On Thursday, August 24 I woke up super early to take a bus, than the metro and then the Amtrak to Newark International Airport where I waited for 7 hours for my flight to Dublin. I chose to fly out of Newark so I could have a direct flight to Dublin. My flight was really good and super fast - just five and a half hours. I landed in Dublin at 7:30am local time (2:30am my time). After going through customs, getting my luggage and freshening up in the ladies room I meet the McKeown's who had been in Ireland for 2 weeks.
I had no expectations of this trip - because I had been to Ireland 6 years prior, in 2011. But I had never been to Dublin and while I know our time in Dublin was short, I had ask Karen if we could tour the Guinness Stonehouse. Right, I am so corrupt - asking the McKeown's to go to Guinness! But as I was telling people about my trip to Ireland everyone said I had to go to Guinness because of the amazing views of Dublin. McKeown's agreed to go and so off we went to downtown Dublin!
The Guinness Stonehouse has been open for tours since 2000, but the building itself was built in 1902 as a fermentation plant (where the yeast is added to brew). The building was used as a fermentation plant until 1988. In 1997 it was decided to change the Storehouse into a visitor center. The visitor center has 7 floors surrounding a glass atrium that is shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. On the ground floor the four ingredients are introduced. The four ingredients are water, barley, hops and yeast.
On the next level we learned about the founder of Guinness - Arthur Guinness.
Along with learning about Arthur Guinness and the Guinness family, we also learn about the particulars of Guinness.
We also went into a tasting room, where we learned how to properly drink Guinness. Both Karen and I drank our Guinness. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but it wasn't something I would probably drink again. However, on the 7th floor is the Gravity Bar and there you can drink a pint of Guinness while enjoying the views of Dublin - we opted to just enjoy the views of Dublin.
Overall, it was a lovely tour and very informative. I was a tad tired at the end, but I am so glad we went.
After the Guinness tour we headed home to Newcastle with a stop to eat lunch at Burger King (not joking). When we got to Newcastle, Karen let me rest for 3 hours and boy did I sleep well. After resting we took a walk along the Irish Sea and dipped our toes into the very cold water.
After our walk we had what became our staple dinner while in Newcastle, the amazing chicken pot pie and chips. It is so good!
Karen being a gracious and amazing host!
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