GADLING TAKE 5: Week of 3-21-2008

by Catherine Bodry on

Did you have a happy St. Patrick’s Day? While I didn’t get in to any shenanigans (for once, it seems), I was able to have a few pints with friends up in Anchorage. Though they weren’t perfectly-poured Guinnesses, they were locally brewed and likely tasted as good as Guinness in Ireland tastes. But there’s plenty of non-St. Paddy’s Day news this week at Gadling:

And here are some more fun posts to set your weekend off right: Aaron’s post on headlines from North Korea still makes me laugh; I’m curiously following the fate of squat toilets in Beijing (because I love squat toilets and think everyone should try them — I know, I’m a freak); and an Australian put his entire life on eBay.

Can the Irish save Tara?

by Catherine Bodry on

The Irish have always been aware — and proud — of their history. That characteristic is coming in handy as the citizens of the Emerald Isle attempt to stop the construction of a major road slated to roar straight through one of Ireland’s oldest monuments.

Tara, or the Hill of Tara, is an ancient (and still somewhat mysterious) earthworks consisting of spiraling mounds. Archaeologists speculate that from 4000 BCE to the invasion of Richard de Clare in 1169, Tara was the center of Ireland’s political (and ceremonial) acitivies, and the name Tara derives from the Gaelic Teamhair na Rí, or “Hill of the King.”

The motorway in question would plow directly through the Tara-Skyrne valley, and is being built to serve Dublin commuters. Because the highway would radically alter Tara’s landscape, the site was picked up by the World Monument’s Most Endangered list. Those opposed to the road argue that there are several alternatives that were never properly researched, and that would circumvent Tara.

Recently, protests have gotten dramatic (see photo).

The most recent posts on TaraWatch.org, a blog set up to inform readers of the Tara battle, report that the Irish High Court has rejected an application for an injunction to halt work on the motorway. In response, one woman chained herself to a jack in a tunnel–any attempts by law enforcement to remove her, as well as heavy road equipment running over the tunnel, threaten to collapse it and harm her.

So what can you do? First, get informed, and then spread the word. Several avenues are paved for onlookers to help raise awareness of Tara — besides MySpace and Facebook pages, there’s also the aforementioned TaraWatch.org, the World Monuments Fund’s site, an online petition, and Tarapixie, an audio/video protester site.

Thanks to Emily Villamar Robbins for lots of information and linking me to several Tara sites.

Is the Guinness really better in Ireland?

by Catherine Bodry on

Yesterday I wrote about the 5-minute process for pouring a perfect pint of Guinness. That fanaticism alone should be a clue to the quality of Guinness in Ireland — any country willing to wait five minutes for its drink is a true aficionado. When I lived there, I found many Irish to be passionate and very specific about how Guinness should be drunk. Once a stranger stopped me in a pub because I was drinking a pint that hadn’t fully settled — he was that concerned about it.

I frequented a two-story pub in Galway, and another regular, an older Irish man with watery blue eyes and a red nose, would only get his pints from downstairs. “The Guinness has to travel too far up the pipes to get upstairs,” he informed me. He believed that the Guinness was purest and freshest the less it has to travel.

That opinion holds true for geographical location as well — it’s a widely-held belief that Guinness tastes best in Ireland, and specifically Dublin, where the brewery is located. I have to agree — the drink is just richer there. In the States my pints always taste flat and watery.

So why is that? I did a little research, and here’s what I came up with:

  • The popularity of the drink in Ireland means that kegs aren’t sitting around long. Therefore, the Guinness is almost always fresh — and certainly more fresh than overseas since it doesn’t have to travel as far.
  • The lines are cleaner — pub owners in Ireland are visited every three weeks by a Guinness representative who flushes the lines to Guinness kegs.
  • Guinness should be served at room temperature — an oddity to us who associate the pleasures of beer drinking with its coolness on a hot day. I’ve noticed that most bars in the States tend to chill their Guinness along with the rest of their beers, which definitely changes the flavor of it.

Some other theories that I had a hard time verifying:

  • The water at the Dublin brewery is better than the water where most Guinness brewed for export is made (in England).
  • Guinness taps in Ireland are pressurized with nitrogen, while taps in the US (and elsewhere, I assume?) are pressurized with carbon dioxide.

What do you think — is the Guinness really better in Ireland?

Thanks to John Udell for some Guinness facts.

The art of pouring a perfect pint of Guinness

by Catherine Bodry on

Did you know that it takes 5 minutes to pour a pint of Guinness? That is, it does if you’re pouring it correctly.

The first time I went to Ireland, I stepped up to the bar, ordered my Guinness, and when the bartender poured it and set it on the counter, I walked away with it. Back at my table, I noticed the glass was only three-quarters full (and no, that’s not a metaphor for my overwhelming optimism). I took it back and asked her to top it off; she informed me that it has to settle for a few minutes before it gets topped off. Ashamed at my ignorance, I waited and my patience was rewarded with a thick, rich pint that had a perfect creamy head. A year and a half later I was back in the country on the other side of the bar, and I eventually learned the art of pouring a perfect pint. Here’s how:

  1. Start with a tulip-shaped pint glass that’s clean and dry. Tilt the glass to a 45-degree angle under the tap and pour until the glass is three-quarters full.
  2. Let sit for several minutes to let it settle. The beer should be black and flat.
  3. After it’s settled, fill the glass the rest of the way. No need to tilt the glass anymore; you want to create the signature foamy head on top. It’s okay if some foam spills over the side — that means you’ve got it full enough!
  4. Enjoy.

In case you need to see it to believe it, check out this YouTube video on the next page:

Czech Republic celebrates an Academy Award. Beer flows for Once

by Iva Skoch on

I was getting teary-eyed last night when Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard received an Academy Award for their song “Falling Slowly,” which they performed in the indie hit “Once.”

Irglova is a 19-year old Czech girl from Valasske Mezirici in Moravia. Needless to say, that town is about ready to call today a national holiday, because the odds of someone from there–and someone so young–receiving an Oscar are slim to none.

I really liked the film, which is set in Dublin and featured a story of him (a struggling guitar player) and her (a struggling immigrant and a piano player). It just happens that they fall in love, which is exactly what happened to Glen and Marketa in real life.

It looks like they are having the time of their lives in LA, as reported by the NY Times today. I couldn’t be happier for them. (Toasting with a glass of Pilsner Urquell, of course)