ruby slippers: Dublin, Part I: My Goodness, My Guinness

After waking up at three-forty-five in the morning and catching a flight at seven o'clock, what's the first thing you want to do? Say, drink a pint of dark, dry Guinness? Probably not. But, after making our way through Dublin International and a quick bus tour of the city, our first stop in Dublin was the St. James's Gate Brewery. Now, I enjoy the taste of beer quite a lot, including the smooth and rich, coffee-esque taste of Guinness, and I could not have been a in a better location for a brewski; however, walking up the seven flights of stairs to the Guinness Gravity Bar, jet-lagged and fatigued, I feared I would have to pass up a free pint - in Dublin of all places!

Never fear, though.

After a tour of the factory, learning what goes into the brewing process and a bit of history about orginal-brewer Andrew Guinness (about whom our guide spoke as if he were a patron saint), I found that pint delicious and creamy. We learned how to properly taste a Draught Guinness: after allowing it to settle for two minutes, be sure to get a gulp of both the head and the actual beer, swirl it around the tongue while breathing in through the nose, and swallow while breathing out through the mouth. Perhaps it was the Irish freshness, but this little lesson made every flavor of the carefully-brewed, Irish pride burst.

The bar was floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooked the city, and was full of a bunch of Navy and Notre Dame fans in town for the game. Sure, that last factor may have taken away a bit of the "cultural aspect" of the experience, but how cultural can a tourist-trap brewery be, anyway? Suffice it to say, we appreciated the lesson and made plans to do our homework in the pubs of Dublin.