Category: Travel in Europe

I commented to Merideth before we left on this trip that we were probably going to be punished for all the good weather we had last month in Germany. That was the impetus for us leaving an offering to St. Brigid.

Unfortunately, the offering hasn’t been enough, as we suffer through another day of rain. We have pretty much finished up the shooting for One Pint at a Time, but instead of enjoying the natural beauty of the Wicklow Mountains, we are in a pub in Laragh enjoying pints and free wireless.

We did try to get some hiking in today. The plan was to do a 9km around the Upper Lake at Glendalough National Park. And even though it was raining lightly, we tried to tough it out but we ended up getting soaked doing a shorter 3-4km loop.

To cure our rain soaked chill, we drank a couple of pints at a nearby pub. And while we were sitting there, it stopped raining so we decided to give it another go. Guinness IS strength…

But after 3kms, it started raining again, so we packed it in for good.  Oh… and these little mosquito-type things bit the crap out of my legs.

But to catch you up on the last couple of days… the other morning, we left Cork, driving east to our last major beer stop of the trip… Carlow Brewing. Many people in the States will be familiar with their O’Hara’s Stout.

Located in the town and county of the same name, Carlow Brewing is one of the Irish breweries we first visited in October 1999. And things looked pretty familiar, as the train station was still next door.

We were able to meet with the brewer, Liam Hanlon, and he was kind enough to take time out of his busy day to talk beer with us. And I do mean busy. To keep up with demand they are currently brewing twice a day. Due to Liam’s limited time, we skipped the brewery tour and went straight to tasting.

Carlow has three main beers; Curim Gold Wheat, O’Hara’s (formerly Molings) Red and O’Hara’s Stout.

The Stout is definitely the star, with a flavor that is much more assertive than the big brand Irish Stouts.

But the Red and Wheat are also good, with the Wheat really standing out for both of us. It is an American-style wheat hopped with Cascade. If you can imagine a warm summer day in Ireland – something hard for us to do right now – Curim would be the perfect beer.

We are off to Dublin tomorrow for the last day of our trip and we’ll be flying home on Sunday. As promised, we are going to check out a few new pubs and see if I can get into Messrs Maguire wearing shorts.

Nitro Challenge Update: Merideth has yet to order a large bottle of Guinness from the shelf… she says it is too carbonated. Meanwhile, for me, there has been only two pubs that have not had bottles… The tally is now 41 pints.

 

I think it is said that Ireland has two seasons; rain and no rain. During our time in County Cork, we got to experience both seasons compacted into two days.

On Monday, we left the rugged west coast of Clare for the hopefully sunny environs of County Cork.  Our first destination was Glandore, a town in West Cork that we particularly enjoy. And sun was definitely needed because what we like to do is sit outside and enjoy a few beers.  Yes, it is possible to sit outside in Ireland and enjoy a beer.

The weather on the drive south was touch and go… light rain mixing with heavier rain, but mostly just clouds.

When we left Blarney – we made a quick stop at Blarney Castle – and started driving west, it was evident that our offering to St. Brigid was working; at least for this day. Clear blue skies could be seen in the distance and that was what awaited us in Glandore.

On the stretch of road overlooking the bay, there are two pubs with outdoor seating across the road. So, after 4+ hours of driving, we were able to enjoy a pleasant lunch and a couple of pints of beer.

And better yet, the Glandore Inn had the large bottles of Guinness, so I didn’t add to the nitro tally, which is already much bigger than I had considered before the trip.

After our lunch, we headed back east to Cork City, which was the main destination of our visit to this part of Ireland.

We had three tasks to complete in Cork City:

1. To revisit the Franciscan Well brewpub, which we last visited in 1999
2. Visit The Bierhaus, a beer bar in the city
3. Do the Beamish tour

Under still pleasant skies we accomplished #s 1 and 2 on the first evening.

Franciscan Well is located on an alleyway along North Mall on the Lee River. The one and only time we visited this brewery was in 1999 and memories of that time, besides it being down an alley, are slim.

The bar area looked familiar, but there was also a very nice outdoor seating area that we don’t remember from nine years ago. Armed with our taster set, we found a nice quiet corner to relax.

