Gerit Quealy, journalist with the Huffington Post, debates with Malachy McCourt (brother of Angela's Ashes author Frant McCourt) the Americanized dominance of the Irish holiday. Interesting article: Sober St. Patrick's: Drunken Past, Sparkling Future

Check out what Anne Neville of the Buffalo News has to say about the history and lasting traditions of the parades in Buffalo, N.Y.




written 3/18/12

I hope that you all have plans for this weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities as there are many options to choose from. Between the “Old Neighborhood’s” St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday in the First Ward and Valley neighborhoods, the parade on Sunday along Delaware Ave, and the restaurants and bars that will be going bonkers with Irish-themed happy hours and drink specials, there is much to see and do. I'll in be in attendance at the parade on Sunday trying to balance a good time with bumping elbows. Hopefully I won’t lose any teeth.

Now, I know it’s going to be a long St. Patrick’s Day weekend, what with the holiday sitting right in the middle of it all, but remember that St. Patrick’s Day is NOT a day solely devoted to drinking to the point of stupidity or blackouts. Yes its fun to wear “Kiss me, I’m Irish!” pins and to dress in your best green garb, but that’s not the whole of it either (in fact, to some it may be insulting).  The point of the holiday is to celebrate the Irish and their culture; to appreciate and understand what they have suffered through in their lengthy history and what they have prospered to become.

I’m not going to go into a drawn-out lesson on the history of Ireland; that I’ll leave for you to discover on your own, but I will give you a starting point: YourIrish.

Jameson Distillery offers guests knowledge, insight and free drinks!

Its 9:40am on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. What would be perfect right now? An Irish Coffee, complete with Jameson, Bailey’s, a dollop of whipped cream, and oh yea, maybe the coffee too…yum yum yum! And if I had some type of travel teleportation device (NOTE to self: learn about physics and teleportation) I know exactly where I’d go to get one: the Jameson Distillery in Dublin, Ireland.

 I was in Dublin last year for the holidays and on St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26) my friend and I went to the Jameson Distillery to learn about whiskey. Now I didn’t know anything about Jameson then nor do I really know much about it now (other than it’s thrice distilled), but the distillery is a fun exploration of how the whiskey is made along with the history to John Jameson. When you enter the foyer, you go to the Welcome Desk to set up your tour time. Until your slot comes, there are the gift shop, informative displays/pamphlets and bar (equipped with some classy high-end Jameson Whiskey) to keep you busy.

ADVICE: When your time slot has been announced and you go in to watch a mini biography on John Jameson and his whiskey, afterwards, they’ll take volunteers for a taste-testing that happens at the end of the tour. RAISE YOUR HAND! They’ll take volunteers from the ladies first and then the men, I think five each. After the whole tour, they’ll sit you down, you’ll get three shots of labeled whiskey (Jameson obviously being one) and will ask you to taste the difference between the whiskies as they explain the differences in flavor. I, of course, couldn’t really handle the consumption of all that whiskey (even though it was free booze!) so my friend who accompanied me happily obliged. Afterwards, I receieved a nice little certificate signifying my completion of this "test."

The idea of wax figurines set in scenes along the route is a bit cheesy but in combination with the machinery and whisky stills, which show guests how everything works, you know that these people know their stuff. The tour is led by a friendly guide who is knowledgeable and passionate about Jameson; if you ask a question, they’ll know the answer.

As a part of your admission, at the end of the tour, everyone is offered a classic Jameson drink: Jameson on the rocks, Jameson and cranberry or Jameson and Ginger. I took the second…I love cranberry juice. The full and encompassing Jameson added to the tart juice creates a mixture that is like an explosion of excitement.

After the tour, it only seemed appropriate to get a drink from the bar. Being mid-afternoon and already having my shots and mixed drink, I took things a bit slower and ordered my Irish Coffee…::sigh:: boy was that good.

All in all, Jameson Distillery was a good, no great choice. I highly advise checking it out. Since it does offer free alcohol to all its “at-age” customers, try to get there during the off-season. Surprisingly, that happens to be St. Stephen’s Day and probably around the winter time. Dublin is a merry place to be in the winter but I wouldn’t bet it being their peak season.

Right. Now to go make that Irish coffee!

For more information on the Jameson Distillery, click here >>