It is a glorious Sunday in Dublin.
It turns out to be a great decision. I bought the tickets online. I looked at several tour sites - Trip Advisor, Viator and others. I discovered that the best site was the Guinness Storehouse site. Best exhibition of the advantages of the various tours and the pricing appropriate. There are three tours and the objective is to get to the fifth floor bar for a pour of Guinness. Learning is not mandatory.
The basic tour achieves the objective and you learn on the way.
A pint of Guinness is a chalice. At the first sip, you are blind to the realities outside the cool, creamy cocoon of you and the glass. For those milliseconds, the strangers around you are neither your betters nor less. The Irish intrinsically are revolutionists and are uncomfortable with wealth. Centuries of absentee landowners will do that to you. So maybe in the quiet moment, you are better than the lordly gentleman drinking his claret.
It is an Irishman's prayer. Heaven is Guinness on tap.
The symbol of Guinness is the Irish harp facing left. The harp was adopted in 1862 and trademarked in 1875. The Irish government "coat of arms" faces to the right.
Or, at least, the Irish would say.
Guinness was founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness at St James's Gate. Arthur was smart enough to take a 1,000 year lease on the property. Presently, Guinness is brewed in almost 50 countries and sales in over 120.
The Irish are very proud of the 1,000 year lease - "stick it to the man" approach to capitalism.
The steps to the Fifth floor are informative. Guinness is nitrogenerated. Guinness is best served at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Both of these qualities make the product on tap preferred and not quite prefect in the bottle.
Guinness is not black. It is ruby red. Next time, hold your first pint to the light. By knowing this simple fact, you will appear to be an experienced drinker of "the creamy, dreamy", a world traveler and de facto, Irish.
I will also mention that the glass makes a different. A thicker glass holds the beer at the ideal temperature longer.
The other strengths are the hops and the barley which is brewed at exactly 232 degrees Celsius (449.6 F). How they discovered that seems to be secret.
The 10:15 entry is perfect. We are not tripping over the tours in front of us and the larger tour groups are still an hour away. The objective is the pour.
Caroline, Bill and I take the walk up the stairs and learn about Guinness and the products. Betty views a few exhibits and takes the elevator to the fifth floor. Her foot is still healing and painful.
We arrive at the fifth floor bar for our free pint. At 11:20, the best window seats in the glass circular room are few. Betty has saved us great seats.
We have lunch on the fourth floor. The fourth floor offers multiple restaurants. We chose the cafeteria. Great Choice. "The best Irish Stew I have ever eaten" is not historic Irish - it has meat. The star of the stew is the gravy. It makes the dish.
I have the oysters. Oysters and Guinness are epicurcean. Yep, they go together well.
Of course, another Guinness.
We have 2:20 PM tickets at Teeling Distillery. Lunch and Gift Shopping is leisurely. A cab to Teeling is 7 minutes away. We are warm inside and the day is comfortable outside.
The origin of the word - Whiskey - may be from either Ireland and Scotland. "Uisge beatha" or "usuebaugh" is Gaelic for "water of life". A translation from the Latin, "aqua vitae" describes the joy of Spirits. Both Ireland and Scotland claim to have given birth to whiskey.
At one time, Ireland produced approximately 60% of the whiskey consumed in the western world. Because of over production (quantity over quality), trade war with England and Prohibition, Irish Whiskey consumption dropped to 6% of the world market.
Dublin had 37 distilleries. By 2010, there was not a distillery in Dublin.
Fortunately, there has been a rebirth of Irish Whiskey. Irish whiskey is differentiated from other whiskeys by being tripled distilled, using unmalted barley and in barrel for 3 years.
(Tennessee whiskey is at least 51% corn and aged in barrel for a minimum of 2 years)
Again, I found that the best way to order tickets is online and from the distillery's website. The issue with the tour websites are that they broker "tour" groups who may have a mark up and tend to promote the more expensive tours and/or their services which may or may not be worth the additional cost. As always, shop.
We have chosen the second tier tour which involves a tasting of Teeling whiskeys at the end of tour.
Teeling is an Irish whiskey distillery established in Dublin in 2015. It is the first new distillery to have opened in Dublin in over 125 years. The last of the original Dublin distilleries closed in 1976.
The distillery was founded by Jack and Stephen Teeling, whose father John Teeling had founded the Cooley Distillery in 1987.
Located in Dublin's "Liberties" area (the historical epicentre of distilling dubbed the "golden triangle" of Irish whiskey), it is close to where Walter Teeling, an ancestor of the family had established a distillery on Marrowbone Lane in 1782.
The first whiskey produced at this distillery was released in November of this year. Teeling has been bottling and selling the whiskeys from the 16,000 casks that their father, John, had negotiated when Cooley Distillery was sold to Jim Beam.
The tour was excellent. It is informative and moves to the tasting with speed.
The tour outlines the history of whiskey in Ireland and Dublin. Teeling is triple distilled. It is remarkable small operation. It is simple and direct.
The objective is consistent - produce alcohol.
When the unmalted barley has started to shoot, the germination is stopped by drying in a kiln using wood and other sources including peat.
This grounded "malt" is now called "grist". "Grist" is converted into "mash" using water. The water for Teeling comes from a specific source outside of Dublin.
The process results in "wort" - "the sugars in the malt dissolve and these are drawn off through the bottom of the mash tun".
Yeast is added to the "wort" which turns the sugars into alcohol. This liquid is low in alcohol (similar to beer and ale) and is called "wash". The process, at this point, is the same as beer.
It is the distillation process increase the alcohol. Irish whiskey is distilled three times - but at this point - the alcohol could be gin or volka.
The taste and quality of the whiskey is a combination of the water, yeast, barrels and, the key, the skill of the stillman.
Barrels give the alcohol it's color and flavor. Today, distilleries use barrels from the wineries of California, Spain, France, other whiskey barrels and experimentations.
As we finished the tour, we see the first barrel of Dublin distilled Irish whiskey to be released for nearly 50 years. Bottle No. #1 sold at auction in September for 10,000 sterling. The sale went to local charities.
Finally, we enter the tasting room. We have a tasting of four Teeling whiskeys (bottled from John Teeling's 16,000 casks). They were all great, Bill, Caroline and I liked the least expensive best.
It was smooth, excellent "nose" and it tasted great.
We meet Betty in the cafe and shop the gift shop.
It is almost 4:30. We easily located a cab. Unfortunately, the cab cannot locate our residence - even with GPS. With the meter running, Caroline has anticipated the problem and has the directions on her phone.
A turn here and a turn there. Oops, turn back to the previous corner turn left. Caroline saved the day and reduced the driver's income. In the driver's defense, not a lot of cabs in the area and a number of one way streets.
We are home. And, dinner is whatever is in the refrigerator.
P.S. Guinness is owned by Diageo plc located in London. It is in good company with other brands, such as, Johnnie Walker.
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