Dublin Whiskey Festival

If there’s one thing the Irish are good at, it’s making Whiskey. It’s been in this country since the Celtic times, and Uisce beatha is the name for whiskey in the Irish language. It means “water” of life. From the mispronounced “usice”, we get Whiskey. This weekend – between January 16 and 21, 2015 was the Dublin Irish Whiskey festival, which I had to attend.

Dublin Whiskey Fest ~ Ireland's first Irish whiskey festival! from Great Irish Beverages on Vimeo.

There were 25 venues (listed in the picture above) each with their own “signature” drink on offer. If you bought a wristband for 5 Euro, you got 30% off the drinks. A pretty good deal, all things considered. For my part, I made it to 8 total places, but didn’t get drinks at all, as they were out of some drinks. For those that I did hit, my reviews are that I totally enjoyed the festival.

On Tuesday and had 1 – the Habeniero Hot Toddy from the Bull and Castle, before going over to the Olympia for the Australian Pink Floyd gig.

Habeniero hot toddy Dublin whiskey festival jan 2015

This drink is made from Teeling’s Single Batch Whiskey (they must have been sponsors because there was lots of this about) which had been infused with habeniero peppers for 3 weeks. At the end of the 3 weeks, they removed the peppers and strained the whiskey. This left the whiskey with the regular flavors of whiskey, followed by an interesting capsaicin chili burn. To be honest, the drink was great – I loved the burn – but I’m not sure about how well the actual infused whiskey worked in it. When I drank it, the initial thought was that it was pleasant, but as I got further on – it confused the body. My tongue didn’t know if it was hot from the temperature of the boiling water – or the hot from the spicy of the pepper. The one good thing was that it made you nice and toasty (both hot and spicy) on the inside.

That being said, the infusion might have been better used in a modified Manhattan or a smoky old fashioned. As they are “cold” drinks, the spicy factor in the infusion might have had more of an impact.

On Friday, I had company and we hit more than one place, because I had more time before a late Gig (more on that later) for a Guns & Roses cover band. The first place we went was the Liquor Rooms on the Quays in Dublin. This is one of my favorite cocktail places in Dublin, and they’re a bit over the top in their 1920-1930’s prohibition style decor.

The Liquor Rooms Chocolate Irish Whiskey. #dublin #dublinwhiskeyfestival #irishwhiskey #whiskey #chocolate #theliquorrooms

Their special drink of the evening was a Chocolate Irish Whiskey. Again, a hot drink but wow was it tasty. It was a gorgeous dark hot chocolate with coffee with creamy foam on top. They added a shot of whiskey and then some lovely gingerbread crystals on top. It went down a treat (seriously – can I just stay here and drink) and set me up for the evening with plenty of caffeine to keep me awake.

The next place we went was the Bison Bar. This is an interesting whiskey bar, with an “old west” type theme – the bar stools are all “saddles”, and there are plenty of wagon wheels and other stuffed beasts about as decor. After the first drink, we wanted dinner – and decided that bbq goes well with whiskey. And Bison makes some great Barbecue. Bison it was. Once we arrived -we were served a Teeling Small Batch neat. How do you not love the drink when it looks like this:

Bison Bar's Teeling's Small batch Irish Whiskey #PhotoGrid #whiskey #dublin #dublinwhiskeyfestival #ireland #bisonbar

Teeling Small Batch is a very smooth whiskey, easy to drink. It’s slightly flavored of vanilla, which has a cool aftertaste of spice and the oak it was aged in. It’s easy to drink in a cocktail or straight up.

From there, we struck out. Twice. We headed over to the Vintage Cocktail Club. This is my most favorite Cocktail bar in Dublin. The problem with it is that it’s a bit hit and miss on if you can get in. They do great Cocktails – and everyone knows that’s the case. However, it’s very small – and they limit the numbers of who can go in and out. They had the cocktail “a bird in the hand” up on offer (love it!) but by the time we arrived, Friday night, Pay night in Dublin was really starting. We were turned away at the door. So we headed to the Stag’s Head, almost across the road from the Central Bank.

