Dublin and Ireland have been in the news quite often lately for the encouraging tales of the strength of its economy and the incredible growth and development of commerce and tourism that is happening there. We were expecting to see a city bursting with rich-looking, new buildings, gleaming streets and shiny, happy people. We didn't.
We did find a very busy city with lots of evidence of Polish and other Eastern European immigrants, who weren't particularly well-suited for the service industry as they don't smile easily and aren't terribly warm or friendly, and lots of interesting historic structures.
We tackled the task of attempting to see all that Dublin has to offer in one day by using an I-Walk podcast that we downloaded from the excellent Visit Dublin website. These electronic walking tours loaded onto our mp3 players were a good way to learn a bit about what we were seeing while covering lots of territory. (If you go, do the Guinness I-Walks; they are the best of the bunch.)
After walking more kilometers than we could keep track of, we opted to go to the Jameson Distillery for a tour. In the first couple of moments, the tour guide informed us that he was going to choose 4 volunteers from the group for a special tasting. I nudged Michiel and convinced him that this was the right time to not be shy. At the end of our very quick trip through the original storehouse, we came to the tasting room, where we all had the choice of a straight glass of whiskey, a glass on the rocks or a glass of whiskey mixed with cranberry juice or ginger ale (my favorite!). Michiel was, indeed, chosen as a special taster. He received 5 shot glasses filled with brown liquor. He was first asked to choose his favorite among three of the Irish whiskeys (all made by Jameson). Once he chose his favorite (Powers), he was asked to choose between the smoky tasting and harsher (only distilled 2 times) Scottish whisky (Scottish whisky is spelled without the "e") and the smooth Irish whiskey (distilled three times and the barley is not heated with the peat that gives Scottish whisky its smoky flavor. Finally, he was asked to compare the Irish whiskey to an American whiskey, which is distilled only once and is aged in a new wooden barrel.
Michiel (and all of the others, even the Scotsman) found the Irish whiskey to be the smoothest and tastiest of the bunch. The contestants ended up being some of the best-selling liquors in the world: Johnny Walker Red and Jack Daniels. Here is Michiel enjoying his privileges as a taster. (He even received a certificate to show that he is a certified Irish Whiskey taster.)
We couldn't call it a complete day without going to a real Irish pub and drinking the uncarbonated variety of Guinness sold in Ireland and listening to live Irish music.I'll spare you the details of our poor hostel accommodation that had no water and end this little chapter by saying that we are now enjoying spring in the Netherlands. The grass and trees are green, the flowers are blooming, the newborn lambs are jumping and hay fever is again a regular phrase in my vocabulary.
