Drinking Vacation in Dublin Thanksgiving 2014 Day 2

Drinking Vacation in Dublin Thanksgiving 2014 Day 2

  • Irish Castle Tour (Malahide)
  • Jameson Irish Whiskey Factory with Flight Tasting
  • Dinner
  • Drinks at Bad Ass Cafe
  • Fish and Chips at Leo Burdock

Since we were still on East Coast time, we woke up around 11am and completely missed the free breakfast at the Westin. We had a few brochures from the hotel and found a castle tour that left in the afternoon we could still make. We walked over to the tourist office on Lower O’Connell Street and caught the afternoon Coastal Tour.

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We caught the bus right in front of the tourist office and we made our way north towards Manahide Castle. It was about an hour ride up there and I promptly fell asleep somewhere in the middle.

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Once we got to the Castle, we went on a tour of the castle. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the castle. From Wikipedia, in 1975 the castle was sold to the Irish State partly to fund inheritance taxes. Many of the contents, notably furnishings, of the castle had been sold in advance leading to considerable public controversy, but private and governmental parties were able to retrieve some.

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There were three levels of the castle: the main floor, the basement level and the upper level, where the living quarters were.

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We came up on a large room with many paintings. The largest painting was undergoing a major repair and restoration so there have been many

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Once we left the castle, we drove near the coast and we had a short stop there. We had just enough time to grab a quick meal by the coast at Howth Harbor. I’m not exactly sure where we ate since we walked by a few restaurants in the area. It was a nice view of the harbor, but it can get very windy there.

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There were a few nice shops and restaurants nearby in the harbor and it would be a nice quick getaway from Dublin for those who have a car.

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Once we got back into the city, we decided to do the Jameson Tour. My friend’s girlfriend didn’t really like whiskey (I’m not a big fan either) but since we were here, we should do the tour. When we got there, there was still room for the private tasting that costs about 20EUR. This was separate from the tour, but we booked both. We started with the tasting first.

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The tasting was at “The Academy” and you try four different vintages of Jameson’s Whiskey. The taste master explained the process of making the different vintages and what we should be tasting. The older vintages of whiskey was easier to drink, similar to Johnny Walker.

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Next up was the factory tour. We had to leave the private tasting a bit early to catch our tour. When we finished the tasting, we were already buzzed so we welcomed even more alcohol at the factory tour. At the end of the tour, they give you three samples to try, once distilled, twice distilled and triple distilled. They triple distill their whiskey and you can taste the refinement through the subsequent distillation processes.

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After drinking for the past hour and a half, we went off to dinner. I have no clue where we went, but we got some normal pub food in the temple bar area of Dublin. I got a steak whereas my friend got pork belly.

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Our next stop was Bad Ass Cafe, which would have been around the block from the restaurant. We have a few pints.

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I still felt a bit hungry, so we stopped off at Leo Burdock for some fish and chips. It was really good and there was reason why it has been open for 100 years. I would gladly stop back in here anytime I visit Dublin.

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I was still training for a marathon so even though it was 11pm, we both decided to hit the gym to run a few miles. I definitely still felt the fish and chips and beer I ate earlier, but I still completed the 6 mile run on the dreadmill at the Westin gym.

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