The Jameson Experience

Hello friends,


So today we visited Midleton, just outside of Cork City, and saw the Jameson Distillery. What a neat place! The bus took about 30 minutes to get to Midleton and the distillery was about 200 meters from the bus stop.

Check out the pics of the main gates and pot still in front of the buildings!

We got there a bit early before the tour started and had to kill some time in the gift shop and the main lobby. There were some interesting pieces from the distillery that i have included at the beginning of the pictures. Our tickets cost 9 euro each and included a free glass of Jameson at the end!

The tour began with a short movie about the history of John Jameson and how he began his career back in 1780. After the movie the walking tour began. It might be best to read the blog and have the pictures going in another window because the lady talked really fast and the captions on the pictures might be off some.

We first looked at the ingredients in whiskey: barley, malted barley, and water. The guide showed us the difference between barley and malted barley and explained that the precise amounts of each must be added to make their great whiskey.

We moved into the courtyard where farmers would come to sell the Jameson's their barley. Each sack would be weighed and the farmer would take their pay voucher to the payout window where they would get their money and usually a glass of whiskey for the ride home. Many of the buildings that i took pictures of were used to store the massive amounts of barley.

Next up was the maltings where the barley was soaked in water to allow germination to occur. Once germination occurred, the barley was heated with anthracite and germination would then be stopped. Anthracite was used by the Jamesons because it is smokeless. This is a main difference between whiskey in Ireland and places such as the USA and Scotland.

We moved the the grain stores next which was a HUGE building with a ton of steps leading to the top. Early on workers were forced to carry the barley bags to the top. These bags weighed 16 stone which is like 224 lbs.

Going outside again we got to see the oldest building of the distillery from 1794. It was originally used as military barracks until 1825 when it was turned into a mill. Also outside was the Distillers Cottage. It looks rather small from our pictures, but inside is supposed to have 23 rooms.

The waterwheel came next and was pretty cool. Dates back to 1852 and is 22 feet in diameter. It is one of only a few waterwheels still working today in Ireland. Inside the room near the waterwheel contained the millstones that ground down the malt into grist. Next to this room housed a 20-HP steam engine used to help power the waterwheel when needed. It was bought in 1834 for 800 pounds which today would be like $2,000,000 or something like that.

The next area contained a huge mixer used to mashing. Water is boiled and mixed with barley and malt. Its just like a huge pot that mixes stuff on its own. The liquid that comes out is called Wort. Wort is sent to the washbacks for fermentation.

In the next step, we saw where the yeast is added to the wort and the carbs break down into sugars that convert to alcohol in about 3 days. This liquid is the wash. Wash is about 8% alcohol by volume.

We moved on to the distillation process next. Jameson in Midleton contains the largest pot still in the world. It holds 32,000 gallons and is made of copper. The house that this pot still is in was constructed around the pot still. Jamesons uses a triple distill process. The liquid is heated to 170 degrees where alcohol boils, condensed, boiled, condensed, boiled, and condensed a final time. There are 3 pot stills, but the other 2 are much smaller than 32,000 gallons. After distillation the product is about 80% alcohol by volume. Legally it must be reduced to 63% when it is sold.

We moved into the room that contains all the barrels of liquids. All the barrels are imported from Spain, USA, and Portugal. Different barrels give the whiskey different properties as they mature. All the barrels are made from some type on Oak usually. The maturation of Jameson whiskey is very particular. By law it must mature for 3 years. No Jameson brand has matured for less than 5-7. The Jameson Distillery Reserve and Midleton Very Rare lie in casts for at leasy 12 years. Some Jameson whiskey has been in casts for over 20 years. I'm not sure which of the 2 brands...but one can only be bought in the gift store or bar at Jameson Midleton distillery and the other brand can only be bought in Ireland and costs like 4000 euros a bottle. At the bar, a glass of one of the two cost like 150 euro.

The final stop was the bar where we would get our free glass of whiskey. The guide explained there would be a sampling at the end and needed volunteers so I raised my hand and got picked! I got to sit with a few other volunteers and taste test 5 different types of whiskeys. I tried 3 types of Jameson, Jack Daniels, and Johnnie Walker. Reline got some good pics of me trying them all out and there were some big differences. The Scotch had a smoky flavor from not using anthracite and instead pushing peat smoke over the barley. Jack Daniels had a strong oak taste from the tannin in the barrels. The 3 types of Jameson were definitely the best. After the tasting, we each received certificates saying we are Jameson whiskey taste testers and another glass of whiskey from the bar......at one point i really thought they were trying to get me drunk.