The Stag’s Head had a Buttered Rum on offer, but sadly had sold out of the ingredients to make it. I will note that the place was packed with lots of single men (with a name like the “stag’s head” do you wonder why) that were in their late 20s – mid 30’s. Interesting crowd to walk into as two single women (let’s just say we had plenty of attention ordering whiskey before being turned down due to lack of ingredients at the bar!). Might have to try this one again later, when I’m not on a mission for Whiskey.

Yamamori Izayaka Elderflower hot toddy. #dublinwhiskeyfestival #hottoddy #cocktail #dublin #whiskey #drinkup #enjoy #PhotoGrid

We left the Stag’s Head disappointed, but decided to head over to Yamamori Izakaya, the Japanese bar. They have lots of tasty Japanese food in the upstairs restaurant, but if you head to the basement (the ceiling has stensils of Japanese dragons and the back bar has gongs and lots of interesting liquor) the whiskey choices are numerous. They made us a gorgeous hot toddy – with the addition of the elderflower liquor. The elderflower liquor really brought out the lemon,cloves, and the woodyness of the whiskey that they used (I’m sorry I don’t know which one it was). It was lovely, despite the 25 minute wait to get a single drink at the bustling location.

Next up we walked to the Rustic Bar. I didn’t know that this place existed (Yay for the whiskey festival getting me to a new and interesting bar). This is off George’s Street, and it is right above the Rustic Restaurant (have to go to the back and up the stairs). It is very quiet and has a pretty cool back bar illuminated with Led lights that shine up through the bottles. This serves as the centerpiece and main lighting – which makes for a bit of a “up scale” modern atmosphere.

The problem is that they had what was my least favorite drink of the night. It’s called The Samuel Beckett and made with teeling small batch whiskey, fresh thyme, homemade honey syrup and served in a poitin rinsed glass. To me, it tastes like honeyed vomit. No matter what I did, after the first taste, I just went Nope. Not gonna finish this one. The thing is that I may have to go back – they had a very interesting menu – eg. doesn’t the apple & cinnamon old fashioned and the blackberry apple crumble look yum?

From here, I was pretty full of whiskey, and didn’t want anymore hot drinks (most of the ones in the area has hot drinks) or cocktails that might be kind of iffy. So, we headed to Ukiyo Bar and hit the Jackpot.

Ukiyo Bar had your own private “tasting” of 3 Teelings Whiskey Expressions in what’s known as a “flight of Whiskey”. they are – from left to right – the Teeling Whiskey Single Grain, The teeling whiskey Small batch, and the teeling whiskey single malt. By far the one on the left (single grain) was my favorite, but it was a nice change from all the other places we had been. Plus, after what was essentially 3 shots… that was it for my evening.

I decided to grab a taxi, and head over to Fibbers for the Guns and Roses tribute – and call it good. Overall though, if you get the chance, I’d say make a visit to the Irish Whiskey festival. Hopefully get in early, and make sure you have a plan for where to go. The money saved was great – though I truly wish that they had more on offer than just Teelings. I like Teelings, but there are so many great whiskies made in Ireland – i’d have liked a showcase with a few more —

Connemara
Flaming Pig
Jameson
Paddy’s
Bushmills
Kilkenny

and that’s just a few of the whiskies that I was hoping would have been included – but didn’t seem to be. (but maybe that’s because of where I went….) For the first one, I can see the possibilities in this growing to an annual event with further offerings by more local bars. A good night was had all around.

Thanks to SB for the cute picture, and an awesome visit to all the bars. We are women who Whiskey!

