Ireland - Day 5
August 25, 2025: Today was one of Jimm’s favorite days of the trip. He got to go to The Brazen Head, which is considered the oldest pub in Dublin and to the Guinness Storehouse in one day! We started the morning with breakfast at a restaurant called Lemon Jelly Cafe, just a short walk from our flat. Jimm had the vegetarian version of the full english breakfast and I had their french toast with strawberries & bananas and a vanilla latte. Both were very good. At lunchtime, we headed to The Brazen Head, which dates back to 1198, though the current Georgian building was built around 1754. Documented as an inn since the 17th century, it has long been a hub for revolutionaries, writers, and politicians. If you want to read up on the history, click here. We heard it gets very crowded because of its popularity, so we got there early. They don’t start serving lunch until Noon. Sure enough, there were already a lot of people there waiting. However, it is Ireland, so you could get a pint while you waited. We had their fish & chips which was delicious and their apple crumble for dessert. Next, it was off to the Guinness Store House.
We were both very impressed by the Guinness Storehouse. To-date, the best brewery tour we have ever been on and it was self-guided. The Storehouse in Dublin was established in 2000. They repurposed an early 20th-century fermentation building from the St. James’s Gate Brewery into an immersive museum celebrating Guinness's long history. When you first walk you, you are standing in the center of what was designed to look like a huge pint glass and embedded in the floor is Arthur Guinness’s famed 9,000-year lease. The experience is spread across seven interactive floors and at the top is the Gravity Bar with it’s panoramic views and where you get a free pint of Guinness at the end of the tour in exchange for your ticket. There is a Tasting Floor where I tried my very first Guinness. I can’t say I was a fan, I just don’t have a taste for beer. We had opted to do the STOUTie experience which meant on the 4th floor, we got a printed selfie on the top of a glass of Guinness. It was very cool to see how they did it. The other floors told the story of Guinness beer in a very creative way that kept you both interested and entertained. If you are ever in Dublin we both highly recommend doing this tour even if you don’t like beer!! For more information about the Storehouse, you can click here.
Our last stop of the day was to visit the comedy club at The Stag’s Head on Dame Court. I ran across this event while doing my research for the trip. It is in the basement of the pub and they had three different comedians at the show. What made the evening even more fun is there was a group from Norway called Direksjonsmusikken. It is a student orchestra from NHH Norwegian School of Economics. The group is here doing some events around the city. All of the comedians took the opportunity to joke around with the group. They sat right in front of us, so we got a chance to exchange stories about Norway. All in all, a really fun experience and felt like a local thing to do in Dublin.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Dublin. On Wednesday, we make our way by train to Galway.