Ireland - Waterford to Cork

After breakfast, we went into Waterford to tour the crystal factor, as described in the previous post. From there we started our journey to Cork.

We stopped in Dungarvan for lunch and sightseeing. The first thing we noticed, even before parking the car, was the low tide.

Low tide and so many twin keel sailboats!

In my lifetime, I had only seen a few twin keelers. That's a sailboat with two keels. As you can see, they have a very specific purpose. At low tide, they can sit evenly on the two keels so the boat doesn't tip over. This is a very handy feature in areas where the tidal range is close to 15 feet.

We walked around the village to stretch after the drive and decided to choose a lunch location along the way.

Dungarven pub doorway

St. Marry Church of Ireland

For our lunch, we chose Merry's bar. The food was good and they had a variety of local beers to choose from.

Merry's, our chosen lunch location with local atmosphere

Along with large commercial beers on tap, there were also locally brewed choices

They were out of the Irish Red. So, I chose a local bitter ale.

After lunch, we found our way to Dungarvan Castle.

Dungarvan Castle exterior

This is reportedly, the last castle built in Ireland that had a curtain wall surrounding a central keep. That's because the castle originally consisted of a keep with a mote surrounding it. Then in later expansions, the curtain wall was built.

Main entrance to Dungarvan Castle

We've had our pints. Now it was time to move on. Brynn had booked us for the Jameson Experience tour to taste some fine Irish Whiskey. 

Waiting for the tour to begin

The old Jameson distillery

Distilling pot

Inside the old distillery yard

The malting process took place in the building shown above. The many windows were needed for ventilation.

The Master Distiller lived on the premises with his family. 

The Master Distiller's home

This waterwheel provided the power to grind, and mix the grains

Mixing the grains

Part of the old distillery is being reused for a micro-distillery where smaller quantities will be produced.

Micro-distillery, still triple distilled

The distilled liquid is called spirits and can not by law be called whiskey until is has been aged for at least three years. So, no whiskey has been produced by the micro distillery to date. There are spirits currently aging.

I liked this monument, just inside the gate of the distillery.

I kept referring to this as the old distillery, which it is. The new, state-of-the-art, modern distillery is set back farther on the same property. As most modern buildings, it's all glass with little character on the outside. It's what's inside that matters.

Brynn arranged for us to stay at an Airbnb that night. We had a whole house to ourselves. The back deck went out to the river that separated the property from Cork College.

A view out the kitchen windows

After checking in, we walked into town and had dinner at a restaurant recommended by the house's owner. Then we took a short walk around to get oriented.