Lovely Day for a Guinness

When my sister, Holly decided to come out and visit me for a week, I decided that I would take the week off as well so we travel around together.  Our first stop was Dublin!  We got there on Saturday evening.  We really weren't able to do much more than grab a bit to eat that night, but we did make our plans for the next morning. 

First on our list of things to do was to visit the Guinness Storehouse.  Who doesn't like starting their day off drinking a Guinness?!  Our hotel was on the other side of Dublin, so we caught the tram and headed towards the Storehouse.

The tram doesn't drop you off in front of the Storehouse, you had to walk a little ways to get to the entrance.  Actually, it's almost like a maze trying to find the entrance!  It has been in the higher 40's, lower 50's temperature wise here for awhile.  However, Holly had left 70 degree weather and found it extremely cold.  She was practically racing to get inside.  I didn't find it all that cold, but then again I didn't just leave 70 degree weather.  And to be fair to Holly, we were in the shade the whole time we were walking there, so that didn't help much.  I'm just glad she remembered to bring gloves!

We finally found the entrance and got our tickets.  Guinness is a self guided tour.  I believe there is an audio guide if you want to listen to the history, but we opted not to do that. One of the first things you see once you start the tour is a water fall.  They show you all the elements that go into making a Guinness throughout the first part of the tour.  Once through this part of the tour, they offer a small sampling of Guinness for you to taste.  At first I was a little thrown off because I thought we were suppose to get a full pint, but that doesn't come until the every end of the tour.

The part that I was most looking forward to was the advertising section.  I have always enjoyed the way Guinness has made their ads and posters.

"Lovely day for a Guinness",  "My Goodness My Guinness" & "There's nothing like a Guinness".  Simple, to the point and it has great artwork to go with it.  Even if you don't like Guinness,the ads stick with you.

The best part about the whole tour is without a doubt The Gravity Bar at the top of the Storehouse.  It has by far the BEST views of Dublin.

 

Not only are the views AMAZING, but as part of the tour, as I stated earlier, you get a pint of Guinness.  I have never really liked Guinness, I generally like lighter beers.  I was told that if it was a bit strong for me I could put some blackcurrant flavoring in it.  However, I didn't need to.  I really enjoyed it!  I must say, nothing is better drinking a Guinness while looking out over the city of Dublin.  And we were really lucky, it was a bright sunny day! I'm interested in trying a Guinness back in the States as I hear it doesn't taste the same...that it's much better here in Dublin.  I see some tastings in my future!