So on the 2nd weekend of February, Brandon, our fellow SJUer, came down from Belfast to visit us in Cork! I like Brandon a bunch, and was excited to hang out with him. He ended up having to stay a night in Dublin on the way down, because the bus system doesnt run a bus to cork after 18:00. On Saturday, he ended up getting there when the rest of us were eating our irish traditional breakfast! It was really good. it involved black pudding and white pudding, where were little loafs of blood and meat. They had the texture of pork rinds crushed up in crusty ground beef, and they were delicious! Then, we hopped on a train to Midleton to go to the Jameson distillery. We got there and it was amazing! There was whiskey everywhere! we got a tour of the facility, which was now a museum because the distilling takes place in a new factory down the road. But the building was so cool. it had windows that let the smoke out, grain elevators, and 45,000 gallon tanks where the undistilled liquid, which is basicallly beer, is stored. Previously we had to to watch a video of the history of Jameson. It was like a documentary from the history channel, where they focus on like a tap or a pipe or the guys feet because the actor in the 18th century suit looks nothing like John Jameson, the founder. Apparently, Jameson whisky is distilled 3 times. So we got to the part of the tour where we saw the giant distilling vats, which are the biggest in the world. They are made of copper and like 30 feet tall. Unfortunatley they were too big for a picture! At the end of the tour we got a complimentary shot of Jameson! Some lucky people also got to do a taste test of 3 different kinds of whiskey- Scotch, Jack Daniels, and Jameson, to compare the flavors. After the tour, we walked around Midleton. I found a hat that said Ballycotton Lifeboat and it had a picture of the boat! Heck yeah! Too bad it is a childs hat. i think i will have mattie sew it onto a bigger hat. Best Souvenir ever.
We took the bus back to Leeside, and then made feast! Then we went to the Fran Well for beerfest. They had all sorts of beers from brewerys around ireland. I tried the Raven Black, a 6.5% stout that is the big brother to Beamish and Guinness and Murphy's, the readheaded stepchilld of stouts. I don't like Murphys. This drunk guy came up and talked to all of us, and kept repeating himself. he kept saying "all i wanna say is....welcome.....welcome to my country....welcome to my city!" and then he would go down the line and shake all of our hands. He did this nine times. I counted. Then we hung out in Leeside! We threw rotten potatoes and moldy bread in the Lee.
Brandon and his friend justin who came with him but i forgot to mention said they were going to Blarney the next day, which i thought was a bold thing to do, considering they wanted to go with 4 hours of sleep. But we all slept in, and the two of them took the bus back up to Belfast. It was really fun seeing Brandon, becasue he is the only friend from the states that i will be seeing until June. It was like having a part of home come to visit!
