Guinness Brewery - Blogabond

After careful consultation with our trusty Lonely Planet book -complete with trusty map- we made our way towards the Guinness Brewery for a squiz at how the black stuff is made and a taste test. It didn't look too far on the map, a few blocks this way, a few blocks that way and hey presto you'd be there... but it WAS a long walk (well, about 40 mins) and by the time we got to the Brewery I was pretty tired and HOT! Ireland achieved what has almost been impossible through out our trip, and that is, produce warm, sunny, cloud free, weather. So warm in fact I had to actually put sun cream on in fear of burning! It was truly delightful!

The brewery has 7 levels to it and you of course start and end with the merchandise store. We by passed this and head off to see the proceedur that is under taken to make the black booze. They use hops, barley, water and yeast, they burn the barley, they water down the barley, they mash the barley and at some stage, add the hops and yeast. It's fermented, it's tested and eventually it's bottled and tasted. That's the laymans guided tour to the Guinness Brewery anyhow.

What I was really interested in was the fact that Arthur Guinness had signed a 9000 year lease to the building, and he did this in the 1800s, so there's still plenty of time before they have to start packing their boxes and looking for a new place to 'live' I was also interested in how they make the old wooden beer barrels. There was an oldie day film on it and it was pretty amazing and labour intensive! They carved, sheered, shaped, steamed, hammered everything together by hand to make these water tight barrels, I found it really impressive and interesting. I also liked the exhibition they had on the artist who drew all the "My goodness my Guinness" posters, cards etc. His name was John Gilroy and the 'zoo keeper' you often see on the posters etc was actually a self portriate of himself, which I found pretty cool.

After mozing about on 6 floors we then head up to the 7th floor, which is a bar, complete with 360 degrees of glass windows so that you can get great views of Dublin city. While here you get to sip on your free glass of Guinness that is included in your admission price. Chris kept telling me of how much better the Guinness here was compared to back home, and I just nodded. I have to be honest and say that I have never liked Guinness, and even in Dublin, where yes, it does taste better than the stuff we get back in Australia, it still doesn't tickle my taste buds. I did try though, I drank half a glass of the stuff in a bid to try and 'get the taste for it' but I really think it's a drink you either love or hate, and I am obviously in the latter group. We did purchase a few goodies from the merchandise store on our way out, just a few little souveniers for when we get home.

We strolled back to the backers in the sunshine and then had a late lunch and packed a bit for our departure tomorrow. Chris is now having a wee nanna nap beside me as I type and I'm thinking of doing the same in a minute! We have plans to head out to a comedy club tonight, we found vouchers that get us in for a cheaper price. Chris was a little hesitant though as the 'major clubs' charge 20 Euro's for entry to their nights, and for this one we only pay 6... he wonders if it means the quality of the show will be 'cheap' too, I say 'bugger it, if all else fails we'll just laugh at their accents!"

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Chris and Emily on May 24, 2009 from Dublin, Ireland

from the travel blog: Europe 2009

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