Guinness Storehouse visit

Sad that we missed out on our previous Guinness appointment due to Delta and JFK airport but we are glad we get a make up session on St Patricks Day. After a bizarre morning we can use some beers in our life.

We decide to head down to the Guinness Storehouse early to eat a late lunch since all the restaurants will be either packed or not serving food near where we watched the parade.

We eat at one of the on-site restaurants. The food is nothing to rave about but at least we are no longer hungry.

The can’t reschedule us for the same experience we had booked because it is totally sold out until my friend leaves and only offered once a day. But they do offer us tickets to pretty much every other experience that they have. We have a scheduled time but they don’t seem to be strict on that as long as you have a ticket for the experience you are in line for.
We soon learn we will be drinking lots of Guinness today. We have three tickets for events that will give us full pints of beer and on top of that we get to have a sample of Guinness.

We start with the learning how to pour a Guinness at GUINNESS ACADEMY. Guinness is not always my beer of choice but I have had enough of them to know there is a special way to pour them. Our beer instructor takes us through a very fast instruction. It is obvious there is something we are missing. We discover that most people arrive here after visiting the complete museum before hand whereas the people at the entrance erroneously told us to come directly to the 4th floor to start our special experiences. We get through our own pours, gain our certificate and decide to take our recently poured beers downstairs to start our way through the museum. This is where we have our first full pint given to us.

Guinness is no longer brewed here but we learn about the history, chemistry, etc.

After the tour we do part 2 of our experience, we have a beer sampling. A guide takes us throw the flavors we experience in the beer.

Part 3 is the STOUTIE experience where we have our faces printed on a pint we then drink. This is pint number 2.

We stop into a bar to watch an Irish band play for a little while. We haven’t heard much Irish music since we’ve been in town. The bars we have visited thus far play mostly covers. We stay awhile to enjoy.

Finally we visit the Gravity bar up top for an additional free pint. The bar has beautiful views of the city. We chat with some former locals who are back in town to watch the upcoming Rugby match. They tell us only tourists watch the St Patricks Parade because it is crap.

We make one more stop and then call it a day. Tomorrow we plan to wander around Dublin and sightsee locally.

Breweries in Bruges

While in Bruges I was able to stop by a couple of breweries.

Bourgogne de Flanders

Got to try some wort…it wasn’t the best tasting

Brewer talking to us about the beer making process

I already tried their flagship beer before the tour so I didn’t feel like getting a flight so ended up getting lambic to finish my visit.

The second brewery I visited was Halve Maan Brewery (no tour).

For my first beer I tried the Seasonal Wild Ale. It was very good but very strong. I would have gotten another one but I wanted to be able to walk back to the train.

I also tried one of their flagship beers the Blond. It was sessionable at 6% (ok maybe not but it felt like it was).

I ordered some beef stew (local classic) to help soak up the alcohol just before the kitchen closed.

I was done after 2 breweries. Belgium beers are no joke and I don’t have the drinking endurance to try more for the day. It is back to the train for me and back to my quiet Gent.

I am Gruut

While in Ghent I visited the funky brewery called Gruut and lost an hour or two sampling their beers

I liked all the beers I sampled but I really liked the Bruin and the Inferno. The Inferno had good flavor, but watch out since it is 9%!

What was also cool is that the brewer is a female who comes from a long line of brewers. It is good to see women out there making good beer. In addition, her take on using herbs instead of hops is spot on. I’m a fan.

Greenville Fun

As part of our southern vacation we stopped by Greenville, SC to visit some friends. While there we checked out the Blue Ridge Brewing Company a local brewpub in downtown Greenville. We had a good time sampling the beers.

Later on we met some friends at Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria. This place was amazing. Pizza and great craft beer in one place? Yes please!!!

If you are a huge craft beer fan the secret is to go to the upstairs bar to get beers that are not served downstairs. The upstairs was closing soon for a private party but before then I got to sample some awesome beers. I even got to order a pint of the coveted Westbrook Mexican Cake. It was very good. Too bad it is next to impossible to get a bottle of that to take home, especially as a non-local.
The Palmetto beers I tried are highly recommended as well. I will need to visit the Palmetto and Westbrook breweries on a future trip to Charleston.

Later after dinner we went out to see some local music at Smiley’s Acoustic Cafe.

The band that was playing was pretty entertaining and it was a packed crowd. Definitely a fun night. Greenville, SC you may have made me change my opinion of you this trip!

Asheville Breweries Part 2

Before leaving Asheville we made a couple more stops to try some more brews. First we went back to Wicked Weed brewery to get a flight. The downstairs tasting room was not open yet so we only got to choose from the selection we could get at the bar upstairs. I got to try a wide variety of their beers.

Brazil Caipirinha Ale

I took back a growler of one of the session beers.

Lastly we stopped off at Lexington Avenue Brewery (LAB). Again we found out that Jude Law had also visited this place a day or so earlier. Such a shame we kept missing him. It was a nice establishment with good mood lighting. In the evenings you can see musical acts here.

We walked around a bit to get one last look at this great city that we got to enjoy for a few days. It has been a great trip. We have added Asheville, NC to our must return list.
See you soon Asheville…