Finally, the tour was over and we headed to the Jameson cafe where we had a cup of seafood chowder, which was amazing, and we had a sandwich. Excellent food. We walked through town for a little, but there wasnt much to see so we grabbed a bus back to Cork!

It was another nice day trip and we got a lot of good pics. I'll post again soon, we may try venturing out a bit farther this weekend for an overnight trip, but we arent sure yet...

Hope all is well,

Travis

RAG Week

RAG week, incase you don’t know is Raise and Give week. There are many functions around campus and the town that raise money for charity. While charity might be the reason RAG week occurs, the students use it as an excuse to skip class and get really drunk. Professors hardly lecture and everyone skips class.

This week the pubs have been packed every night and there are lines of at least an hour to get into every club. Basically, everywhere you go is packed, or jammers, as the Irish say. Our RAG week went like this:

Monday – we went to a HUGE club with 4 venues including 2 live bands and 2 DJ’s. Each room played different music and had a bar. There was a ton of people and it was a ton of fun.

Tuesday – Reline went to speed dating, but it got cancelled and I had a hockey game.

Wednesday – we planned on going to “Freakscene” which is a large club and pretty popular, but the queue was about 200 meters long. We ended up at a local pub.

Tonight – plans are pretty much up in the air still

I took some pictures at The Lough and Bird Sanctuary today on the way to buy groceries. I also took a short video of all the birds going crazy. It wasn’t long because I was right in the heat of things and didn’t want to be the recipient of any bird droppings.

I mentioned that I had a hockey game as well. Basically, I got in contact with a few hockey players in Cork and got invited to go play with them a few times. Long story short, my mom shipped my gear over and I play on 2 teams. There is the UCC college team and an adult house league. The UCC team is basically practice and goofing around. The adult league gets pretty serious, but is really fun with 6 teams competing in 3 on 3 hockey every Tuesday night.

There is a big trophy for the winner of the league and our team is 2-0 right now. My team is pretty hilarious. There is 7 of us and only 2 of us speak fluent English. We have an all Russian top line that I can hardly understand anything they say so I try to stay off their line. My line consists of a Canadian, who I compare to Gary Roberts because he is like 50 years old but an absolute monster at hockey. On the other end of my line is a Swede who has a cannon shot, but can’t skate. The last player is from Switzerland. We don’t talk much during the game, but we are pretty good. So far I have 1 goal and 4 assists in 2 games.

The UCC team is mostly Irish lads just learning the game so its much more relaxed. There is a Czech fella who plays and is from the same town as Jaromir Jagr. I’m not 100% sure what he says all the time, but I think that’s what he was trying to tell me at least.

After my game on Tuesday I got invited to play on the Cork Revolution in a few weeks. The Revolution is like the traveling team that plays in various cities on weekend tournaments. I probably won’t get much time because I’m going to be on the 3^rd or 4^th line and the guys are pretty good/big—I’ve got knocked on my ass a few good times already—but it’s free travel to places like Dublin and Belfast.

I’m really glad I joined hockey because I made a ton of new friends. It’s pretty awesome to meet people from all over the world, not speak fluently to each other, but be able to play the same sport and understand what each other is doing.

So check out The Lough pics and video! We are trying to go to the Jamesons Distillery on Saturday so look for an update on Sunday!

Cheers,

Travis

Kinsale: When it rains it....

We finally got out to Kinsale despite the rain...well it wasn't really rain, it was a strong mist that didn't stop ALLLLL day...we got soaked but we saw a lot of sweet stuff...

We took the bus from Cork to Kinsale and got off right at the harbor. We saw a lot of old boats and fishing crews out in the water and took a lot of pics. The town is tiny and smells of fish and had tonsss of seagulls flying around. After we got a map from the tourist center - to make it obvious we're Americans - we headed on the Salmon Walk to the Charles Fort. What a walk...Salmon Walk's are what it's all about...

It took about 30 mins to get to the fort while it continued to rain. Once we got to the fort we basically just walked around the various rooms and checked out the exhibits they had set up. I won't get into detail, you can check out the pics and get an idea of what went on. The fort was in pretty good shape and there were some amazing views of Kinsale and the harbor, but the rain wouldn't allow for a nice picture or two. Overall, Charles Fort was pretty tight.

Heading back into town on the Salmon Walk, we saw a guy in the water flip his sailboat - something you don't see everyday. Luckily there was like 1 other boat in the water at the time and they came and saved the day. I took pictures. We ate lunch at some cafe. It was good food, but i was really diggin a bowl of seafood chowder or some type of seafood from Kinsale, but the restaurants open a later and the ones that were open were extremely expensive - 12 euros for a bowl of soup!

