Bar Life

For my last post about Dublin, it has to be about the Bar Life for which the Irish are so famous. Here I present a mishmash of 'Bar Life' events from our trip to Dublin. For this experience Dale and I toured Jameson. It's no secret to you all the Dale loves Whiskey (remember he got to tour the distilleries in Scotland for his birthday this year?). Well, he somehow talked me into touring yet another distillery.

It ended up being pretty interesting to learn the difference between Irish Whiskey and Scottish Whisky. The main difference is Irish distill a third time while the Scotts distill twice.

Dale got chosen to be a special Whiskey taste tester and that entailed trying three different Whiskey's to detect different flavors. The tour guide didn't say which was which and let every taster decide their favorite before he announced that they all had picked Jameson. I thought that was surprising and pretty cool! But, I'm not a whiskey drinker so maybe Jameson is easy to detect or something.

We also visited The Stags Head, of which I've included a picture of the namesake above. Luckily I had printed off a Dublin guide from a local Dubliner posted on Design Sponge and the guide had suggested The Stags Head is the most traditional and authentic pub in Dublin. With a description like that, how could I not visit?! From my experience, The Stags Head is indeed everything the Dubliner said it was. I definitely recommend this spot to rub elbows with the locals and the live music doesn't hurt either!

As fine as The Stags Head is, we wouldn't have been proper tourists without stopping into The Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is quite famous for it's lively atmosphere and live traditional music every night. The night we stopped in was no exception and we happily sat for a while listening to the music.

For our farewell to Dublin at The Temple Bar Dale enjoyed a Guinness and Jameson while I finally tried an Irish Whiskey. Boy was that the finest Irish Whiskey I've ever had. Between that and the hot chocolates, I am convinced there is something magical in the Irish cream. (That would probably be fat! Ha!)

And in case you drink too much at any of the abundance of pubs all the cross walks remind you which way to look before crossing the street. A tool I found useful since there were so many one ways, I never was sure which way traffic was going to be coming at me! 

One last stop of note is Leo Burdock's, a traditional fish and chips spot. There is a small seating area but after hours it's just take away. No matter where you choose to eat it, these fish and chips are quite tasty! They even made a malt vinegar on chips fan of me. I can't get enough now!

And with that we bid farewell to Dublin. I had a fantastic and relaxing time in Dublin and cannot tell you enough how friendly everyone was (or maybe I've been living in Stockholm too long). I hope to return to this friendliest of cities some day!

Love Always,

Matilda