Day 1: Dublin

Welcome

This blog picks up after we land in Dublin on Monday 21st January 2019. The airplane meals will not be mentioned in this post but I will attempt to detail future flights.

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We arrived in Dublin at 6am this morning after a 27hr commute. After checking into our accommodation we breakfasted at Dollard and Co. I ordered a 'Full Irish' consisting of scrambled eggs, toast, hash brown, bacon, sausage, beans, and two different shades of black pudding. Some of the components were tasty but overall it was exhausting to eat and I didn't quite finish.

My ‘Full Irish’

We then visited the Guiness Storehouse and during our tour learned how the master brewers at the St James's Gate brewery create the unique character of Guiness using only four ingredients: barley, hops, yeast, and water. The high point of the tour was the section on coopering.

FACT: Guiness used to employ over 300 highly skilled coopers.

FACT: Coopers usually apprenticed for around seven years before they were properly trained.

FACT: At times there were up to 250,000 casks stacked in the yards outside the brewery.

Another highlight was our ‘Stoutie’.