After our quick lunch at a cafe, we went into the Kinsale Museum where they had a ton of old stuff from the 1600's on. A lot of things from various battles, the potato famine, and ships. I really liked all the parts they saved from the Lusitania - chairs, railings, and even some documents from Germany that documented the sinking of the ship. Also, Reline found the Pokemon stone that you have to get in the game so he was pretty pumped about that.

After the museum we either had to hurry and catch the 2:15 bus or wait until 3:45 for the next one and it was about 2. Reline wanted to see the Desmond Castle so we walked to that. Once we got there it was closed...so we took a few pics and booked it to the bus station and caught it literally 3 seconds before the door shut.

It was a good trip, but I think a return trip would be better since the rain kinda made things difficult and we hurried through a lot of places that we should have seen.
-------------------------

Everything is going well. This week is RAG week at UCC. What I take from this is no one goes to class, everyone drinks, and there are various activities such as bands, games, clubs, and drinking that gives all the money to charity. Everyone tells us the pubs are "jammerz" or packed from 9 PM on. So we'll see how everything goes, it should be pretty fun to see some bands and what not and skip class legally since the professors sometimes come to class hungover apparently. Only in Ireland.

I'll update soon!

- Travis

The Weekend

Well after Blarney it was the weekend so Reline and I decided to go try and make some Irish friends. We started out at Cissie Young's which was full of adults watching Gaelic football...not our scene...next we figured we would just walk down our street checking out each pub until we found one with some kids in it...worst case scenario would be that we walked all the way downtown where we knew kids would be...

After we checked out about 4 pubs and found only adults in all of them we heard some music coming from The Gateway which is about a 5 min walk from our flat. We headed into the Gateway and decided to have a beer. Immediately about 5 kids came up and started talking to us...long story short the Gateway has the cheapest pints in town and is the oldest pub in Cork...

Our friends we met turned out to be extremely helpful and showed us around Friday and Saturday night. Also, we found out that the big party nights for college students are Wednesday and Thursday, NOT the weekend...so we exchanged numbers Friday and met up again on Saturday at the Gateway...i'll try to get some pics next time I am there

We also explored the gym...which has crazy security...we had to register our fingerprints with our UCC ID's...to enter you have to scan your ID card and place your finger on a scanner and if they match up the gate opens...the gym is pretty nice and have a lot of treadmills and bikes, but was pretty crowded when I was there. I also met a kid who plays hockey for UCC and he invited me to come play for them this semester. I will be checking out a few practices in the next few days and hopefully get my equipment shipped over soon so I can add come USA flare to their team.

Not too much is going on this week...my class got canceled Friday, so on Wednesday is my last day of class...we hope to visit Kinsale on Friday...Tomorrow I will be heading by The Lough - the really pretty lake on the way to the grocery store - so I will add pictures from the Lough and Kinsale as soon as I take them.


Cheers,

Travis

Blarney Castle & Rock Close: 1-12-08

Well today marked our first trip out of the City to explore Ireland. We visited the Blarney Castle and Rock Close in Blarney Ireland and it was truly amazing. It all started with today being a wonderful weather day - NO RAIN.

We left for Blarney around 11:20 and arrived before 12 in the Village of Blarney. From here we entered the gates and were greeted by the Blarney River which would flow by the castle and Rock Close. In about 5 minutes we could see the castle. What a spectacular view of the castle!



As we approached the castle its true size could finally be appreciated. Standing below it, it towered over 80 feet to the top. Check out the pics from the bottom up!

The first stop inside the castle was the Dungeon. We tried to get inside, but there were no lights whatsoever and no windows. It was pitch black about 5 feet from the entrance. Needless to say, we didn't see much of the dungeon from the inside. Next we walked around the side of the castle and got into 2 guard towers outside of the castle. As we continued around to the main entrance, you could see the famous Blarney Stone, 83 feet above us.

We then entered the castle into the Large Ground Room Floor. This part was interesting because it gave us a view of a large Oubliette, which is basically a 15 foot hole in the ground than could only be accessed from above...MEANING: there were trap floor pieces in the room at one point that could be use if intruders or unwanted guests entered. A guard could pull a lever when the intruder stepped on the block and they would fall into the pit with no way out.

After the Oubliette, we entered the Earl's Bedroom. After the bedroom we got our start on the spiral staircase. Let me clear one thing up about these stairs, they are about 1 foot wide and extremely steep. Doorways as well were extremely skinny and not made for tall people. We were constantly squeezing everywhere we were going.

We entered a small guard space and the Great Hall next. From here more steps into a large Family room and Young ladies room. More stairs took us up into the Priests room, Chapel, and large Banquet hall. The final stop before the top of the castle was the kitchen. The kitchen was built in an area on top so that if something were to catch fire it would not destroy the entire castle and because ventilation was much better.

