I wanted to do the Maple Tree Inn for my birthday this year, and while I didn’t get to go… I did get to go to Irish Fest at Galic Park and had a classic Ruben from Ashford House (Flippin’ authentic Irish!) We did the “Guiness Experience” which was an awesome deal and fairly informative. We got to sample a flight of 5 beers – Harp, Smithwick’s (pronounced Smith-ick’s), Guiness Draught (draft – draught is the Gaelic spelling), Guiness Extra Stout, and Guiness Foreign Extra Stout. There were all approximately 6oz pours which I felt was an exceptional deal and a souvenir Guiness pint glass! There was a lot of information to take in and in the end, I felt that I had a better appreciation of the beer and the brew process. I also found out that there is a Guiness Brewery, right here in our Chicago area!! I also heard the wonderful Shannon Rovers and an awesome and extremely talented Abba tribute band! They had an great lineup of talent this year, and I wish I could have attended all the days (Fri, Sat, and Sun). Also, I got a year older. ;(
On a separate note, I ran across a song that I kind of fell in love with – Babylon by David Gray off his album White Ladder. It’s been in my playlist for a long time. It came out in 1998. To funny. I always attributed it to John Mellencamp. Sorry David!
-Rat