Classy Cocktails

Dublin is known for having pubs. But did you know that it also has a place called the Vintage Cocktail club? Yes, it’s true. It’s an old fashioned speakeasy – and true to form – it lives on word of mouth alone – and was just voted the best cocktail place in Dublin and I had to check it out. Located down a side street in Temple Bar, it sits behind a black painted door with a small window at the top and three letters – VCC painted under it. People walk past it all day and night – and never know it’s there. If you know the place, and you have reservations, you confidently walk up and ring the buzzer.

Moments later, a voice at the speaker responds “Yes?”

Me: “I have a reservation for 3”.

Names are exchanged and moments later, you are greeted by a young lady in flapper style clothing and escorted past heavy velvet brocade curtains and up two narrow flights of dimly light stairs. She takes your coats, and opens half of a set of mahogany colored double doors. Immediately, you are greeted by the sound of classic jazz music, well dressed customers, the smell of a fire, and a hand hammered tin ceilinged lounge filled by plush golden chenille chairs (tassles around the bottom) and knee high tables. On one wall are vintage black and white photographs of nudes from the Victorian era. On another, an upright piano with taxidermy pheasants. In the corner there’s a dark colored bar with glittering bottles of alcohol sitting on shelves around a mirror. On top of the bar sits a silver tray with cut glass decanter and many old fashioned low ball glasses, goblets, and other sundries of mixology.

Up the tiled stairs to my left is the pink and white wall paper that guides you into a circus-type tented smoking area and the open air of a sunny yet chilly Dublin spring day. It’s full of people sitting on cushioned iron outdoor furniture, and just behind them are the restrooms (seriously worth a visit to see the brass sinks). Down the stairs takes you to a dimly lit more 1940’s decorated area, with a wall full of classic vinyl jazz records from the rat pack (pick what you want played and you may be able to have them play it), red and black plush and leather trimmed couches, high backed stools, and another bar and proper mixologist ready to make your requests with style.

Handed the menu, you realize that this place is not for the “typical” pub crowd. At 12 Euro a drink, it’s for the cocktail lovers, the true appreciators of the craft. The taste masters… the slow sippers. The finest of alcohol is reflected in the price and the choice. Perusing the menu, you see it’s not organized by “liquor” type, but it’s laid out like a history of cocktails. There’s a list of classics dating from the mid 1800’s – 1910’s (mostly Gin but containing exotic liquors and cordial flavors that aren’t in most of today’s repertoire – like elderflower, raspberry, and juniper to name a few). There’s a list of cocktails from prohibition with lots of exotic fruit juices and stronger flavors to hide the “then” poor quality of the liquor. Finally, there’s the specialties of the house – custom made cocktails by the mixologists that work in there – some of which include liquors which have been house infused with different things – like cinnamon, chocolate and jalapeno.

It’s a difficult choice. Finally, the three of us are brought tiny glasses of prosecco and our orders are placed. The procecco appears in tiny cut glass tasters that look beautiful with their black stems on the marble topped table.

We chat for a bit – good cocktails can take time to make – and our order arrives. We ooh and ahh over the look – and everyone reaches for their smart phone to take a picture. In order going down they are – Tequila Mockingbird (with the gorgeous sliced apple); The Chaser, and mine – the Mary Pickford (after all, I am a fan of hers.. click the link to see why – how could I resist?)

We stuck around for one more round of drinks. This time, we all decided to try something we’d never had before, and tried a bit of each other’s to see how they were. To be honest, they all tasted as wonderful as they looked. Below – the one with the passion fruit on top (center) is the Purple Pearl, to the Right is the Dirty Wizard (raspberries floating, ginger edge and jalapeno infused vodka), and in front of me is the Wee Dram (made with 15 year aged whisky).

With our wallets emptied, we headed to dinner and then on to the button factory for a concert (more on this tomorrow).

Father Ted House – aww go on!