Finally, we reached the top of the castle and were next to the Blarney Stone. We hoped to get pics of us and the stone, but the only way to get those pictures is to pay the photographer on the top 10 euros. Needless to say we each laid on our backs, leaned over the edge of the castle and kissed the stone. Were supposed to be eloquent now...I guess we'll see.

On the way down we stopped in one final room, the Murder Room. This room was extremely small, but hidden above the Ground Floor Room. Guards would hide in here and if any unwanted guest came into the castle, or incase of an attack, guards could pour hot liquids or shoot arrows at those below with complete protection. Kind of a good idea for protection.

After the castle we headed into the caves beneath the castle. The only cave we could find was the Badger Cave. The name came from some guy named Badger, i think, who stole stuff from the castle and escaped through the cave. Apparently, he lost his gold in the cave and there are 3 passageways to nearby towns somewhere in the cave. We found a few people with flashlights and followed them in. All we found was a dead end, muddy shoes, and a wet head.

From the caves we walked into the Rock Close. This place was pretty cool. First we found the Wishing Steps. The story says that a witch steals firewood for her kitchen in the forest and in turn must grant people a wish. The catch is, to be granted a wish, one has to walk down the stairs and back up with their eyes closed. Well this isn't easy. First off, there are 28 steps. Two they are wet because they are under a small waterfall. Finally, there are no handrails or anything. I tried it out and made it, but it took more forever to find each of the steps and Reline had to tell me when i was going to walk off the edge so i didnt fall into the water. I dont know if that counts for a wish or not, but i tried.

Next we saw the Witches Kitchen, which is basically a rock structure with a small inside area that is set up to look like an old fashioned kitchen. Apparently, early Irish settlers used these types of rock formations for cooking and similar tasks. After the kitchen came the Head Druids Cave which was just a small cave like area. The Witches Stone was next. This was pretty sweet because there is an actual stone that looks like a witches face (See the pic) and nose. The Fairy Glade was next and just a small area with this crazy looking tree that is supposed to look really pretty in the summertime. We stumbled upon the Druids Circle and Sacrificial Alter next. The Druids Circle was used for ceremonies and stuff like that and it is said that when standing in the middle, no evil can harm you. Behind the circle in the Alter. This alter is situated so that the first rays of the sun strike the alter at the appointed time for sacrifice.

The Rock Close overall was a pretty sweet place. It was kinda creepy and i wouldn't want to be in there at night. It was very pretty and lush inside with the Blarney River flowing throughout.

Well, thats all for Blarney...we may head to Cobh tomorrow to check out the old shipping port where the Titanic made its last port and the first immigrant to ever pass through Ellis Island left from. Check for an update Sunday!

Thursday, January 10

So we've been here a week and have had all of our classes...

Class seems pretty easy going here and we should each have a lot of free time to get away on the weekends and for break. The weather has been extremely rainy, especially at night, and has been keeping us in at many times when we'd like to go out.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a nicer day because we plan to travel to Blarney and see the Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. Saturday plans are still up in the air, but we may make a day trip to Cobh and see the coast.

As long as the rain holds off we should be going somewhere this weekend, so look for new pics on Sunday!

As for today, we hope to head into town to check out the famous English-market, which is an old-world food market where all kinds of fresh meats, fish, and breads are sold for great prices. Its a pretty big deal around Cork, so we're going to check it out and get some dinner.

Take Care All,

Travis

Greetings from Across the Pond!

Sorry for taking so long to make a real post, but the first few days here have been crazy. I'll try to update more frequently as well as take a post more pictures in the near future.

--------DAY 1------------
We made it! So our trip over took a little longer than planned, but nevertheless we still made it. Our flight outta Pittsburgh got canceled on Tuesday due to bad weather in Chicago so we had to fly out Wednesday instead. We flew from Pitt to LaGuardia Airport in Queens, NY then had to take a bus to JFK Airport in order to fly to Shannon Ireland. The bus ride was quite interesting and was scarier than both of the flights--we really didnt think we were going to make it the 11 miles between airpoints for a bit of the time.

We sat around in JFK for a while after dealing with Aer Lingus ticket issues (Why would anything go smoothly at this point) and left the US at 6:30 or so. The flight over wasnt as bad as we thought. Aer Lingus gave us dinner and had tons of free movies, games, and tv shows to watch. We hit some turbulence over the Atlantic, Reline thought we were going down, but the plane held up nicely.

