Taste Testing with Old Friends.

November 20th my friends from George Mason landed in Dublin. They had bought their tickets over the summer when I found out I was coming abroad, and came to see me over Thanksgiving break. It was such a relief to see friendly faces over the holidays, and made me miss home a little less with them here. We met up Saturday afternoon to go to the Jameson Distillery. It's not the actual distillery, which is located just outside of Cork, but a re-creation of the real thing, showing the step by step process of how the smooth tasting whiskey is brewed and distilled.



They took us all through a guided tour, starting with a boring video about Jameson and where it originated. After the video, the tour guide asked for eight volunteers, four men and four women. She handed out these green batons to the lucky people who raised their hands, one of whom happened to be my friend Jin. She was lucky enough to, after the tour, taste three different kinds of whiskey and decide which tasted the best and smoothest. The three whiskeys were Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker and Jameson.





The pictures above show the machine that lets the barley ferment into an alcohol and then the vats that are used to store the non-distilled whiskey in until it is ready to be transported into barrels where it sits for up to eighteen years maturing and getting that golden brown coloring. The tour ended with Jin sitting at a taste testing table, slinging back three shots of whiskey and in the end determining that Jameson was in fact, the best one. I had a little sip after she was done testing and agreed. It's smooth and a lot easier to drink than Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker. The end of the tour also gave us a complimentary drink. You could mix Jameson with any of the two mixers; cranberry juice, gingerale or have it straight with ice. I chose gingerale, but tasted the cranberry juice mixture and liked that one the best. Overall, it was fun to do more tourist attractions in Dublin. I believe I have drank in most of the pubs in this city, but have still found my knowledge of the city's history and tourist attractions sadly untouched. I have two and a half weeks left, so we'll see how much I can cram in.