Whiskey is the quintessential drink of Ireland…. Minus Guinness of course! This lovely little beverage fuels the country, and honestly it is my favorite spirit. You can do so much with the taste and everything just by how you barrel it. It is unreal. So when I saw the Irish Whiskey Museum I knew I had to go. I walked passed the little alleyway that housed the museum every day on the way to work and I knew it was calling my name. It happened to be my day off with nothing to do so I opted to pop into the museum to see what it was all about.
For starters whenever you go on the tour you get a whiskey tasting at the end (how unreal is that!) You get to try three different types of whiskeys and learn a little bit about what it takes to make the perfect Irish whiskey. There was also the option of for an extra 4 Euro you can be a VIP person and have another sample of a single malt whiskey! Obviously I went the extra option…. How could you not?! It was absolutely delightful. The museum surprisingly taught us loads about the history of the Irish whiskey craze. For starters did you know that Ireland has the first written record to talk about any distilled alcohol primarily whiskey. It can be dated back to the 1200s which means Irish people have been cruising on that whiskey game for an incredibly long time.
The next super cool interactive room they brought us to was all about the “prohibition” era in Dublin. Shockingly, there was a point in time that Ireland’s alcohol was taxed so much that people had to illegally make their own. They had pop up “pubs” all over Ireland with their own brews. At one point their was on record over 8,000 shut down in one year! Talk about commitment. It was here that we learned about the fact that the difference between most Irish whiskeys and the other whiskeys of the world is the fact that they triple distill their whiskeys. It raises the alcohol content which is always ideal. We were taught the entire process of whiskey production. From the beginning the Irish were very particular in the art of their whiskey production. They believed it had to be done in a very specific way in order for the spirit to be considered a whiskey. Like unless it was stored in a wooden barrel for 3 years and 1 day. Talk about specifics! After we went through the specifics of how whiskeys were made in Ireland throughout the time when it was illegal and even to when distilleries were introduced we were led into a room the resembled a Victorian era pub and we were able to learn all about the huge whiskey families at the time! My favorite was the fact that old Bushmill Distillery was run by a woman after her husband died. She was a complete innovator and she made her distillery the first to use electricity! Talk about female power!
Now, my absolute favorite part of the entire tour came at the end and that was the whiskey tasting! We had four different types of whiskey. Let me tell ya it was unreal! My personal favorite was the single malt whiskey. It was heavenly. This museum provided an unbelievable experience. It is hard to believe that this museum has only been open for a little over a year. Though I didn’t get a lot of photos it was definitely a well done museum! One of my favorite things I have done so far… and that is not just the whiskey talking!
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