Jet lag set in immediately. Our say started at 7 AM Pittsburgh time and we arrived in Shannon at 6 AM Ireland time. From here we had to get through customs and pick up our luggage which combined took about an hour. So from 7 until 8:50 we had to wait for the bus from Shannon to Cork. We were both exhausted and hardly slept but an hour or so on the plane.

The bus arrived and it took another 2 hours or so to get to the main bus station in Cork. From here we went to get a taxi. However, before we got a taxi I planned on going to the bathroom until I found out public bathrooms cost about 0.20 euros to use and the machines give no change. So not having exact change i wasn't about to spend 1 euro to use the restroom.

We hopped in a taxi and the driver took us to our flat just up the road for 8 euro--again another rip off. Check in at The Spires (our flat) took a little bit and we finally got into our room at about 12. We began to unpack until we met roommate #1, Erika, a grad student at University College Cork (UCC). She got us and directed us to a small restaurant (Lennox's) where we got our first taste of Irish cuisine. You'd be surprised to know that if you order chips here you will get french fries, not actual potato chips. I found out through experience, but dint mind because they were excellent.

After lunch, we were both to the point of complete exhaustion, we went to the Centra (a small convenience store by our flat) and got a little food for the day. We returned to our room and slept for a little, even though we weren't supposed to, and tried to regain some energy.

The rest of Day 1 was pretty relaxed and we basically unpacked and laid around. We went to bed extremely early and found the real results of jet lag when we each woke up multiple times throughout the night thinking it was time to start the day.

--------DAY 2-------------
We got up for orientation around 9 and stepped onto campus for the first time. Since we missed Day 1 of orientation because of our flight cancellation, we thought Day 2 would be very helpful. It wasn't. Nothing really went on and we didnt really learn anything important so we left about a half our later. It poured rain and exploring this massive campus was not happening in the rain. We hung around the room until the sun came out and we decided to head into the main part of the city.

We explored downtown Cork and let me tell you, its something else. There is a large river (River Lee) at the bottom of the hill that runs through Cork and right at the bottom of the hill is the Fosters Beer Brewery--NOT AUSTRALIAN FOR BEER. We ate at Burger King, which is way more expensive here than America and tastes just as bad. Reline was looking for a guitar so we found a music store and looked through some other shops downtown. On the way back we bought our first 6 pack of Irish beer and headed home.

That night our roommate suggested we go to Cissie Young's for a quieter first night out in Cork. We walked the 75 meters to the pub and had our first experience drinking with the Irish. We tried Murphy's--a local favorite, Guiness--of course, and the MGD. I am confident in saying that any Irish person could easily outdrink me on their worst day.

--------DAY 3---------
Pretty boring day actually--we went back into town where Reline bought a guitar and I just looked around. Later on in the day we needed to find the real grocery store instead of the small convenience stores. A little more than a half mile down the road was the SuperValu and the walk by included a nice view of the Lough Lake.

There was hundreds of birds mobbing anyone that would feed them and the swans here our huge. Canadian geese having nothing on these things. We came back, cooked dinner and hung out.

------DAY 4----------
It poured alllllllllll day so we stayed in and only went out for a short period to try and see some of campus before the first day of class.


---------DAY 5---------
First day of class!

I had my first class at 10 AM and let me tell you campus is huge. It took at least 15 mins to walk from my flat to the class. Thankfully it was sunny out and the walk was somewhat enjoyable. After class Reline and I headed to the international education office to get caught up on everything we missed at orientation and got our UCC ID Cards. The buildings here are amazing. The Main Quadrangle is basically a castle and the coolest building i've been in thus far. The grass is also perfect, i dont think anyone has stepped on it in years.

I had lab at 3 and had to walk even further to get to it. It took about 25 mins to get to the lab building, but again the scenery here is beautiful. Crossing over the River Lee through the Madryke Gardens makes the walk very enjoyable.

I should note that class is crazy over here. This week is like a "test" week where we just go to any class we want and see if we like them. We then register for the classes next wednesday. So if i dont like a class, i just go to another and register for it next week. Also, some classes only last 5 weeks and many of the classes that last the entire semester are only once per week. My schedule is pretty relaxed and I hope to do some major traveling soon.

Reline and I seem to be handling the cooking pretty well. I cook and he washes dishes. Pretty simple. Also, we met our other roommates, Caroline, who is Erika's sister and a 2nd year student and Steven is a 2nd year student who has been extremely helpful.

Overall, everything has been going well and I hope to finally take some pictures if the weather permits. I'll load them to the picture site--the link is posted on the right hand side at the top of this page. Once we iron out and take care of all the small details of life in Ireland (immigration and such) many more pics will be coming. We hope to visit Blarney this weekend and make it our first trip of our visit.