still a cool place to visit: over 1000 pubs and many historical sites. We learned a bit about the Irish independence and their involvement in World War I. We saw some of the sites on a hop on hop off bus tour. And, we arrived on the day they elected a new prime minister: the first immigrant/gay man to be the prime minister of Ireland. Pretty progressive stuff.
A few words about Irish whiskey… It's the only whiskey in the world that is triple distilled. It follows a similar process to brewing beer, but no hops are
added. They don't chill the whiskey to reduce evaporation due to year round consistent temperatures, and they don't use peet like the Scottish. This leads to the smooth agreeable taste of Irish whiskey. Casks are reused to age the whiskey from wines and other spirits from all around the world. 60% of the flavor of whiskey comes from the aging process inside the barrels. Ireland used to enjoy 60% of the world trade market for whiskey, but they decreased down to 1%. They stayed above 0% by drinking their own product. Now they are climbing their way back and are currently at 5% according to the fine people at the Teelings distillery. One of the interesting stories we heard was about the great whiskey fire in Dublin. 30 or so people died, but it wasn't from the fire or from smoke inhalation, it was because they drowned in the whiskey that spilled as the distilleries burned. We were also given an education on how to drink and enjoy whiskey. We learned you should smell it first with your mouth open. Then you should take a small taste to prepare the pallet. Third, drink a full drink and leave it on
your tongue as long as possible. Since vapors accumulate in your throat, they recommend blowing out after this bigger drink so that you don't feel sick afterwards.Tthis should be taught to every 21-year-old.
Tomorrow we visit the old Dublin jail before catching a plane to Manchester, England to visit family. That's all for now…
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Grandma Sheila
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Do Geneva's eyes look bluer in Ireland?