The Best Beer in the World

Well… at least the best named beer! “Fraoch” is actually Gaelic for Heather. Heather ale has apparently been brewed in Scotland for 4,000 years and is the oldest style of ale still made in the world. Jonathan knew he liked Heather for a reason!

We expected the Scottish Highlands to be very similar to the rural part of Ireland we visited, but it is actually quite a bit different. The landscape is more rugged but still really beautiful. And the population is a little older than Edinburgh!


We spent our first full day exploring the Ness Islands, a short walk from our hotel… and doing laundry. Inverness is a fairly small city but still has all the essentials – including another castle! The next day we rented a car (thankfully they upgraded us to an automatic) and drove to the Isle of Skye, where the sheep to people ratio is approximately 50:1.


We visited the Talisker Whiskey Distillery for a tour and tasting - a required stop on a Scottish vacation. We had a picnic lunch and then spent some more time driving around the island, where we came across the highly allusive “hairy cow.” Luckily for us, Catherine gave us a heads up to be on the look out for these guys. Jonathan bravely snapped the picture below (but we weren’t sure if the cow could see him anyway).


Later that afternoon we drove to Fort Augustus, a small town on Loch Ness, to continue our hunt for Nessie (see picture below). Unfortunately, we didn’t have a sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. We eventually gave up our search and had dinner at a nearby restaurant where Jonathan tried the official dish of Scotland – Haggis. Heather tried not to gag as he ate the mound of lamb parts. Supposedly it tastes like sausage, but Heather can’t confirm.


Today we drove to Cairngorms National Park, the largest in the UK, and went on a long hike around one of the lochs in the park. Unfortunately, the only wildlife encounter was with a small field mouse. After that we drove to Black Isle to visit the Black Isle Brewery – a small craft brewery known for their award winning organic beers. Our less than enthusiastic guide, also the owner of the brewery, let us try several craft brews including another beer made with the heather flower.

Tomorrow we are headed to Stockholm. Cross your fingers that our bags meet the weight-limit for Ryanair!

Beer List:
• Fraoch (a Heather ale brewed in Scotland)
• Maplemoon (an English “maple” ale)
• Wychcraft (a blonde beer from England)
• Oxford Gold Organic (an English craft brew)
• Old Hooky (a full-bodied English ale)
• Titanic Stout (an English Stout)
• Heather Honey Organic Beer (from the Scottish Black Isle Brewery we visited)
• Yellowhammer Organic IPA (also from the Black Isle Brewery)

The Birthplace of Harry Potter

After a short, unplanned detour through Belfast, we finally made it to Scotland! We really love Edinburgh and wish we had more time here. For those of you not familiar with the city, it is largely divided into two sections -- Old Town (where most of the historic sites are located) and New Town (where we stayed). Interestingly, New Town was built in the 1700’s – not very new by American standards!

Our only full day in Edinburgh started off with walking tour of the city, which allowed us to see most of the historical highlights, learn a ton about Scottish history, and see an unexpected stop along the way -- the "birthplace" of Harry Potter! Our tour guide was a huge Harry Potter fan and in addition to the major historical sights (Edinburgh Castle, City Hall, Prince Street Gardens, etc.) she took us by the Elephant House Café (pictured above) where J.K. Rowling wrote the first drafts of Harry Potter! She also showed us the private school that Rowling used as her inspiration for Hogwarts, and the graveyard that contained tombstones with names inspiring some of the characters in the book.


We had a chance to try several local pubs/bars and like the scene more than Ireland. The bars we tried were really laid back and had a much more diverse selection of beers and drinks.


After lunch today we are taking a bus to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. We will be there until April 28th. We’ll try to snap a picture of Nessie!

Even More Beers (this was a good city for beers):
• John Smith’s Extra Smooth (an English ale)
• Stewart’s 80 (a dark Scottish craft brew)
• WEST Hefeweizen (a Scottish craft brewery in Glasgow)
• Claverhouse (a red ale from Strathaven Ales brewery in Scotland)
• Belhaven Best (another English ale)
• Strongbow (not a beer, but a great flashback to Heather’s study abroad experience)
• Fruli Strawberry (Heather tried this Belgium fruity “beer,” not Jonathan)
• Hoegarden (warming up for Belgium)
• Staropramen (warming up for the Czech Republic)

Pretty in Pink

We left Dublin on Sunday and drove down to Cork. Luckily, they saved this special pink car for us!


