Day five was our last full day in Ireland and it was definitely a bittersweet day. We again slept in before heading out to see more sights. Well, everyone else slept in but I was up early and wandering either the house or the countryside every day we were there. This was the first day that the weather wasn't sunny but the overcast, slightly drizzly skies were perfect for our activities that day.
We started with a visit to the Old Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. It seemed kind of a strange place to visit since we don't drink alcohol at all, but it was still interesting to see how they've been making whiskey in Bushmills at the world's oldest licensed distillery for the last 406 years.
We arrived a little early for the tour so we hung out in the lobby and watched a video that was made for the Distillery's 400th anniversary in 2008. It talked about the history of the whiskey made in Bushmills and the difference between Irish and Scottish Whiskey. My favorite parts of the whole video? When the narrator explained how Bushmills Whiskey "warms the cockles of the heart" and when he talked about the "angel's share" or the whisky that evaporates while it is being aged in casks.
The tour took us through all the steps of whiskey production including selecting the ingredients, malting and then grinding the barley, mixing it with hot water in enormous vats to make the mash, and then adding brewer's yeast to start the fermentation process. Once the mash is fermented the resulting liquid is distilled by heating the liquid and collecting the alcohol vapors and then condensing them back into liquid form. Irish whisky is triple distilled so they repeat the distillation process three times.
The smell of the factory was very . . . yeast-y and honestly made me feel a little ill. I was grateful to be led outside as we walked to the cask storage area. Distilleries use many different types of wooden barrels to age their whisky, but the most common type in oak. Our guide talked a lot about how the length of the aging process and the type of cask used changes the flavor and color of the finished product. Again, I don't drink, but if I did the Bushmills Irish Honey sounded yummy; it has notes of apple, pear, and honey and finishes with a brilliant marshmallow flavor. What's not to love? Oh yeah, the alcohol content!
We ended the tour in the bar and restaurant area where everyone could have a glass of whiskey. We all chose either Diet Coke or Fanta - it might not have been whisky but it definitely warmed the cockles of my heart. To go along with our sodas we had a delicious lunch at the restaurant there. Emily and I shared a sticky toffee pudding that was so good I am determined to recreate it here at home.
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| Emily and I in front of an old still in the restaurant |
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| Emily got so excited every time we saw one of these red phone booths and all week we'd been telling her that we'd have time to stop and take a picture eventually. Thanks to Bushmills we were able to keep our promise! |
Next we headed a little outside of town to Dunluce Castle. It is just ruins now, but this amazing place must have been pretty impressive when it was first built and still occupied. It sits on the very edge of a cliff with nothing but rocks and the sea below. Part of the castle actually broke off and fell into the sea in the 1600s!
Before we started our tour of the main part of the castle Emily, John, Glo, and Johannah, and I all jumped over a fence and made our way down a steep grassy hill to the rocky beach below. It was tricky to find safe footing on the way down and a hard climb on the way back up but we did have fun once we reached our destination.
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| John found a friendly hermit crab |
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| and Emily picked up some slimy seaweed |
Once we were done jumping fences we made our way to the castle proper. We paid our admission and got set up for the audio tour. We did all did the kids treasure hunt version of the tour because it just sounded more fun plus we'd get to learn something along the way. It was narrated by the former owner of the castle whose name I can't entirely remember, but it was somebody MacQuillen. His wife's name was Lady Catherine, don't ask me how I remember that! Anyway, while sending us all around the castle looking for lost items (actual artifacts that have been found at Dunluce) we learned a little about the history of Dunluce and what life would have been like when the MacQuillens lived there.
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| Here we are listening intently for the first clue |
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| and looking for misplaced artifacts |
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| The views were amazing! |
By the time we were done with the treasure hunt the castle was about to close for the day. We made a quick stop inside and found out more about how all those artifacts we had been searching for, and many others, have been found by archaeologists.
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| Emily and Glo worked on their own archaeological dig |
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| And Glo and Jared almost completed this puzzle of Lady Catherine MacQuillan |
Then it was back to Kilcoobin to play more games . . . and maybe eat some more delicious meat pies!
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