You may think you know the drinking culture of Ireland, but unless you have been here and experienced it, you have no idea. Yes, they do drink a lot. Yes, most of it is Guinness. But there is much more to the actual culture of it.
Let's start with the pubs. They are everywhere, kind of like Starbucks in NYC, one on every corner. They are all decorated to the 9's with old whisky jugs and pictures that look as though they have been there since before the building was. They have a homely and inviting feeling to them. It also helps that when you walk in the bartender is quite excited to say hello, and even more so when you have an accent. I am sorry, but I did not snap any pictures of any pubs... I think my hands were full (or something along those lines).
The Irish take their beer seriously. Obviously they have their Guinness, which is more of a religion than a drink here. For instance, every beer/cider they have on tap, the bar has the accompanying glassware with the name printed on it. You are probably thinking to yourself "Wow, so they got glasses from the distributors", which they did. The difference is, you will not get a tap beer/cider that is not in the right glass. And they are meticulous about it. The Heineken glasses are chilled, the Carlsburg glasses have that funky shape and raised writing, and the Guinness glasses are a work of art.
When it comes to the actual pouring of the beer they are just as stringent. The head is perfect every time, period. If they pour it wrong and still hand it out, the patron will hand it back to them and it will be fixed without question or hesitation. It is refreshing to see a drink be poured and handled the way it should be. Unless of course they take too long... then I just get thirsty and agitated.
Their liquor is along the same lines. Each shot is pre-measured by a contraption the bottle is hooked up to. There is no asking for a "long pour" or tipping well to get more booze for the same price. I can understand that there is a science to mixing drinks that causes the flavors to be a certain way, but come on... just give me a little extra. On top of that, they have individual little bottles of mixers that you have to buy in addition to the booze. It is extremely inefficient and wasteful. But I digress to my final point.
Drinks on the dance floor. Yes, it is that different. Yes, most places allow it, but some do not, and for good reason I might add. Like I said earlier, they serve all drinks in the correct glassware, and this continues no matter the time of night. So 4am rolls around and they are still handing Guinness glasses to hammered drunk people who then proceed to the dance floor. One night I saw six glasses dropped and shatter on the dance floor. A man from behind the bar comes out and does his best to sweep up the shards of glass inches away from entering a girl's bare foot. There is no punishment or recourse for this, the person just goes up and orders another 5 Euro beer, and is back on the floor.
Since looking through my pictures for this post, I have come to the realization that I have only taken pictures of Guinness... so, sorry about that.
Sorry for the long post yet again, but the way a culture drinks tells you a lot about them as a nation. So I enjoy looking at them and analyzing them. Next drinking culture... India. That will be very interesting I am sure
Until next time
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