Oil Can Harry's-Franciscan Well Chieftan

Sorry about this everybody, but I forgot to take the picture before enjoying some of this Irish Pale Ale. I had it at Oil Can Harry's, which on a Monday night was very quiet. It was a very warm and cozy place with half of the pub looking fairly traditional, and the other half being a library/reading room with comfy chairs to relax with your pint. This seemed like the perfect place to go and do homework after a long day.

As for the beer, it poured a medium-amber/red with an off-white, cream colored, 1 finger head. the aroma was lots of grapefruit with a hint of sweet bread. Given the color, I was a little worried that it would be too sweet and distract from the hops, but the taste was excellent. It mostly tasted like sweet citrus upfront, and finished fairly dry with a nice light body. The use of caramel malts here did not mess with the flavor I look for in my hoppy beers, which pleasantly surprised me. This beer was very smooth, and had no harsh bitterness, making this a very approachable beer, and at 5.5% it wasn't too intense either for a casual evening with my roommates. Overall, an introductory hoppy beer for people that will leave you satisfied and tastebuds still intact.

Today was also a big day for exploring Dublin. In the morning I took a walk around Merrion Square, which in the cool mist was pretty and relaxing. Everything was green with some nice walking paths surrounded by statues and busts of famous Dubliners, including Oscar Wilde who lived right across the street.

After lunch Becky and I planned to explore Trinity College, but that trip turned into so much more. The college was absolutely beautiful, and the architecture was hard to match anywhere. We both wished we could have studied here because of the sheer beauty of the buildings. We decided not to visit the Book of Kells on this trip because you can get a discount with a student ID, which we are only picking up later in the week form University College-Dublin (UCD). After Trinity we were walking along, our eyes guiding us to our next destination. We stopped in an Irish music store briefly and got our first encounter with their folk music. I can't wait to visit a pub and get my first taste of it live.

After there, we wandered through the Temple Bar area and found the Ha'Penny Bridge, which took us across the Liffey. We wandered further until reaching the Jervis Shopping Center, a massive pedestrian mall with mostly department stores, and we visited a store called Penneys. It had some of the cheapest prices I'd ever seen. Becky got a pair of boots for 19 euros! After this we walked home fully exhausted.