The Ginger Man-Franciscan Well Writer's (Rebel) Red

The Ginger Man is a pub not too far from me. Tonight, being a Saturday, it was quite busy, and it was almost hard to find a place to sit. It was fairly loud, mostly with conversation though. The demographic was an interesting mix of young and old, but probably leaning towards the 50+ age group.

As for the beer, it poured a deep amber, copper, with a very limited head, although that could be on account of the pour. It leaves a limited lacing, but isn't very retentive. It smells malty and yeasty with a hint of licorice or chocolate. At times, especially later into the pint, I got a distinct buttery smell coming from the beer. As for the taste, it isn't very complex. It is somewhat sweet with dark caramel, burnt sugar flavors dominating the profile. It is medium bodied, has a longer finish, and is not a dry beer. Overall, it was underwhelmingly average. I was hoping for more from Franciscan Well after I really enjoyed their Chieftain IPA.

In other travelings, this weekend has been a busy one. Friday morning Becky and I took a bus down to Waterford. There, we had lunch at a nice valued little cafe that had tasty sandwiches and salads. After that, we went to the world renowned Waterford Crystal factory. The hourlong tour showed us every stage of the process, from blowing to cutting and was very cool to see. We also got to walk around the showroom, but felt inclined to walk very carefully so as not to knock over the $40,000 piece right next to us. Nothing was even behind glass, and you could touch anything you want.

Also in Waterford, we stopped at Reginald's Tower, which has served as a military outpost, guarding the town since Viking Days. Today it is a museum of Viking Waterford and the history of the town. It wasn't a particularly large museum, and we were through it in about a half an hour. Until the bus arrived later, we walked around the pedestrian mall area and enjoyed a crepe.

Today, we went on a UCD sponsored trip to Wicklow and Kilkenny. Our first stop was Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we did not have nearly enough time there to walk some of their extensive trails. Becky and I definitely plan to go back. We then went down to Kilkenny. Here we walked the castle grounds, pedestrian shopping area, and took a look at some of Kilkenny's many churches. Smithwicks, the beer I first reviewed was originally brewed here as well. Overall, these past two days were packed full of Irish adventures, and it will be nice to take a day off tomorrow for some school work.