Off to Kilkenny

 We are now finished with half our trip and moved on to our new location in the southeast of Ireland, near Kilkenny.  We passed by Shannon and Limerick.  We were on a motorway for a while and stopped at this motor plaza - kind of like our On Route.


Yep, the plaza is named after Obama - I guess he has heritage from this area.

We got to Kilkenny and had lunch at McCleere’s Pub.  The back of this pub had a little theatre set up, and in fact the whole town seems to be in the entertainment business.

After lunch, we had some time to kill so we went to the Smithwick’s Experience - yes where this beer, and Kilkenny beer, was brewed for hundreds of years.  Here we are in the tour waiting area.  Yes, what can I say - they’re indescribable.

They took us back to the time of the monks in the abbey making beer.  This monk was describing the process and then what happened to them.


He was a hologram set up in the back of the room.  He talked about Henry VIII coming in and running them all over, kicking them all out, looting and pillaging.  And because of Penal Law, no catholic could own a business or vote or be in any kind of political position nor own a horse worth more than £5.  That happened until 1829.

Here I am stirring the pot.

We moved on to the original Smithwick house parlour with pictures on the walls.  Here are John & Gerard sitting in the bathtub though :/


Those pictures came to life and talked to us about the beginning of Smithwick’s brewery.  John Smithwick was a 20-year old catholic, but got a protestant front man to help him start the business.  Of course this sign wouldn’t have been here until after the repeal of Penal Law.


He took us through the process of beer-making back in the day.



And then we sat down and smelled and tasted the different ingredients before and after cooking.


Then at the end we got to taste it!  Great tour.  The beer is now brewed in Dublin though.  There was no more room for expansion here, and the demand outweighs its facilities.  Guinness also bought into the brewery after Smithwick’s outsold Guinness in Ireland.


We left here and arrived at our new residence, The Coach House, for the next 4 days.  Beautiful spot.  I’ll get pictures later.















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