Thursday, September 16, 2010

The (Drinking) Culture of Ireland


Some places are better known for their historical and cultural elements and others for their ideality for partying. Dublin is unique in that its defining cultural elements are pubs, breweries and distilleries. I take back what I said about not caring for museums.

I took the ferry into Dublin and arrived Friday evening. I wandered along the River Liffey, which splits Dublin into North and South, and marveled at pub after pub, from which the cheers and laughs of exultant Irish could be heard. I settled into one at random and ordered my first Guinness. By the end of the trip it would be my favorite beer. A couple of hours and a few Karaoke songs later, I met up with my guide, who had recently moved to Dublin and offered to let me stay on his couch. We went to Templebar, a popular cobblestoned walkway lined with bars, and crooned along as a guitarist performed cover songs well into the night.

My visit to the Jameson Irish Whiskey Museum the next day coincided with my first European hangover. Whiskey in the afternoon was about the last thing I wanted, but I reminded myself that this was a cultural stop. Skipping out for a hangover was no different then not going to see the Louvre in Paris. It’s irresponsible drinking. And yes, I just compared a whiskey factory to the Louvre. I collected my wits and my camera and made my way.

There are basically three types of whiskey: Irish, American and Scotch. Scotch has a smoky flavor, which comes from treating the malt with peat smoke. American whiskey is made with corn instead of grain mash, giving it a sweeter quality. Irish Whiskey is known for its smoothness, which comes from triple distillation. As this was explained to us we were handed a shot of each and I was happy there aren’t 5 types of whiskey.

First, the barley is malted, or converted to sugar. It is then mashed by adding hot water and stirring. Yeast is added to the malt and water and it is set-aside for fermentation. The spirit is extracted through distillation, then put into oak casks and stored for several years. Finally, the different barrels of whiskey are “married” in a large vat to give it a uniform taste across all bottles.

Next stop was the Guinness Brewery, a self guided tour that culminated with a Guinness in their Gravity bar, 10 stories high and offering a 360 degree view of Dublin. The Guinness is made on site and the rows of giant vats and complicated maze of pipes is impressively set against the Dublin skyline.

Our last stop on the Dublin culture tour was a famous church where Arthur Guinness was married and Mary Mercer was buried. It was recently converted to a bar! Dublin clearly has a drinking problem, but it is improving. There are 850 pubs in Dublin. In 1750, there were 4,000. And that, my friends, is progress.

Realizing the danger my liver was in if we stayed in Dublin, my guide and my new friends decided to get out of town and go visit the other thing Ireland has lots of – greenery. We headed to Powerscourt, the former castle and estate of the earl of Kildare. This place was magical. Let me paint a picture. I am sitting on the stone terrace of a 14th century castle, looking out over a sprawling lawn, a cascading staircase that stretches several hundred feet, at the feet of which a grand fountain sits and sprays water high into the air, all presented with a back drop of lush rolling hills and a single distant, mountain peak. I must be dreaming.

We strolled through the gardens and let our imaginations wander. We climbed a cannon tower, navigated wooded trails, sat in the Japanese garden, visited a dolphin pond that, disappointingly, had no dolphins, and then we rolled down a steep, grassy hill and laughed like kids. After, we were sore like adults.

My last night in Dublin I went on a literary pub crawl - two actors took us to the drinking establishments frequented by James Joyce, Bram Stoker, Flan O'Brien, and James Plunkett, reenacting famous scenes from their token novels along the way. Paris has its cafes and Dublin has its pubs.

Most fun I’ve had so far:
1. Dublin
2. London

Check out more pictures from Dublin here.

2 comments:

  1. looks fun dude, wish I was there.

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  2. Never been to dublin but heard people are friendly. Think that is because of the tan and black. Think i got that right sa
    fe travels

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