Guinness tour and a rainy night in Dublin

Of all the museums, galleries, and events I’ve visited so far, the one I enjoyed most would have to be the Guinness Tour. And it’s not because you get to pour your own beer. I’ve done a couple beer tours in my time, this one just tops them all with 250 years of history. Plus they walk you step by step through the brewing process allowing you to feel the raw barley, taste the distinct flavor of the roasted unmalted barley (reminds me of coffee), smell the aromatic hops, see the pure water straight from the Wicklow Mountains above Dublin, and finally explain the most important ingredient, the yeast which legend says comes from the same original strain used by Arthur Guinness. Pretty cool right! I think it was all the interaction that got me.

It was really the best tour I've been on so far...but then again I'm not a big museum buff.

Looks from the outside can be deceiving.  Great building.

Guinness and Me

In the evening Red Bull was having a viewing of their Illume Photobook, a collection of action and adventure sport photography, in the quad of Trinity College. The photographs were illuminated and projected well with the contrast of the night. Surprisingly the rain didn’t deter the crowd as I would’ve expected. But then again, this was a Red Bull event which caters to extreme sports fans. And they definitely had some of the most extreme pictures I’ve ever seen. A climb up an icefall in Switzerland, cliff diving into a canal in Germany, camping 600 meters above the valley floor on a shear cliff face in Yosemite hanging by clamps; things I would never have the balls to do myself.

Red Bull Illume Photobook at Trinity College

And after, a memorable walk through the rain with some of my bunkmates. Went slightly astray and endured more of the rain than we should have, but in our defense Dublin looks all the same at night. Ended up being my second “shower” of the day.

Samuel Beckett Bridge in the evening