Sometimes, one of the greatest things about living in Europe is that I get to see and experience cultures different than my own. The USA can be very insulated, and with relation to today’s blog post, this means that we make our own Television programs and have our own “cult classics” which we then proceed to export around the world and introduce into the “collective consciousness” of society. There are very few great comedies (or other TV shows) that make it over to our collective memory from outside the USA. It’s just a fact of life that most of our broadcast into the home entertainment coming from “outside” the USA is few and far between. If you want to have something “international” you really have to go hunting for it. Today, I can think of a handful of shows – Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Keeping up Appearances, Masterpiece Theater – that were on consistently as a child growing up – all of which were made by the BBC – and all of which only were shown only on PBS (not the main larger TV stations). This saddens me because there are so many great writers out there – both in the USA and abroad – which are in the “European” or individual country collective consciousness but which we as Americans simply miss out on.

One of these programs that never made it to the States is a show that aired in the 1990’s called Father Ted. When I first moved to Ireland, I was told that this was a “must watch” show in order to help fit in. Here in Ireland, it is one of the best comedies (reruns are still on TV) which almost everyone at any age can enjoy. It’s about a couple of Priests (Father Ted, Father Dougal, and Father Jack) who have been exiled to the fictional Craggy Island (off of Ireland’s west coast) because of some questionable incidents. The three priests live together and have a housekeeper named Mrs. Doyle. As the series progresses, “wise” Father Ted takes on the role as the “dad”, Father Dougal (sweet but really quite naieve) takes on the role of the son, Mrs. Doyle takes on the role of the bumbling mom (and excels at physical comedy) who serves Tea (aww go on, go on!) and cleans through it all, and Father Jack as the grumpy drunken relative. The whole thing is quite hilarious as they have adventures (in one episode, Father Ted is asked to host a beauty contest, in another, Father Dougal takes on a milkman who has been “serving” the entire community, and in a third, Father Ted & Father Doyle have to break Father Jack out of the retirement home – to name a couple) and everything goes wacky. The show tackles a certain loveable “Irish” standpoint and also has some questionable (scandalous!) themes that have caused me to laugh near to tears with each passing moment. All told, there were only 25 episodes made, but by far, the culture here loves their Father Ted.

Out of this TV show and the recession, enter an enterprising American lady. At the top, I posted the opening sequence of the Father Ted show, courtesy of Youtube. As we fly in over the coast of County Claire, you zoom across the fields and then are flown around the house where the entire show is supposed to take place. Well, this house has been owned by a ex Pat American lady and her Irish husband for the last 25 years. They bought the place when they first got married (before the TV show) and once the show became a big hit, began noticing that people would come from all over Ireland to drive by the house and have pictures made with it. One day in the last few years, the American lady was laid off. As the job search continued, she had a great idea – I have a house that people come from all over to see – let’s use it to my advantage. And thus, Tea at Father Ted’s house was born. This lovely lady, from New York state, by appointment (it’s a 3 hour drive from Dublin) invites people into her home (aka Father Ted’s home) and puts on a full spread of “tea” to about 10 – 14 people. There’s tea, homemade cakes and scones, and some fun conversation about all of the people that she gets to meet. While she’s not Mrs. Doyle, she is a lovely, enterprising lady, who has figured out that for 10 Euros a person, and selling some additions (postcards, Tea, scarves, etc that are “related” to the show) she can have a little extra cash in her pocket.

So, where am I going with this? Simple. For A’s birthday this year, the unmentionable #30, she decided she wanted to go to Father Ted’s for tea. And so it was, one fine Saturday last April, that we found ourselves (2 cars packed full of A’s friends) driving the 3 hours from Dublin, across on the motorway and into the rural county Claire Burren region to visit Father Ted’s house. It was neat to see the house, and to see the inside. The best part was getting to see the American running the place (I was quite amused to realize she was American – and she was rather amused that I could point out some of the items from various episodes and appreciate her efforts and entrepreneurial spirit) and her fine family.

Phoenix Rose's Blog

The Chronicles of a Girl, Her Dog, and a Lifelong Journey…

Parties & Concerts

Dublin Whiskey Festival

Classy Cocktails

Father Ted House – aww go on!