Irish Whiskey, Irishisms, and Other Randon Observations

Would a grand tour of Ireland be possible without a stop at the Jameson Distillery in Midleton? Steve decided not possible. The tradition began in 1780 with John Jameson who worked out that triple distillation makes his spirit unique and smooth. The hour tour explained how the Jameson whiskey is made with barley, hops and water and nothing else. A "secret" ingredient might be that the whiskey is aged in oak barrels previously having held port, sherry, or bourbon.


The highlight of the tour was the tasting at the end. Steve was chosen as one of the lucky 8 to taste the difference between Jameson, Scotch whiskey, and American Jack Daniels. Of course, the Jameson won. I was a little nervous about Steve's left side of the road driving after the generous tasting, but I stayed alert and he muscled through to our next stop in Kinsale.

It seems that Ireland today survives to a great extent on tourism, which is heavily American. From our day tours it seems that Americans make up at least 80% of the tourists, Irish, French and German, and eastern Europeans the rest.

Kinsale is an old fishing town that in 1601 was the site of a major battle which lost the Irish control of their homeland. Charles Fort, an unusual star shaped stone fort built in 1670's is situated on a hill above the town.

Several questions occurred to me while walking around town and seeing the signs above the many pubs and shops. Why are there so many surnames in Ireland that begin with the letter "O"? The answer to that dates back to olden times when the population was so small and people were not mobile. At that time people were known by first names only. When the population grew, surnames were added based on the trade or occupation of a person. Later, a "Mac" was added to a surname and meant "son of" as in MacDougal. Later, the "O" was added and meant grandson of whomever as in O'Kelly. Now it seems that almost everyone is someone's grandson.

Irish Road Signs:
Traffic calming = slow traffic ahead
Severe bends ahead = sharp curves in the road ahead

Irish village and town names:
Inch, Quilty, Dingle, Cong

Do you know. . .
how potholes got their name?
In the old days when clay got scarce the potters used to dig clay out of the road beds to make their pots, leaving large holes for the wagons. Learned in Waterford.

the original meaning of the phrase "losing face"?
In Victorian days ladies' makeup was made of wax. When they cozied up to the fireplace after a lovely dinner in a cold mansion the heat would cause the makeup to melt. To alleviate this problem wsmall individual painted Chinese screens were used to protect their faces while their toes, etc. stayed warm and no one "lost face". Learned in Killarny.

Found another lovely mansion, Muckross House, in Killarny, County Kerry. It seems some others Americans found it first in 1922 and bought it as a wedding gift for their daughter, Maud. These Americans were the owners of Filoli Gardens (near Hillsborough) in the bay area. The house and gardens are in fine condition held by the OPW so we were too late for this treasure. Still looking. . .