Posted to the blog and put up a few pictures, checked to see all the bills were paid, and set about renting a car. Got a quote from Budget for a weeks rental, all inclusive and it’s a automatic, but after inputting everything, the website said “we will get back to you in 24 hours”! But I wanted to rent today!! Ok, I got all the contact numbers and called the Cork Airport Budget Car rental desk, was told that all web reservations take 24 hours, but they would match the rate for me if I wanted to get a car this afternoon so I say OK. So we are off to Cork, Lisa wants to shop for a coat, and then we will head to the airport to pick up the car. Wow….first time driving on the left….takes a bit of concentration especially with the narrow roads! Made it home ok though. I even found the remote control in the kitchen that activates the gate so we can park the car next to the house.
Walked down to meet Bill and Sue for dinner at Jim Edwards and had a nice chat, brought them back to the house to show Bill, they will be renting from Bruce beginning on May 1st. Back out about 9 to the An Seanachai again to see what they advertise as “Ballad Session”. It ends up being Peter Returns singing, not quite what Lisa had in mind, so we wander to Muddy Maher’s to listen to “Seanjohn” whatever that is, find out it’s two guys, one on keyboard, one on guitar, not bad but you can’t hear much with all the “conversations” going on :) Back home about midnight.
February 24 – Up at 8, Lisa throws in a load of laundry while we shower and eat, and we decide to drive to Midleton today and see the distillery. Leave about 11:30 and make our way up there, taking the ferry across Cobh Harbor instead of driving through Cork. We have a few “interesting” twists and turns along the way, not being used to the Irish road signs, but we make it to Midleton about 1. Get our tickets for the tour which doesn’t start until 2:30. There is a nice looking restaurant there so we have some lunch, I get the duck and ginger sausages and Lisa has a tomato, cheese, and basil panini and with a couple drinks it was still only 26 euro and really filled us up, so I highly recommend it if you are there.
The tour was interesting, starts off with a short film on Irish whiskey through the years, and then continues through the old buildings, showing the grain storage, mashing area, fermenting tanks, distilling kettles, cooperages (barrel builders) and ending up at the tasting room. I had heard they will ask for volunteers so I quickly said yes and was sat down with 3 other volunteers and 5 different whiskeys. Three Irish, Jameson, Paddy’s and Powers, one Scotch (Johnny Walker Red)and one American (Jack Daniels) and we got to taste and differentiate between them. Everyone else got one drink with the tour, but we got all the taste samples and a big shot of Jameson when it was done, along with a certificate stating I am a official Irish Whiskey Taster :) The tour goes until 4, so we decide to head home for supper, but I do a bit of shopping in the Heritage center first, pick up a bottle of Jameson Distillers 12 Year Old Select, which is only available at the center. Lisa wouldn’t let me by a bottle of Midleton 1964, she thought the 2,000 euro price tag was a bit high.
So far it was a nice day, didn’t rain until the drive home. I cook a stuffed chicken leg we bought at the victualers, and with a bit of salad and bread we have a nice dinner. Go to Vista after for a drink and listen to the music again. Two different guys this time but they are really good, I get a little video and audio and I will see if I can get it up on the blog. 
Again, they play a lot of music we hear at our jams and at Wheatland. We leave there and go to An Seanachai to see what they have going, two guys called “That’s The Shot” playing trad, not very good and the place is really crowded and noisy. All the twenty something girls are out wearing lots of pointy shoes and cleavage, well it is Saturday night. About 15 minutes of that is enough, and we decide to go home.
On the way though, I hear the music coming out of Lord Kinsale, so we go in. One guy on a keyboard and backing tracks singing trad, much more to our style, he’s an older guy, find out his name is Kevin, a local, and they all like him, and so do we. Late in his set he brings up 5 or 6 locals to sing a song or two, and a couple of them are really good! So we stayed til closing then went home, hitting the hay about 1.
