"every girl needs a little black drink"

well i made it back to the states. the land of red, white, and blue. i know there was a huge gap in entries due to final exams, papers, and making the most of my last few days in ireland. there was a few events that i never got the chance to blog about though so even though im home, i plan on wrapping up the trip with a few last pictures and thoughts. so enjoy!

first off...beer, beer, and more beer. we decided as a group that a little trip to the guinness factory while we were here was a necessity. i'm not the biggest fan of the stout but trust me, it is so much better here in ireland than back at home. this exhibit was amazing however! the exhibit design was one of the best i have ever seen. it was a walking tour so a lot of reading on your own but really informative and the storehouse itself was huge! with our ticket price we also recieved either a chance to learn to pour our own perfect pint or get a drink at the sky bar. the majority of us chose the pouring option but we snuck up to the sky bar for a peak around anyway.

tickets.

ingredients:

did you know guinness must be served in a special-shaped glass? there are also two different pours, the first with the tap flipped towards you pouring at a 90 degree angle. then once it has settled you top it off with the tap flipped away from you. it is also served at 6 degrees celsius, give or take a few.

practice makes perfect!

a round!

awesome view.

sticking with the alcoholic beverage theme...a few weeks later, as one of our group excursions, we took a guided tour of the jameson distillery. now i have never had whiskey so this was completely new to me! i must admit, they did a good job making it look quite appetizing. i learned that jameson is distilled 3 times, while most scotch whiskeys are done twice and american whiskeys, such as jack daniels, only once. this was truly a skill, usually kept within a family, to work in one of the jameson factories. we even got to see examples of the way the color changes over time and a few members of the group got to be taste-testers as well.

jameson irish whiskey barells!

in the end, just like with guinness, we all got a complimentary drink. i chose mine with ginger-ale but you could also mix with coke, cranberry juice, or if you were tough enough..straight up!

good friends and good whiskey.

slainte! (aka cheers!)