The Great Whiskey Tour

I should probably finish this no? I'm sure there are people waiting with BAITED breath as to my many adventures in Ireland.

We left Kilarney on June 11th and headed for Dublin. The southern coast of Ireland is gorgeous and we really enjoyed this part of the trip. In fact, or favorite part of the trip was in this part of the country.

about midday we made it to the Old Midleton Distillery in Cork, IE. I'm not big on things like historical tours and such, but this one, although a little pricey (20 euro) was was alot of fun.

we went through the whole process of how whiskey is distilled and made. Whiskey, if you weren't aware, is a national obsession in Ireland. The new Jameson distillery is on the same site as this one (massive, massive place) and 1/2 of their entire production run every year is consumed on the island. that is a RIDICULOUS amount of whiskey.

at the end of our tour, they asked for any of us who wanted to to do a taste testing, and noone volunteered, so i decided to. now a taste testing at a whiskey distillery is similar to that at a wine tasting, where they focus on smell and tastes and sublties and explain to you the difference between types of whiskey. (what kind of water is used, what kind of stone the pathway into the distillery is made of, etc etc). and surprisingly there is a very big difference.

despite the numerous jokes that flow around her about my drinking habits, i'm not a strong drinker and especially not a strong liquor drinker. before this trip and this taste testing, i didn't like whiskey at all, or any liquor for that matter. what they had us do in the taste testing is taste 4 types of Irish Whiskey, and then pick a favorite and then taste our favorite type of whiskey against a scotch and a bourbon (all of these are the same types of alcohol, just slight differences in the distillation process)


so i tasted my whiskeys and bourbon and scotches and definitely came out in favor of the Jameson whiskey. So i bought a bottle of 12 year old Jameson that is only available for purchase in Ireland, at this distillery. i rarely ever drink it, but it's a cool bottle and my friends who like it enjoy it.

funny story from the distillery. everyone who wasn't tastesting got a free glass of jameson 5-7 year whiskey (basic stuff). that means kim got one. when i got done with the taste testing, i found kim and said, where do we go to next (she's the navigator). she got out her trusty Irish road map, looked at it for a second and then put it away. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I think we should eat lunch here," she replied. "I can't read the map." Apparently Irish whiskey is too strong for kim. ;) i took a picture of the exact time of Kim's afternoon drunkenness.