Ireland Breweries, Distilleries, & Hiking Adventure

Day 1

Fáilte (Welcome) to Ireland! Our adventure starts at 1:00 PM, allowing you to arrive in Dublin this morning or the day before (which we highly recommend). After a few short introductions, we head out on a short educational and fun walking tour of Dublin to learn about the history and culture of this incredible city. We end our tour at Guinness's Storehouse, located in the heart of the St. James's Gate Brewery. We'll enjoy an engaging self-guided tour that ends with a pint of their iconic beer and instruction on how to properly pour it. We'll then head over to the Guinness Open Gate Experimental Brewery to taste some of the new creations. We finish things off with a wonderful welcome dinner at Porterhouse Brewing. After dinner, you can walk back to our hotel or head out for a drink in Dublin's oldest pub dating back to 1198, The Brazen Head.

Day 2

After breakfast at the hotel, we'll head out on the road for our first brewery stop of the day. But first we'll stop at the Rock of Dunamase, the ruins of an ancient Celtic castle where we can wander around on our own - no visitor center or entrance fee here. It is then on to Ballykilcavan Brewery for a farm tour, brewery visit, and charcuterie beer pairing lunch - 13 generations and 383 years in one family! After lunch we travel on with a visit to the Whitefield Brewery, which gets great reviews for its quality beers using traditional Irish styles and ingredients, and then on to our home for the night in Killarney. This is our longest drive day, four hours, as we get to the lovely southwest corner of Ireland. Dinner tonight is in the pizza pub of Killarney Brewing.

Day 3

We depart this morning for 9 White Deer Brewing in the region of West Cork, an area known for the high number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis. The brewery is not generally open to the public but we know the owner and that gets us in the door. We then move on to the cute village of Kenmare where you can enjoy lunch on your own, followed by a visit to Tom Creane Brewery, a very new establishment (November of 2019) with a rustic taproom and with owners sporting super interesting backgrounds. We'll then shuttle to the Gap of Dunloe, an incredibly scenic mountain pass where we'll walk on trails and small roads to Kate Kearney's Cottage, an Irish pub with 170 years of history and a good place to grab a pint if you so desire. Dinner is Killarney Brewing Company's second location, the main brewery, preceded by a tour of their distillery.

Day 4

Our destination today is one of the cutest and most scenically-located villages in Ireland: Dingle. We'll break up the drive there by doing a walk on the Three Peaks Annascaul Meelin Hill Loop, with views overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Arriving in Dingle, you'll have time for lunch on your own at one of the many restaurants on the main street of town. After lunch we'll meet at the Dingle Distillery for a tasting. While they are currently closed for tours, we'll get them to open up their warehouse for a tasting for our group. We then switch back to beer with a visit to Dick Mack's, a pub that has been in operation and in the same family since 1899, with a recently added brewhouse. With outdoor seating it is a great place to spend the remainder of the afternoon. We'll then check into our central Dingle hotel before walking to dinner at Ashes Restaurant, which offers local seafood as well as other traditional dishes.

Day 5

The Dingle Peninsula and Ireland's southwest coast was named "The most beautiful place on earth" by National Geographic magazine. We'll drive to the very end of that beautiful peninsula to look out over the Atlantic, doing a morning hike at Slea Head. After, we'll head to the West Kerry Brewery, the original and first microbrewery in County Kerry, brewing traditional yet progressive beers. We'll then depart over Connor Pass for the town of Limerick and a tour and tasting at Treaty City Brewery, started by an Irish expat living in Vancouver, BC who started as a home brewer before moving back to Limerick. Dinner this evening is an your own at one of the local pubs or restaurants in town.

Day 6

If Dingle is stunningly beautiful, the Cliffs of Moher are truly breathtaking. The Cliffs are a part of the UNESCO Global Geopark (a special region with outstanding geology) and rise an impressive 702 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at their highest points. We'll walk along the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Trail, taking in their raw natural beauty. We'll then make a stop at Burren Brewing with lunch at their associated Peter's Pub. After lunch we'll stop at Burren Distillers, a new company that is making Irish Whiskey in the spirit of the 13th century monks who first started distilling in the Burren region. It is then on to Galway, our home for the night, where we'll have a local dinner and perhaps an after-dinner drink at one of the many local pubs in the city.

Day 7

After breakfast, we'll hit the road back to Dublin. But first it is one more brewery stop, this one at Galway Bay Brewery, one of Ireland's larger craft breweries, for a tour and tasting. We'll then say our farewells and drop you off at the Dublin airport for you to either hop on a flight home or continue exploring what Ireland has to offer.