Uisce Beatha!

I'm just after going to the Old Jameson's Distillery. There was a brief tour through the building where Jameson's was distilled for almost 200 years before moving to near Cork. But most importantly included in the admission price was a sample of Jameson's at the end. But even better than that, I was chosen as one of 6 volunteer whiskey/whisky tasters. First we sampled three different Irish whiskeys; Powers, Paddy, & Jameson's. From those we had to choose our favourite. Not surprisingly, we all chose Jameson's. No pressure, seriously. Though I must say, I'd be interested in trying Paddy again. Mellow stuff. Then we had to compare our favourite Irish whiskey to the number one selling Scotch in the world. (Johnny Walker Red Label, should you care) Then we compared the Irish whiskey to the number one selling bourbon in the world. (Any guesses?) Then we had to choose our favourite from the three international whiskeys. I can keep the 'e' as no one chose the Scotch. Even the Scotsman, though I think he chose the Jameson's a little begrudgingly. Again not surprisingly, all six of us chose the Jameson's. So there you have it, scientifically proven, Jameson's is the best whiskey in the world. Okay, there was no rye whiskey involved, nor a whole host of better, longer aged whiskey's but you get my point. And now, I'm an accredited whiskey taster. I even have the certificate to prove it.

Kilkenny vs. Guinness

I was in a pub last night called Tynan's Bridge House in Kilkenny. Being in Kilkenny I was drinking a pint of Kilkenny. Earlier that night I'd had a Smithwick's, also from Kilkenny. So, I was standing at the bar, drinking my Kilkenny, chatting with an Irishman and a Welshman. Doesn't that sound like a joke? ACanadian, an Irishman, and a Welshman are at a bar...? Actually, the Welshman did tell me a joke: What's the difference between an Irishman and a Welshman? I don't know what, I asked. One of them learned how to swim? Which one, I asked. Well, that's up for debate. Alright, it isn't really much of a joke, or at least it isn't a funny one. Anyhow, I was standing there talking to those two when along came Paddy Ryan. Seriously. From Calgary, no less. Seriously. Paddy was there as a representative of Arthur Guinness' fine Dublin based brewery. It was his job to sign up people to come to that particular pub for the next three Tuesdays. In return they'd get a free pint of Guinness each week and if they went all three they'd get a Guinness windbreaker. I was unable to commit to that, though I'd have liked to, but he then took it upon himself to show me why I should be drinking Guinness rather than the locally brewed libation. I mean to say he gave me a free pint, charged to Guinness, or rather to whatever non-Irish multinational it is that owns Guinness now. I'm not a huge fan of Kilkenny to begin with, and I am a huge fan of free pints of beer and of Guinness, so needless to say, I was easily convinced. Good work, Paddy!

A Football Fan's Delight

I just finished watching Arsenal's resumption in the Champion's League after it's too long winter break in a not very good bar on O'Connell Street in Dublin. There were hundreds of people crammed in there watching a number of television screens that had all four of today's matches. In a word: awesome. There being so many people in there insured that each of the eight clubs playing had a good vocal following. I, of course, was watching the Arsenal vs. AC Milan match which included the long awaited Dudu vs. Kaka match up. That match produced no goals so there was little more than Italians yelling at the screen and one irate Arsenal fan to whom everyone that wasn't an Arsenal player was a wanker. Fenerbhace vs. Sevilla ended 2-2 so there were chances for the assembled Spaniards and Turks to yell and sing, as with the Lyon-Manchester United match that ended 1-1, though with French and English/Irish respectively. The best match however was Celtic vs. Barcelona which ended 2-3. Celtic seems to be the adopted club of many Irishmen so when Celtic went ahead twice, a large portion of the bar erupted into singing, all in unison. Also there seemed to be a large Catalan contingent as Barcelona's 3 goals where each met with a chorus. All in all, a good evening for some football. Shame Adebayor didn't put that header away rather than put it off the bar.

Blowout!

In CONCACAF World Cup qualifying today, apparently El Salvador beat Antiguilla 12-0. I say apparently because though I've been to El Salvador and can vouch for its existence, I'm not sure I've heard of Antiguilla before. Generally, I'm pretty good with geography, so if I've not heard of some place it is probably fictional. Which means that as far as I'm concerned, El Salvador was playing a game of football against a team that doesn't really exist. Which means that in 90 minutes against an empty field and, more particularly, against an empty net they could only score twelve goals. You know what that means? El Salvador sucks. I'm pretty sure that in 90 minutes I could score at least 90 goals against an empty net. That even includes time for me to get bored, leave, go drink some beer or coffee, go to the bathroom, eat a sandwich, make a prank call about your refrigerator running, hit on your sister, and then score a bunch more goals. I'm that good.

The Editors

I went to see the Editors last night at the Commodore. I only caught the tail end of the first opening band, Louis XIV, who I hadn't heard before. They weren't bad, so I'll have to check out more of them. Hot Hot Heat were the second band and while I had heard them before, they don't do too much for me. Definitely lots of energy in their performance though. And the lead singer said that his doctor had told him he couldn't sing for a couple of weeks and they'd have to cancel shows but he couldn't not play the Vancouver show. (Aww, shucks, I bet he says that to all the crowds.) Finally, the Editors came on. It's at times like this (right now, writing this) when I feel my lack of music journalist potential as I have nothing interesting or intelligent to say about the band and their performance beyond that I loved the show. I like seeing bands perform songs that I like. Simple as that. They were great...heck, I even liked the stage lighting. At times I felt like I was watching a flickering black and white film clip. (Seriously, no drugs were taken by me.) Anyhow, a good show.

Ian Curtis Watch: In the way that all new up and coming Argentine footballers are compared to Maradona, it seems all up and coming British singers with a deep voice and moody, somewhat depressing music are compared to Ian Curtis. And while there may be a bit of Ian going on in Tom Smith (is that natural or cultivated spasticity?), I'd say for the most part he's doing and will continue to do his own thing.

A Late Christmas Gift...

I received the first half of my Christmas gift from a friend of mine yesterday. Yes, I'm aware it's now February, what of it?

Here it is:
It's a set of four Bob-Marley-Playing-Football table place mats. And really, I can't think of a more appropriate gift for me, as it combines three of my favourite things in the entire world:

1)Football
2)Jamaican Music
3)Food

If only we could work coffee and girls into it somehow, we'd be set. And now I need to get enough chairs for my dining room table so that I can actually have people over for dinner and show them off.