"Guinness is good for you" (Dublin, Ireland)

 

On Saturday, my first day in Ireland I went to my first rugby match. With Ireland hosting South Africa. The whole experience reminded me a lot of a proffesional football game in the good old USA. The whole approach to the game was surprisingly unique though. At three seperate times I had to show my ticket. And this was before I even entered the staduim. The local garda or police shut down the whole neighborhood blocks away for the staduim itself. No cars. No people without tickets. There is also an inner layer again with people checking tickets. Its really crazy to witness a huge area of town compeletly shutdown, especially if you are a lost vistor with no ticket like me...58 euros later I got lucky.    

The next day I finally learned how to spell the word Guinness. It's pretty tricky to get it right. Drinking the stout  on draught here is so fresh. It's creamy, smooth, and tastey. But not too hoppy or thick. Here are some facts I learned on my tour:

Yeast turns the natural sugars in grain and fruit into alcohol (thus a huge part of the process for both beer and wine).

In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for 45 £ a year.

3 million pints are brewed daily.

My favorite part was learning how to pour a pint. To pour it correct you start with the glass at a 45 degree angle, filling halfway. Next you pour straight down the middle filling it almost to the top. Leaving you with a foamy head about the thickeness of your thumb. Topping it off is the last step. They tell me when you pull down orginally this is when the CO2 mixes in but when you top it off you push the handle up releasing only beer. And that is how you top it off!