Viking Splash tour boat.

Text and Photos
By Shari Benyousky
Guest Writer

Editor’s Note: Shari Benyousky, Antony Garza, Davin Broadhurst, Jason Benyousky and Ethan Spencer traveled abroad. During the first week the group visited Rome and Switzerland. While Broadhurst and Spencer returned to the United States after the first week, the Benyouskys and Garza continued their journey in Europe traveling to France and Ireland. The following is a continuation of their trip in Ireland.

The rest of Europe was over 100° F when our train pulled into the center of Dublin. But here it was raining in a marvelous 75° F. Our umbrellas joined the streams of cheerful crowds ignoring the damp and jostling each other as they walked the cobblestones and bridges of the River Liffey.

A pint of Guinness.

Tourists flock to Dublin for the culture, the people, the weather, the ambiance, and the food. Well, the food and the pints of Guinness to wash the food down.

We stopped at Fitzgerald’s Pub at 22 Aston Quay because the inside looked “right” with dark wood paneling, nooks and crannies for tables, Irish flags, and live music. In addition to recommending an amazing Shepherd’s Pie, our waitress told us one good reason things taste better in Dublin. This reason became a common theme.

Universally, the answer about why things taste better in Dublin is because there’s Guinness to wash all of the things down. And, Guinness tastes better in Ireland than anywhere else. “Fine.” I gave up asking about anything else. I asked the waitress. “Ok, I give, WHY does Guinness taste better in Ireland?” She gave me the first answer.

Because Guinness Uses Water From The Wicklow Mountains

Guinness is brewed in over 40 countries, but the stuff found in Ireland uses only fresh mountain water from the Wicklow Mountains. There’s even a lake referred to as Guinness Lake — Lough Tay (translated Tea Lake because of the reddish water) — which has been a part of the Guinness Estate since the 18th century. When Guinness is shipped, it is in a concentrated form without water. The buyers add local water when it arrives. Water which is not from the WIcklows.

TIP – The History Channel’s series Vikings was filmed on Lough Tay. Other movies filmed in the Wicklows include Brave Heart and Excalibur.

Because Guinness Never Sits In The Pipes

From the number of pub signs proclaiming Guinness (Irish Stout) or Jameson and Gingers, you’d think everyone in Ireland drank every day. You’d be kind of right. According to The Irish Post, the average Irish person over 16 (drinking age is 18 in Ireland) consumes 436 pints of beer every year and that doesn’t include the harder stuff. This brings us to the next reason Guinness tastes better in Dublin — you never get flat or stale Guinness from the tap here because it never has time to sit still. A waiter at a different pub gave me this obvious reason.

Because There Are So Many Heroes To Toast

Chilean Irish hero Bernado O’Higgins.

The Irish (and anyone else nearby in the pub) spend a lot of time talking about their heroes and saying sláinte (pronounced slawn-che) which is how you say cheers. It literally means “health.” We spent one perfect Irish afternoon in Merrion Square Park in Dublin meeting the heroes of those tributes in the form of statues. They included famed writer Oscar Wilde, Revolutionary Michael Collins, and one Chilean named Bernardo O’Higgins. A Chilean? Why is there a Chilean-Irish hero?

Bernardo O’Higgins was the illegitimate son of Ambrosio O’Higgins. Although the father never met his son, he did care for him financially. In fact, Ambrosio paid for his son to be educated in London where he heard about the fledgling Americans and their struggle for independence. Bernardo returned to Chile, joined the revolt against the Spanish who ruled Chile, and became a hero and founding father of Chile. Sláinte!

Because Guinness Doesn’t Travel Well

After we spent another perfect afternoon learning how to cut and shape bars of silver in the basement of a Dublin jeweler’s shop with a dozen other people from around the world, we exited with our new found skills and matching silver rings. To celebrate, we joined our group for a drink. Our ring instructor put down his pint in surprise when I asked why things tasted better in Dublin. He shook his head. “Drenkin’ Guinness means drenkin’ in Ireland. It just tastes better ‘ere.” We all flashed our matching rings.

Guinness buys 100 tons of Irish Barley every year to roast for the stout. There are only four ingredients — water, yeast, barley, and hops. The longer the time from the creation of the Guinness, the more time for oxidization and degradation of flavor.

The waiter stopped to see that we were pleased by the Guinness and chips before he immediately steered the conversation back to another Irish hero. “Guinness tastes like itself only here. ONLY here. Like Oscar Wilde said, ‘Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken, ya know! Sláinte!”

The Irish we met aren’t shy about being uniquely themselves.

The Pour Training

Transporting a few pints of Guinness.

In Dublin we found the entire world walking around. Every shade of skin from white to yellow to tan to black. Every kind of headgear from wool hats to yarmulkes to turbans to hijabs. Indian restaurants sat next to Italian with Irish pubs on both sides.

Twice we ate lovely Irish breakfasts (that means black and white sausage pudding, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, hashbrowns, and eggs) in Murphy’s Café. Murphy’s was run by a Turkish family. No one cared as long as the food tasted good.

The Irish are exacting with their Guinness too; not just any pub can put up a Guinness sign. A bartender has to be trained to pour correctly. One has to know how to chill the glass just right, at what angle to hold the glass, and how fast to pour to create that famous frothy head.

Obviously, Guinness is just better in Ireland because of all of these reasons. I know because an Irish bartender told me so.

Sláinte!