The drive was fairly simple once Jonathan got the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road. Cork is a great town and we would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Ireland. We stayed at a really nice bed and breakfast, Fernroyd House, where the hosting family was a wealth of knowledge on the area. Each morning after breakfast the husband, Tony, sat down with us and helped us plan our day.

On our first night in Cork we got to hear a local band, Arundo, play traditional Irish music. It was really cool! On Monday, we explored Cork and the nearby Blarney Castle – famous for the Blarney Stone. The story goes that if you kiss the stone, you will never again be lost for words. Needless to say, Heather didn’t need to kiss the stone, but Jonathan gave it a try. This is a picture of Blarney House, where the owner of the castle lives.


Today we drove to the Dingle Peninsula – definitely our favorite part of Ireland. It was incredibly beautiful and pristine. The mountains and beaches were deserted, minus the cows and sheep overlooking the coast.


We were supposed to head to Edinburgh tomorrow, but Ryanair canceled all flights until Friday because of the Iceland Volcano. So instead, we are heading up to Belfast to spend the night and then take a ferry to Scotland. We are pretty lucky to be able to use another form of transportation. One of the couples at our B&B was told that they might have to wait until May 6th for a return flight to Chicago!

More Beers:
• Murphy’s (Irish Stout – kind of a knock-off Guinness)
• Beamish (Irish Stout – another Guinness knock-off)
• Carlsberg (just a warm-up for our visit to Denmark next month)

Where's Heather?

Well the “luck of the Irish” must be with us because we somehow made it to Ireland despite the volcano situation in Iceland. Interestingly, we actually considered visiting Iceland on this trip. Hopefully the air ban will be lifted before the 21st so we can make it to Scotland. Right now most flights from Europe are canceled at least through tomorrow at 1:00 a.m. Although there are worst places to be stranded than Dublin!

Our Dublin hotel, Trinity Capital, was quite purple. Seriously, everything was purple or pink – kind of a mecca for Heather. We must be getting old because the time difference is affecting us more than in the past. After sleeping half of the first day away, we were able to drag ourselves out of bed in time to make it to a pub for some traditional Irish food and beer. On Friday we toured the Guinness Brewery and explored the city. Are we the only ones who didn’t realize that the beer company is also responsible for the Guinness Book of World records?


We actually made it out that night, encountering multiple bachelor and bachelorette parties – including the Where’s Waldo themed party above. The first song the band played at Quay’s Pub was Sweet Home Alabama – seriously. And EVERYONE knew all the words.

Yesterday we went on a cool walking tour (no fanny packs or buses involved, we promise) and learned about Irish history. The tour took us to most of the major highlights (Christ Church, Trinity College, etc.).

We are headed out to Cork today. Wish us luck with driving on the wrong side of the road! Hopefully we will master it before we arrive in Scotland and Heather has to drive a manual!

Beers tried so far (somewhat paltry list, we’ll work on this):
• Guinness (required beer for Ireland visit)
• Smithwick’s (another local brew)
• Krombacher (we realize we aren’t in Germany yet)
• Bulmers (technically a cider – this one was for you, Cat!)
• Hersbrucker (local pilsner craft brew from a place called the Porterhouse)
• Paulaner (yup, another German beer)

Off we go!

We started with the idea that we would “backpack” around Europe - of course avoiding hostels. Well, when we checked in at the airport today we had two suitcases almost at the weight limit and backpacks big enough to tip Heather over. Hmmm… we are definitely going to reevaluate our packing. I guess we don’t really need 45 Cliff Bars!

We also thought this would be our time to unplug from the real world. In our carry on we have 2 iPods, 1 iPhone, 1 Kindle, 1 laptop, 2 cameras, 1 GPS, and a Flip camcorder. Yup, definitely unplugging!


Here is our schedule for the next 3 months...


We'll be in Dublin by 9:00 am tomorrow!