I was recently lucky enough to visit Ireland for the first time for a meeting with Google at their Dublin offices. Having always wanted to visit Dublin, I was excited to say the least, but knew that at most we would only have the afternoon to explore our surroundings after our meeting had finished.
Myself and my colleague had thrown around a few ideas about what we could do with our free time, but I think we both knew deep down that if it’s your first time in Dublin and you only have a few hours to spend doing ‘touristy’ things there is really only one place to visit: the Guinness factory, of course!
The factory is really good fun, especially for fans of the drink and its merchandise, which you can purchase in the massive gift shop on the ground floor. Parts of the original factory and its machinery have been lovingly restored and can now be seen on different floors of the pint glass-shaped building (it’s true – it’s shaped like a Guinness glass!). It’s also great looking back at all of the advertising campaigns and trying to see how many you can remember. There is a tasting station halfway up the ‘pint glass’, where you can taste small tumblers of differently coloured Guinness and also a training bar where you can pay extra to learn how to pull the perfect pint. But the pièce de résistance is the 360 degree bar at the top of the building which boasts stunning panoramic views of the city skyline. We were lucky to be there on a sunny, relatively cloudless day and so got to appreciate this much more than we could have wished for. As part of the admission price of your ticket, you get a free pint of Guinness to enjoy in this bar; a great way to end the tour.
I have tried Guinness on a couple of occasions at home (usually on St Patrick’s Day) and haven’t really been able to acquire a taste for it as it is so heavy and seems to fill me up pretty quickly (meal in a glass, anyone?). But I have to say that it is true what the Irish say about Guinness tasting better in Ireland. It really does. I’ve heard rumours that it’s because the drink doesn’t travel well and so never tastes as good once it’s been exported. But whatever the reason may be, they’re right. It is so much smoother, creamier and (this may have been a figment of my imagination) lighter when poured in its home country. Drinking my pint of Guinness whilst admiring Dublin’s skyline in the 360 bar made me decide that I definitely want to find out more about this city, its wonderfully friendly people and lovely buildings. I’ll be back, Dublin, and next time I’m bringing my drinking hat with me.
Didn’t make it to the brewery, but to this day have only had Guinness in Ireland, and it was great! Dublin gets a bad rap, but I liked it! People blame it for having lots of people and not being “real Ireland”, but why does NYC & London get a free pass on that?
Exactly! I thought it was a great place with a good vibe. Even the taxi drivers were friendly. Ireland is definitely somewhere I want to explore more now, and maybe travel around for a few weeks or so.