Dark and tasty

At some point in November, Kep came to visit me, which was an excellent choice on his part, because we both had fun during his stay. And in case you're wondering, the title does not refer to Kep, because that would be really weird and kind of queer; see below for details...The initial plan was to go and do something cultural every day, but of course that plan went to pieces after his first evening here, which also was the first night we went out, being a Friday night and all.

The night had begun with take-away Indian food that was extremely tasty, after which we headed out so we could explore the legendary night life. Unfortunately, I am a poor guide in that respect as about the only place I could give a reasonable tour of is the library. However, we started out by going through Temple Bar, the central nightlife district of Dublin, and grabbing a couple Guinness in a small pub. Next stop was a place called Cafe En Seine, named after the French river that runs through Paris. The Irish however, cannot pronounce that name, so it comes out as "Cafe Insane," and it's a reasonably known nightlife spot I was introduced to by my god father. The place has incredible decor though, and that's why I actually took Keo there, for what I expected to be one drink, but we ended up there for most the night. Kep was quite popular with the Irish and foreign ladies, and eventually I lost him because he'd been dragged to nearby bar by a bunch of Spanish women, and we spent the rest of the night alternating between the two localities.
Saturday we nursed our hangovers (I also went to the library, I think) until evening time when we had a couple cans at my flat and hung with my comic flat mate, Barry. Upon heading out, Barry recommended a place called Hogan's, which since has become my favorite weekend night spot. There, we chilled out the evening grooving to the mellow old school hip hop sounds the resident DJ infuses with soul, funk and Motown samples, as well as the occasional guitar riff. A less eventful, but more relaxing night that was equally enjoyed.

Sunday we finally got out and did our cultural event: The Guinness Factory tour! (Funny how our cultural event also included alcohol. Find the link here.) Unfortunately, the tour doesn't actually allow you to see where the beer - sorry stout - is brewed, but you do learn a fair amount about brewing in general and the Guinness brand in particular. You also got to try things like roasted barley, an important ingredient in stout and what gives it the distinctive coloring. In fact, the barley roasting could be smelled from my flat the day before we went on the tour, as the wind often carries the smell from the St. James brewery into the city centre. It was always a pleasure to get outside and on my bike in the morning to be greeted by the sweet and wholesome smell of this process, a gentle - and necessary - reminder that there is more to life in Dublin than just endless mind-numbing, painful, depression-inducing study. There also is Guinness (and someday I hope to take advantage of that).That's a lot or barley!

The coolest part of the tour is probably the building itself: they have converted one of the old storehouses for the grain, which sits atop the hill of the brewery and overlooks the city, into the museum, so there is a huge atrium, which is probably about 14 stories high, with various exhibition halls going off it. While we were there, there also was a special temporary exhibition on John Gilroy, the guy who created all the iconic Guinness ads with the animals and so forth, which was pretty cool. In fact, the St. James' Brewery, where Guinness is still brewed today originally didn't belong to Arthur Guinness. Instead, he leased the land for the brewery for a couple hundred pounds - and 7000 years. Now considered the most astute real estate deal in the history of the British Isles, this means that Guinness now sits on some of the most valuable land in Europe, at the heart of one of Europe's most expensive real estate markets. In fact, the company is thinking of moving to a different location and selling the land, which is valued above a billion Euros! They had an original copy of the lease recessed in the ground of the entry hall, which you can see to the left.

One thing I didn't realize about the Guinness drought we drink today is that that particular beverage wasn't created - or at least, released onto the public - until 1959. Previously, there had been various forms of Guinness, predominantly bottled for export, such as "Foreign Extra" and "Extra Stout." Sometimes you can still ind these in pubs here in Dublin, although it is rather rare. Moreover, Guinness runs a continuous Brewhouse Series of slightly altered brews - currently the "Northhouse," of which we received a sample - and also some crazy new stuff in the works like Guinness Red (my pub in London actually turned down an offer as a sampling point for that new one last year, and I have yet to try it).
The final part of the tour is a complimentary pint of Guinness on top of the factory in a round glass bar, with views over all of Dublin.
Bottoms up! Too bad we didn't have the views.

Unfortunately for us, it was both dark and raining, so we couldn't see anything. But on the upside, some English girls next to us didn't want their pints, so we had a couple pints each. We then purchased some Guinnes Foreign Extra bottles - at a whoping 9% alcohol - for our walk back into town. At that point Kep and I split ways, as I had to go to the library to write a paper critique avec buzz while he found himself a sports bar and watched the NFL.

Every few hours Kep would call me, and each time he would sound a little more drunk, until eventually he called in order to tell me that he had a bunch of girls and I should join them. I finally left the library at 1.30 in the morning and went to find Kep, who immediately infused me with a Vodka Red Bull. Unfortunately, I think the bartender had cut him off at this point, so I drank a pure Red Bull, which meant that I ended up sleeping quite poorly. that was the first time I was happy there there is a closing hour to the nightlife here, because if there weren't, I don't think God himself could have moved Kep out of the bar. Then he and the girls unsuccessfully attempted to convince me to join them at the girls' hotel, and I was glad to see Kep a few hours later, still in one piece after he returned to m.y place after having been at theirs. I should add that most of them were quite attractive, despite their North English accents.