When all of us who are studying abroad attended our first meeting with the university I’m studying through, one main topic of the evening was drinking and alcohol.
Throughout the introduction, presenters showed us a PowerPoint that touched on pickpocketing and manners in a new country, and an emphasis three or four times to monitor how much one drinks.
The thrill of being in a European country where the legal age of drinking is 18 gets a number of students very excited — perhaps too excited.
While the cultural norm in places like Europe, especially Italy, is to take long sips of your wine or beer to savor and taste the carefully crafted beverage in a social setting like dinner, the approaches of students who are new to the availability of liquid courage tend to be quite the opposite.
This weekend, I realized just how much the artistry, history and work that goes into a timeless drink is forgotten upon my visit to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
Before learning how to pour your own perfect pint and sitting atop the storehouse with a full glass of Guinness with a 360 degree view of the city before you, there is a great deal of history that is covered in the museum.
The taste that can often be dismissed with fast gulps at a pub in fact undergoes a rather tedious process to perfect its signature taste that is quite distinct when the palette lets it sit. What makes this ruby red beer taste so unique comes down to its four ingredients, barley, hops, yeast and water.
It all begins with the barley, which has been sown in soil and then malted. Anyone looking to use the grain that must acquire it by establishing relationships with farmers.
What comes next isn’t just a pouring tap water in the mix. The museum emphasized how the selection of water in surprisingly important to developing the beverage. The barley is mixed with water from Poulaphouca Lake in County Wicklow. This water has been heated and then added to the barely.
This process continues to add ingredients as it moves. The hops added and boiled for 90 minutes before leaving to cool and settle. This is the key touch for a strong flavor. The yeast then is thrown into the mix a precious ingredient that is protected in small amounts in a locked area.
Seeing three floors dedicated to the making of this drink alone had me in shock, and it made sense that there was a tasting lesson built into the tour.
The man taught us how to properly drink this beer because so often people take tiny sips or simply throw it all back before the taste buds can even experience it.
Beverages can very much so be like an extravagant dish. There is time and preparation that goes into it, and it’s meant to be enjoyed within a certain portion for taste, so often it’s mistaken for another purpose.
