In the land of Guinness!

In the land of Guinness!

Our first full day in Ireland we decided to tour the Guinness Storehouse. I was extremely hesitant about this because I am not actually a huge fan of Guinness. But it was actually a really fun tour. And we got to explore Dublin on the way to the storehouse.

All the streets are decorated for the holidays! 

The streets are lovely, and if you notice they drive the opposite way of most of the rest of the world. I mean it's not a big deal or anything, but this has been the cause of me being almost hit by a few cars. I looked both ways, but I looked last in the wrong direction! 

A pretty library tower in the middle of town.

Christ Church Cathedral or formally known as The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is one of Dublin's oldest buildings. It is a place of pilgrimage for almost 1,000 years. It has also hosted high profile concerts throughout the years. It has one of the largest crypts in in all of the United Kingdom. It extends under the entire Cathedral and contains tomb of Strongbow, the leader of the Normans, who captured Dublin in 1170, as well as the mummified cat and rat,trapped in the organ in the 1860's. 

 In the Guinness Storehouse you get to walk around at your own pace and read and explore whatever you would like or not like. Then at the end of your tour you are able to turn in part of your ticket for a pint of Guinness. You may either learn to pour the perfect pint of Guinness yourself or you can go to the bar and have it poured for you. 

The gate in the name of St. James's Gate Brewery. Which is actually the name of the Guinness brewery. This building was actually leased by Arthur Guinness himself on December 31, 1759. And he was apparently not afraid of failing in this venture because he signed a lease for 9,000 years. They really lucked out with that lease because they only pay £45 annually. 

Oh, and by the way that gate is huge. Here is Eric for scale. Eric is 5'10". 

All the steps and ingredients of Guinness on the street signs. 

At first I thought this sign was funny because it is showing people like me who are going to go get a little tipsy inside their Guinness glass. But it also has another meaning. The Guinness Storehouse is actually the worlds largest Guinness glass. So as you move up the cylindrical glass you have a lovely view of Dublin from the glass sides of the glass. 

They ship beer to over 60 countries. That takes a lot of barley. 

Just you know hanging out with some barley. 

Some yeast from the original batch of Guinness is put into every batch of Guinness. This yeast is kept in a safe in the manager's office. If something should happen to the yeast that they are working with they can use the yeast in the safe to regrow the yeast needed for the fermentation process in a matter of a couple hours. 

Yeah, no big deal or anything, but Guinness has it's own waterfall inside its storehouse. 

I thought this was a nice display of the barrels. Inside this little barrel fort you could watch a video about how the barrels were made from hand. You could also see the original tools used to make the first barrels for Guinness as well as the tools as they changed throughout time. 

Very true! Unfortunately, I will not be in Ireland for St. Patricks day. 

I'm just trying to take the giant bottle. No pasa nada. 

I loved this advertisement for Guinness probably more than any other advertisement. However, I did enjoy the ones that said Guinness is good for you. 

The Guinness Harp. 

If you run your fingers over the glass it will play the string that you have touched. 

A lovely view of the surrounding buildings and Dublin from on the floors of the Guinness factory.

I am so serious as I pour... I guess I really wanted to pour "the perfect glass of Guinness" like they teach. And actually I thought it was interesting that Guinness is a 2 pour beer. I had never known that before. Also, I thought that it was interesting that in Europe the pint is L and a US pint is L.

Sláinte! (Gaelic for Cheers)  Ever so attractively drinking my Guinness. 

Gravity is the Bar at the top of the giant Guinness glass building. You can see most of Dublin from the top of the Guinness glass. Also it took me 3 tries before getting this picture to include both arrows and the word... a little too much Guinness for me.