Ireland was the first trip abroad where I was able to and wanted to drink. Thankfully Ireland has no shortages of drinking establishments, and none are so iconic as the traditional Irish pub. So on our first night my family and I headed out to the Temple Bar district of Dublin to get a drink.
At first we tried a pint of Guinness for its 250th anniversary, but no one in our family really liked it. I wasn’t surprised as I actually hate most beer. But we did greatly enjoy the traditional pub atmosphere and we learned a lot of drinking songs!
A bar that taught Irish drinking songs in Temple Bar district of Dublin
At the next bar I tried to branch out to mixed drinks and cocktails. This wasn’t met with much success. Partly because I was young and didn’t know many types of mixed drinks. So when I asked for a “Cosmo”, the bewildered waitress had no idea what I wanted. I couldn’t remember everything that went into it, and so I asked for Cranberry Juice and Vodka. They literally brought me a individual bottle serving of Cranberry juice AND a full tall glass of vodka. I had to take gulps from one to the other while the waitress asked if she had gotten the order wrong.
After asking for different cocktails at other bars and also being met with some rather confused looks I ended up settling for Smirnoff Ice, as that was the only non-beer alternative they offered. (Years later I groan and wish I had asked for hard cider!)
Temple Bar Pub in Temple Bar district of Dublin. It was so packed!
My dad on the other hand wasn’t met with confused looks, he was outright yelled at! He asked for a Whisky Sour with Irish Jameson Whisky…and the bartender looked right at him and yelled. “Sir, We’re Irish, we don’t defile our Whisky. We drink it strait up or not at all, so what are you going to order!” Dad stuck with Guinness for the remainder of the trip after that!
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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