taking it to the house

So, to advance my policy of keeping everyone up-to-date on the benefits and pitfalls of living in Ireland, I think tonight is a good night to give you an update on what I have been doing for the last few days. Let's start with Tuesday.

On Tuesday, I took a psuedo-business trip (there's a woman I've met here who runs a startup tech company who is in sore need of an IT manager) out to Athlone, in the center of Ireland (along the Shannon River, in fact). I met some of the folks at the Athlone Institute of Technology (and for you JDEers/Raikes Scholars reading this, let me assure you--that bullshit we went through for Design Studio is primo experience in Ireland) and after the business was dealt with, I got a free trip out to the ancient monastery at Clonmacnoise. That's one of the best things about Ireland, at least in comparison to the United States; about every 20 miles or so, there's some ancient monastery or circle tomb or something that has been raided by the Celts in 300 AD, and/or the Vikings in 800 AD, and/or the Normans in 1100 AD, and/or the English in 1300 AD, etc. The history here is (dare I say) palpable.

Anyway, that was Tuesday--during the day, anyway. When I got back that night, I was invited out by my Italian roommate to go to the Temple Bar area, and in fact we went to the Temple Bar itself, which was quite nice. Very touristy, a bit pricey in comparison to the pubs outside the Temple Bar area, but it was fun. They had live Irish music, in any case, which is always a plus.

Yesterday was a bit worthless (I admit, I was a bit hung-over), so I hit Dublin hard again today. I took off around lunch time to go find a good place to eat, and I'd previously found a street (I don't remember which, but if you visit I can show you precisely the one) which had a number of interesting restaurants--Italian, French, Lebanese, Indian, etc. Today, I picked one of the Indian places (Jewel in the Crown) and had their very tasty rendition of lamb madras with some naan bread. With the price at €7.50, that puts it about the same as The Oven (in downtown Lincoln), and I would say that the dish here was better. More complex flavors, in any case.

The real adventure tonight, however, was the place I headed to for my evening pint (or two...or three...or four)--The Porterhouse. This place is Dublin's answer to the microbreweries we have back home, and the beer was quite excellent. According to the website, they have live music every Thurs-Sat, but tonight at the Temple Bar location I did not hear any. Still, I'm not going to give up on them. I had a few really great beers, and had a great chat about American politics with an Irish fellow named Pat (so far, everyone I talk to here would count as a Democrat). Anyway, I promised a review of the beers I tried, so here you go:

• Hop Head: Even though they don't know it, this was the Porterhouse's answer to Hopluia. It did provide some of the floral, hoppy aroma that we are blessed with back in the States, but I've had far better hopped ales back home. Maybe we should teach these people about dry-hopping...


• Wrassler's XXXX Stout: This one was a very good stout. If this were exported to Nebraska, I would recommend that you buy as much as possible. When you people come visit, I'm taking you to the Porterhouse, and I'm buying this one.


• Porterhouse Red: This was a pretty generic (although very smooth) red ale. Not much to say about it really; if anyone remembers the red that Empyrean made back in the spring and the way it tasted on the cask...that's about what this one was like.


• An Brain Blasta: Ok, so this one is a bit of a challenge for me. In theory, this beer is copper ale, sort of like Singletrack Ale from Boulder. However, it had far more of a hopped flavor than any Singletrack I've ever had. Plus, the alcohol content was the highest of any currently on tap at the Porterhouse (7%, if I remember right). So, it was a strange combination of hoppy and malty, almost as though it were a dry-hopped Belgian-style beer. It's worth a try anyway; when you come visit, and I take you to the Porterhouse to get my Wrassler's XXXX Stout, I will get you a Brain Blasta first.

So, that's the story about Dublin over the last week. Otherwise, St. Stephen's Green is nice, Temple Bar is a great place for tourists, and letters back to the states cost €0.82.

When I have something more to report, I'll let you all know.