We are leaving Dublin today to take a drive around some of the countryside of Ireland. Leaving at about 9am we headed out south through the suburbs and drove through the undulating countryside into County Wicklow. The rolling fields are so green and there is a plenty of livestock and a wide variety of crops in the fields.
We drove for about forty minutes before stopping in the town of Balltinglass. This town had some significance to my family as it is where my great, great, great grandparents Patrick Hogarty and Elizabeth Nowlan were married in 1828.
The town has a large ruin of a church that was used until 1840 when a new church was built in 1840. We were able to walk amongst the ruin and took plenty of photos of it.
There is a river running through the village and there was sandbags placed near buildings near the river so it must have recently had some flooding.
From there we moved travelled to Tullow, and drove around the town stopped to take photos of some pubs and other buildings.
We also stopped at chain supermarket similar to the Aldi chain but it is run by a Polish company. Here Neil bought a 5 litre Heineken barrel which had been produced to promote the European Champions League football tournament and we got some food to have in the car.
We kept moving south getting onto a motorway and into the large city of Kilkenny. We had booked a brewery tour of the Smithwick Brewery. It has been brewing beer on the same site for 301 years. Last year was the start of its third century of brewing.
Our tour guide Rohnan has worked for the brewery for 26 years and is very passionate about the strong family atmosphere that built the brewery over the years. He told us the Smithwick family were very innovative brewers and often travelled to Belgium and Germany in the 1800’s to learn new brewing methods and bought many Belgium and German brewers to Kilkenny to work in the brewery. To their credit it at allowed the company to prosper whilst others around it faltered.
We got a very extensive history of both the brewery and of the Saint Francis Abbey church which is part of the brewery complex. The abbey was built by the Franciscan monks and completed in 1231. The monks also brewed beer on the site at that time.
A tour of the brewery site and into the brewing building to see the process of the brewing followed and then we returned to the brewery cellar which is now used as a bar and function room. Rohnan, then showed us all how to pour a pint of Smithwicks and talked of its distinctive red colour and flavour. The tour which is promoted as a one and a half hour tour took us nearly two and a half hours by the time Rohnan had allowed for a second pint for the boys after the other tourists had left.
Neil presented him with some Great Aussie Beer Shed memorabilia for his excellent lesson in the brewing and other aspects of Smithwicks. We also bought some items from the shop at the completion of the tour.
We walked around that area of the city and took some photos of the buildings and of the pub signs and had drink at a pub called the Pumphouse before leaving Kilkenny. I happened to leave my camera in the pub but realised it was missing after only going about 200 metres so was able to go back and get it.
Travelling on we travelled through a lot more countryside before getting back onto the motorway and driving around the city of Cork. Time was getting on by then and we did not stop in the city but turned west heading for our accommodation for this evening in Killarney. Along the way we stopped in a town called Ballymackeera and had a refreshing drink in The O’Scanaill pub.
The publican, Gerard Scannell, had taken over running the pub after his mother passed away aged 93!!
He was a school teacher prior to that. He showed us a photo of his great, great grandfather Arthur O’Leary who started the pub in 1796. We also talked to the publican’s son who had spent two years in Melbourne working as an Electrician recently.
As time was getting on we moved onto Killarney to our hotel for the night. We arrived 5 minutes before the bistro menu closed for the night so ordered food and sat and watched the European Club Championship final second half. Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3 – 1. We then unpacked the car and Neil and I had a couple more drinks before it was lights out.
We drove for about forty minutes before stopping in the town of Balltinglass. This town had some significance to my family as it is where my great, great, great grandparents Patrick Hogarty and Elizabeth Nowlan were married in 1828.
The town has a large ruin of a church that was used until 1840 when a new church was built in 1840. We were able to walk amongst the ruin and took plenty of photos of it.
There is a river running through the village and there was sandbags placed near buildings near the river so it must have recently had some flooding.
From there we moved travelled to Tullow, and drove around the town stopped to take photos of some pubs and other buildings.
We also stopped at chain supermarket similar to the Aldi chain but it is run by a Polish company. Here Neil bought a 5 litre Heineken barrel which had been produced to promote the European Champions League football tournament and we got some food to have in the car.
We kept moving south getting onto a motorway and into the large city of Kilkenny. We had booked a brewery tour of the Smithwick Brewery. It has been brewing beer on the same site for 301 years. Last year was the start of its third century of brewing.
Our tour guide Rohnan has worked for the brewery for 26 years and is very passionate about the strong family atmosphere that built the brewery over the years. He told us the Smithwick family were very innovative brewers and often travelled to Belgium and Germany in the 1800’s to learn new brewing methods and bought many Belgium and German brewers to Kilkenny to work in the brewery. To their credit it at allowed the company to prosper whilst others around it faltered.
We got a very extensive history of both the brewery and of the Saint Francis Abbey church which is part of the brewery complex. The abbey was built by the Franciscan monks and completed in 1231. The monks also brewed beer on the site at that time.
A tour of the brewery site and into the brewing building to see the process of the brewing followed and then we returned to the brewery cellar which is now used as a bar and function room. Rohnan, then showed us all how to pour a pint of Smithwicks and talked of its distinctive red colour and flavour. The tour which is promoted as a one and a half hour tour took us nearly two and a half hours by the time Rohnan had allowed for a second pint for the boys after the other tourists had left.
Neil presented him with some Great Aussie Beer Shed memorabilia for his excellent lesson in the brewing and other aspects of Smithwicks. We also bought some items from the shop at the completion of the tour.
We walked around that area of the city and took some photos of the buildings and of the pub signs and had drink at a pub called the Pumphouse before leaving Kilkenny. I happened to leave my camera in the pub but realised it was missing after only going about 200 metres so was able to go back and get it.
The publican, Gerard Scannell, had taken over running the pub after his mother passed away aged 93!!
He was a school teacher prior to that. He showed us a photo of his great, great grandfather Arthur O’Leary who started the pub in 1796. We also talked to the publican’s son who had spent two years in Melbourne working as an Electrician recently.
As time was getting on we moved onto Killarney to our hotel for the night. We arrived 5 minutes before the bistro menu closed for the night so ordered food and sat and watched the European Club Championship final second half. Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3 – 1. We then unpacked the car and Neil and I had a couple more drinks before it was lights out.
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