Whiskey and Rocks

Nope, not whiskey on the rocks (which is a horrendous thing to do to a good single malt whiskey, BTW), but a weekend of whiskey and rocks. The Oldest Son, his Wife and the Grandson have come to visit us here in Northern Ireland.😍We gave them less than 24 hours on the ground before packing up and heading out west for the weekend. We rented an MPV (which is a minivan to the norte americanos), negotiated who was sitting where, and headed across the country… Which took us a little over an hour.🤣

Our first stop on the journey was the Dark Hedges. I have no idea if anyone knew of this cool road prior to Game of Thrones. Well, someone must have known of the road for the location scouts to find out about it, I guess. The poor farmers. This was quiet, rural land until the world found out it existed. In the 18th century, there was a manor house here (now a golf course) and the family who owned it wanted a grand entrance, so a line of beech trees was planted –

We headed to Bushmills village right after seeing the Dark Hedges as we had an important appointment…a tour of the Bushmills Distillery. Now, let me explain why this matters – way back when, maybe 20 or 25 years ago (I wish I could remember the circumstances but, nope), I tried the green label Bushmills and discovered that I really like Irish single malt whiskey. Over the years I have developed new favorites (Powers John’s Lane…mmmm!), but that Bushmills 10 year old will always have a fond place in my heart. So, to go to Bushmills Distillery made me happy. Sadly, there is no photography on the tour (too much alcohol fumes in the air😁), so nothing to show for that. But the Husband had set up an extra special treat – we were doing the private premium whiskey tasting with one of the whiskey masters. There’s a job I could get in to, being a whiskey master. We were taken to a special room (no, no padding – be quiet) that was beautifully set up-

We started with the blends, which I had never tried, being the whiskey snob that I am. And I discovered that one or two drops of water can completely change the whiskey! Wow, what a revelation. After the blends we had a mystery glass to try – Johnnie Walker Red. It was like licking the inside of a chimney. I don’t like Scotch whisky (notice the absence of the e) anyway, but I really didn’t like that stuff. Then, we were on to the good stuff – the single malts. We had the 12 year reserve, the 16 year and the 21 year. Oh Lordy. Yummy stuff. If you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, and you like Irish whiskey, make certain you do this tasting! It’s not inexpensive, but it’s not too bad, and the experience is wonderful.

Once we finished the tasting, we were very glad our rental house was walking distance! We had a quiet remainder of the evening to prepare ourselves for being tourists in the morning.

Note to others: take the train from Bushmills when you go out to Giant’s Causeway. I misunderstood and thought we drove out to the train station, then took the train to the causeway itself. Nope. Boo-boo there. We still parked in the train station parking lot, which is waaayy better than parking in the Causeway parking lot. Just…don’t. The roads are narrow and full of big buses. Nobody can go anywhere and gridlock ensues. But, Giant’s Causeway. So cool. So otherworldly!

There is a bus that will run you up and down the hill, which is helpful with a little one! We did walk down however. It’s a nice walk (downhill).😎Crazy place.

Our next point on the tourista express was Dunluce Castle. What a spectacular location! I really need to go back and watch Excalibur. I believe it’s the castle used in the beginning of the movie. I think it’s also a locale for Game of Thrones. It was probably quite a site when it was intact! The Earls of Antrim eventually had possession of it (it changed hands a few times) until 1639, when the kitchen, along with many of the kitchen staff, fell into the sea. It was decided that the place was too decrepit to keep up, and the family built Glenarm Castle, which we stopped at the following day.

At the end of our weekend we elected to return to Larne via the Causeway route, which runs along the coast. We had heard that it was a beautiful drive – we were not disappointed! The only sad part was that we just did not have the time (and had a toddler in tow) to find the waterfall at Glenariff Park.

The weather was not really conducive to getting many good pictures, unfortunately. I would consider the drive to be a must-do if you find yourself in Northern Ireland.

As we neared Larne, the timing was just right to stop at Glenarm Castle for lunch. This was one of the places I really wanted to see, the walled garden in particular. This is the same Glenarm Castle that the Earls of Antrim built after the kitchen tragedy at Dunluce. The Earl and his family still live in the Castle. It is nearly self sufficient with gardens and livestock. The gardens and a lovely cafe are open to the public. The majority of the food served in the cafe is produced on the estate.

The entire weekend was certainly a whirlwind, but we wanted to give the kids a chance to see as much as possible. It was well worth the effort! And we have an awesome bottle of Bushmills 12 year reserve as a memento.🥰🥰