TheCity

Tag: Guinness

  • 10 ways to ‘endear’ yourself to your local bar staff

    10 ways to ‘endear’ yourself to your local bar staff

    Ciaran D’Arcy has a bone to pick. Read on as he outlines 10 ways to ‘endear’ yourself at your local bar.

    1. Remember to order your drinks one at a time, they love running backwards and forwards as it keeps them fit.

    2. When ordering a round, please make sure you don’t know what you want; barmen love to stand and wait while you shout across the room to find out.

    3. Once you receive two drinks please take them back to your table and stay for a quick chat, your barman isn’t going anywhere and truly appreciates the rest.

    4. Irish coffees are a perennial favourite, and please remember to order your Guinness last as there’s nothing quite like being reminded to top it up by a disgruntled customer to keep you on top of your game.

    Photo by Marco83 on Flickr
    Photo by Marco83 on Flickr

    5. Don’t put money in their hands as they love to pick it out of puddles of beer on the bar. As for membership cards, remember to top them up in small increments so they’re short on every round and have to be topped up, there’s no rush!

    6. Don’t bother with unnecessary niceties such as please and thank you, and tipping is positively discouraged.

    7. Translating confusing hand signals for drinks is infinitely preferable to actually being informed of a round at the bar. Revert to smoke signals first if necessary.

    8. Lip reading is a particular joy, and if you’ve picked up the barman’s name five minutes into your first visit don’t hesitate to parrot it again and again as they have notoriously poor hearing, especially when busy.

    9. Always wait until you’ve been told how much your round is before asking for crisps, peanuts etc. When cheese and onion crisps are desired, ask for the full range of flavours before invariably going for the most obvious option, it helps them remember the stock.

    Photo by Jen & Elwood on Flickr
    Photo by Jen & Elwood on Flickr

    10. If you’ve been waiting at the bar for two minutes, remind them that you’ve been waiting there for ‘half an hour’ as they have no concept of time whatsoever.

    If all of these tried and trusted techniques fail to secure your status as a well-known and loved regular, then there’s always the six-pack of Linden Village in Dunnes Stores.

  • A visit to St. James Gate: the home of Guinness!

    A visit to St. James Gate: the home of Guinness!

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    Lynne Swan

    Guinness is one of the first things non-natives associate with Ireland. Despite this, numerous Dubliners have yet to visit the famous storehouse (it’s Ireland’s number 1 visitor attraction!) and walk through it’s historic gates. The City team were amongst those who had yet to check it out, so, we took a trip to St. James’ Gate to see what all the fuss was all about!

    The self-led tour (there is an option to have a guide talk you through the tour if you’re part of a group of people, however, we opted for the self-led tour so that we could take it all in in our own pace) is a very interactive one and visitors are shown the entire Guinness making process (minus the secret ingredient, of course!). The tour begins at the bottom of the ‘world’s largest pint glass structure’ which visitors are informed can hold a mighty 14.3 million pints of Guinness!

    Master brewer, Fergal Murray, guides you along the way via short yet very informative videos which let the viewer know just how the hops, barley, water and yeast are made into the famous ‘black stuff’. Visitors are advised that the tour can take up to an hour and a half or more depending on the pace at which you take it all in. Not long into the tour, visitors are given the opportunity to stop for a drink break and do a ‘taste-test’ of Arthur Guinness world-renowned drink.

    The ticket you’re given upon entering the storehouse can be redeemed for a pint in the Gravity bar on the 5th floor or else used to learn how to pull the ‘Perfect pint’ in the Guinness academy on the 4th floor. The ‘Perfect pint’ option is a real-treat as participants even get a certificate to show that they have ‘perfected the perfect pint of Guinness’! The views of Dublin city from the Gravity bar really are something else and there really is nothing like enjoying a cold drink whilst over-looking Dublin city.

    The store house is open 7 days a week from 9.30am-5pm and is located on Market street, Dublin 8.