We tried five of their beers, the highlight being the lager and the red. And as Merideth said, it was nice to drink something that wasn’t Guinness. You might think that is blasphemy for traveling in Ireland, but there are only so many pints of Guinness you can drink before you want some variety.

Located a few blocks down from Franciscan Well on Popes Quay is The Bierhaus. I was told by a member of the Irish Craft Brewer message board that this was a place we had to visit. And they were right.

The beer selection at The Bierhaus is world class by Irish standards and ‘really good’ to someone who lives in California. The best Irish craft beers are served along with all your favorite Belgian and continental beers. And if you have a hankering for a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, you can get that too.

The Bierhaus will be celebrating their second anniversary in August and here’s to many more.

Tuesday, we got the other end of the weather spectrum…rain and lots of it.

Our main task of this day was to do the Beamish tour. Well, they don’t offer a tour of the brewery for insurance reasons, but you do get to sit in their hospitality room and drink pints and watch videos. And the best thing, besides watching the health and safety video, is you get to pour your own beers.

We stuck to the Beamish beers. We could also try the beers they brew under license: Miller, Fosters and Carling, but why would we do that?

I tried the Red Ale – that is all I have to say about that – but the Beamish Stout is as enjoyable as a pint of Guinness. If I had to compare the two, I would say that Beamish has more of a toast flavor.

There has been a brewery on the Beamish site since the 1600s. But the Beamish Brewery, founded in 1792, might be approaching it’s last days. Recently, their parent company, Scottish and Newcastle was purchased and butchered by the two beer giants Heineken and Carlsberg. Heineken, which already owns Murphy’s in Cork, ended up with Beamish as well… maybe.

The Irish equivalent of the FTC is looking into the sale and is expected to rule in October. While Heineken has promised to continue brewing Beamish Stout, it is hard to believe that they would keep both breweries in Cork open.

After the tour, it rained cats and dogs and we ended up back at The Bierhaus. When you find a good thing, keep going back.

Nitro Challenge Update: Our visit to Cork was helpful in slowing down the early blistering pace. We are now up to 32 pints.

 

Saturday, Chris and I drove to Doolin, County Clare. Doolin might be our favorite place in all of Ireland. A certain travel personality, whose initials are ‘RS’, describes it as ‘touristy’, but we decided that “international” is a better word for it. There are a lot of tourists, but not the usual ‘eat at McDonalds while in Europe’ kind. People from all over the world come to Doolin for the hiking, biking and other adventuresome things to do in the West of Ireland. Of course we met a few cool people while there over the weekend.

Saturday evening, we started out at Gus O’Connors, probably the most popular pub in Doolin and our sentimental favorite. We intended to play some Scrabble, have a few pints, and enjoy the Euro 2008 match between Russia and the Netherlands. However, the manager decided not to show the match because it would interfere with the dinner crowd. We were actually going to do both, eat and drink, but alas, we headed to McDermott’s pub so that we could watch the game.

McDermott’s was actually the suggestion of Maureen, one of the bartenders at Gus O’Connors, who we see every time we go to Doolin. I finally decided to ask her how long she had worked there. She tried to tell me that it was her third night. I told her that I knew that was wrong because we had been coming for years and she eventually admitted that Chris looked familiar. More incredible than saying Chris looked familiar was that she has worked at Gus O’Connors for 28 years!!!

We had a great time at McDermott’s watching the game, eating and drinking. We shared a table with a couple from the Czech Republic. They have been living and working in Cork for three years. We explained our difficulty with the Czech language and we all agreed that our experiences in Czech would be better if we had some native speakers to help us out. They may be moving back to Czech in the future, so we exchanged e-mail addresses just in case we plan another trip there.

Saturday, a winter-type storm hit the area. A steady gale force wind blew all night and the rain came down in buckets! Maureen said it was hardest she had ever seen it rain there.

Luckily, we made it in and out of the pubs in between bursts and we never got caught in it. However, a local gift shop was not so lucky and got flooded. It is located at the bottom of a slope. The rain was out of control and everything washed down the hill and into the store. The fire brigade even came to pump out the water. They had not yet reopened when we left Doolin on Monday.

Sunday brought more unsettled weather but to make the day more of a struggle, we seemed to run into eejits wherever we turned.

