High Crosses and Irish Whiskey!

|15-MAY-2015|  Today we headed out of Galway back to Dublin. It’s motorway (M) straight across the island – about 3 hours to drive so we made a few side trips. Had our first rain of the trip today – not too bad though, only a few drops while at Clonmacnoise and we missed the “heavy” rain while at Kilbeggen.
DS1_5156First up, Clonmacnoise, a medieval monastery on the River Shannon, dating back to the 500s! Today the site consists of the remains of several stone churches, a cathedral, two round towers and three High Crosses.  The High Crosses are now indoors as part of the site’s museum of archaeological findings; replicas of the Crosses have been placed in the original locations on site. The view of the river and surrounding farmland is beautiful. We shared it with a few small tour groups but again, none of the massive tour buses I expected to see on this trip.
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A replica of the Cross of Scriptures stands before Kings Church.
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O’Rourke’s Tower, completed in 1124.

 
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The original Cross of Scriptures, now maintained indoors.  The cross stands 4m high, is made of sandstone and was carved c.900.
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Next stop: whiskey!

We stopped at Kilbeggen Distillery, founded in 1757, it is the oldest licensed pot still distillery in Ireland and still produces whiskey. The distillery features an excellent display of the original working process such as the vats, millstones, mash tuns, copper pot stills and drive shaft powered by a water wheel. The current process is also on display, including a 1800s copper pot still that was installed in 2007 and is the oldest working pot still producing whiskey.
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Pleepleus brings you a lesson in styles of Irish Whiskey:

  • Blend:  a blend of malt and grain, the majority being grain
  • Single Malt: made with malted barley only and from a single distillery; distilled in a pot still multiple times (varies)
  • Peated Single Malt: made with peated malt barley
  • Grain: made with corn or maize in a patent or column still; distillation is continuous and produces a lighter spirit
  • Pot Still: unique to Ireland; blend of malted and unmalted barley, oats and other grains.
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Pleepleus responsibly enjoying a sample of Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey.
Urban art of Dublin and Galway

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Final thoughts:

Last time I was in Ireland it was 1984.  I have three memories of it:

1) Arriving off a ferry from the UK at night, Mom looking for the headlights on the new rental car and getting the windshield wipers instead, and us not being able to get them turned off.  It was late, we were tired, we laughed.

2) It was brown – it had been a dry spring and the landscape was not lush and green.

3) Soldiers.  Most notably hitching rides with local farmers and delivery trucks – sitting on the tailgates, armed to the teeth (that might be an exaggeration, but hey, I was 12 and they had guns).

Sooo, that brings us to 2015. Ireland seems to be one of those ‘magical’ places for travellers and want-to-be travellers alike. I was curious to see what’s changed, what I missed, or didn’t understand at 12.  Is it beautiful? Yes. Are the people pleasant? Yes.  It’s easy, approachable travel, aside from driving part – that may not be for everyone! 🙂  Oh, and it’s stupid-windy so expect to look a little crazy in pictures.

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Signing off from Ireland. Thanks for joining us – hope you enjoyed the ride!