Ireland - Day 17
September 6, 2025: Today we had a great day in Kilkenny and we fell in love with this little city. Kilkenny is often called Ireland’s “Medieval Mile,” because it feels like you are stepping back in time with many of it’s medieval architecture still in tack. Its has narrow, winding streets that are lined with colorful shopfronts, traditional pubs, and hidden courtyards that we explored a bit today. We started by taking what is called the “Lacken Walk” which takes you along the River Nore on one side and the Canal Walk which takes you along the other side. It is a peaceful and scenic 3 mile walk sometime along very old brick walls and paths.
After our walk we had a little time before the afternoon tea we had booked, so we stopped in at Sullivan’s Brewing Company to check it out. It was the first commercial brewery in Ireland, dating back to 1702. Unfortunately, in 1880, a legendary fire swept through the brewery and the business ultimately closed amid financial turmoil. Smithwick’s, their longtime rival and neighbor, acquired the assets and absorbed Sullivan’s operations. In 2016, descendants of both the Sullivan and Smithwick families spearheaded the revival of the Sullivan’s Brewing Company know today. The space they occupy in Kilkenny is amazing. It has an outdoor patio that has little houses called pods that were used at the end of COVID in order to fulfill requirements for keeping distance and allowing only 6 people to sit together at a time. There were many on the property at the time, but now they have only a few left. The whole venue is beautiful and well laid out. We decided to stop back later in the evening as their menu looked great as well.
I had scheduled a Queen of Hearts Afternoon Tea at Langton Hotel as we love afternoon tea and it came up as a top thing place in Kilkenny. They did a great job with the theme and all of the items where well made and creative. We each had a couple pots of tea to go along with our goodies. It was a fun afternoon excursion.
Next up was a guided tour of Smithwick’s brewery. Jimm is a big fan of Smithwick’s and so he wanted to learn about the history. The brewery was built on the foundations of the medieval St. Francis Abbey, where monks had been brewing ale since the 14th century. Smithwick’s was officially established in 1710 by John Smithwick. Despite the restrictive Penal Laws preventing Catholics from owning property, Smithwick quietly forged a thriving business through a silent partner. The brewery remained under family control for centuries, expanding dramatically under Edmond Smithwick into a prosperous export business. In 1965, it became part of Guinness, before brewing ceased in Kilkenny at the end of 2013, shifting operations to Dublin. Today, the old brewery has become home to the Smithwick’s Experience, a multi-sensory visitor center. Whoever designed their tour did a great job with technology using holograms, videos, replicas and hands-on exploration. After the tour, we were given a pint in exchange for our ticket and headed out to the patio where a live band was playing. We stayed around for a while just enjoying the atmosphere.
We made another pub stop at The Dylan before going to back to Sullivan’s when we heard music playing from the street. In a little courtyard between several pubs were two young musicians playing great 80s music classics. Those whole place was alive with people young and old singing and dancing along to these great songs. We met a couple in their 80s who were dancing and they were just so sweet and fun to watch. Another really great find!
Our final stop of the day was back at Sullivan’s Brewery. We ordered their Diavola pizza and SBC Chicken Goujons, tender chicken goujons in their own crumb tossed in buffalo sauce with a house Caesar drizzle…delicious!! We hung around for a bit before heading back to the hotel with full stomachs to finish our packing. Tomorrow we head back to Dublin for a day and then it’s on to Portugal :0)