At breakfast, we heard the Irish guide for a group of Americans say that the ferry ride out to the Aran Islands would not be too rough and not to worry. I believe the quote was something about a car ride would be bumpier. Okay, the one time we went out to the Aran Islands, the crew handed out barf bags because there was a storm raging. With few exceptions, all passengers utilized these nifty clear plastic bags and that day was not nearly as stormy as Sunday’s weather.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get a follow up on how the ferry ride scored on the barf-o-meter, but my guess is that it was high. The guide’s comment led one American woman to state, “It’s a sea storm.” Well, yea, you’re on an island!

We survived breakfast and headed out to Biddy Early Brewery in Inagh to drink some beer and to do some filming.

On our way to Biddy Early, we made a quick stop and tried to do something about the weather. All over Ireland, there are holy wells where people wish for everything from being cured of a disease to wealth and prosperity. There is one such well, dedicated to St. Brigit, a few minutes from Doolin. We did give an offering to St. Brigit for good weather, so we’ll see if she shines on us.

When we got to Biddy Early, three Irish lads were sitting at the bar. These guys proceeded to play video clips on their phone and play a selection of music including “Eye of the Tiger” multiple times at loud volume. And the best part, they did it while drinking a Baileys, a cider, and the third guy was drinking Budweiser with a straw.  And they burped loudly, too.  Oh yeah, and the ‘Budweiser with a straw guy’ sprayed air freshener into his mouth. Some would call it local color but we thought they were local eejits.

We kept hoping they would leave, but alas, they waited us out and we surrendered and left. Unfortunately that was one of the worst experiences I have had at a pub. We didn’t get any filming done, which is not too much a loss since the owners are trying to sell the place and it’s in a bit of flux.

Sunday night, our last night in Doolin, ended on a good note. Back at Gus O’Connors, they decided to play Sunday night’s football match between Spain and Italy. We took our seats at the bar and spent four hours watching football, listening to Irish music and enjoying conversations with the other punters.

For those interested in our little ‘nitro challenge’, we have already amassed 23 pints of nitro beer. Of course, I am responsible for a lion’s share of these, since Chris is drinking the bottled Stout wherever he can find it.

Sunday night, the weather seemed to be clearing up a bit and we were hopeful that the weather would continue to improve as we traveled south to Cork on Monday.

 

Last week, I finished a book on the history of the Guinness Brewery. In talking about the death of Arthur Guinness, it mentioned where he was buried… in County Kildare just outside of Dublin. Of course, a light bulb went off in my head. I had the bright idea that we should visit his grave.

The odd thing is that the grave of one of the most well known Irishman in history is not sign-posted, nor is it very easy to find information on it. But armed with the name of the graveyard and a town, I was able to locate its proximity on a map.

So after landing at Dublin Airport yesterday, we picked up a rental car and embarked on our quest to find the grave of Arthur Guinness.

Although we did get off the wrong exit, it was quite easy to backtrack on a country lane that paralleled the Grand Canal. We found the graveyard within a few minutes of leaving the highway.

Located on a quiet stretch of road, the graveyard sits on top of a hill surrounded by fields. After wandering around for a few minutes looking at gravestones, Merideth found what we were looking for… Arthur himself.

There was a great sense of satisfaction in successfully completing our first task of the day.

The second task of the day was to get to Roscommon, a town not on most tourist agendas, despite having one of the finest examples of an Anglo-Norman castle in all of Ireland.

So why were we in Roscommon?

If anyone remembers my December post “Dublin Discovery“, I mentioned how much I loved this beer called Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale. When I tried it in December, I knew I wanted to visit the brewery. And Roscommon is the home of the Galway Hooker Brewery.

I arranged for us to meet up with the brewer, Aidan Murphy. It was very generous of Aidan to accommodate us on a Friday afternoon when he was finishing up a brew.

We were able to sample the beer straight out of the fermenters and I have to say… Wow! It was even more hoppy and wonderful than I remembered… an amazing brew. Definitely seek out this beer when you are in Ireland. Check out the Irish Craft Brewers website; they keep a list of pubs that serve craft beer.

Thanks again to Arthur and Aidan for making Day 1 of our trip pretty special.

To view all the trip images click here.