Ireland Day 7 Kilkenny

Location: Kilkenny
B&B: Glendine House
Attractions: Jameson Distillery, Pubs in Kilkenny
Drink of Choice: Smithwicks

Our morning breakfast consisted of great conversation with the other guests from Delaware and Pennsylvania. They were extremely nice people and provided us a wealth of information for our trip back to Dublin (They had just come from the direction we were headed). Hey advised us to check out the Jameson Distillery in Middleton, which was right up our alley, and also recommended we check out the Wicklow Mountains on our way from Kilkenny back to Dublin.

The host, again, was great, but was a flurry of “You okay?” and “I need to disappear”. She ran around a mile-a-minute, but was very kind and efficient. She made us Pancakes and fruit for breakfast. The cakes were more like crepes then the pancakes we were used to. On our way out, we coincidentally met her at a stop sign and she asked if we grabbed some scones for the road, which we didn’t and she insisted that we drive back to the house and grab some. We respectful declined and headed towards our first stop, the Jameson Distillery.

This tour was everything I was hoping to see on the Guinness tour, but didn’t. It was a guided tour which spoke about the history and processes. There were so many interesting facts and sights. The tour ended with them asking the group for volunteers to taste test 3 different whiskeys. We of course raised our hands and naturally were picked. They had us try Johnny Walker Blue, Jack Daniels, and Jameson and asked which was best. Of course, you have to say Jameson, or they would take you out and put you in the stocks for some public humiliation. After the tour, they give you a free drink, we went with Jameson and ginger ale with a lime. Very tasty. It was a good thing they had a restaurant there, because after 3 shots and a cocktail, we need something in our bellies to sober us up!

We arrived in Kilkenny around 5:00pm and met our host, Alan. A very nice gentleman. We asked if he’d help us with laundry and he did for 5 Euros – Folded it and everything. He also gave us a lift into town, which was very nice considering it was raining. The first pub we ducked into was the Kytelers Inn. It was a really cool pub with a cool back story. Apparently, the original owner (back in the 1300’s) lost 4 husbands to mysterious illnesses and was accused of witchcraft fled to England. She is said to haunt the building today.

Our next pub adventure was the Pumphouse where we had a few more drinks and met some great locals. All 3 were artists of some sort. One was taking pictures while in the bar. Another, Kairen Caine, informed us she is a singer/songwriter and we talked a bit about her website. The other gentleman was a painter by the name of Eoghan O’Driscoll. When we asked about a good place for dinner, Kairen directed us to the Italian Connection.

The food was great. Shane got the Carbonera, and they made it like the recipe we have at home, but it was even better. Jill got the tuna, onion, and olive pizza. We of course had to get Jill’s favorite dessert, tiramisu. The final stop for the evening was Matt the Millers, another great pub with a lot of history. There was live music and we even danced a little, even though nobody else was.

Our walk home had was an adventure all its own. We (Shane) thought we knew where we were going and ended up taking the long way home. But it was worth it since we saw dozens of huge snails all over everything and a friendly cat that followed us for about a quarter of a mile. He was checking out driveways like he was hunting them. He was smart enough to not follow us across the street and we were happy that he stayed on his own block.