I'm not Irish, Zina. I was brought up by an Irish stepfather. I'm actually taking my mum for her first ever visit to Ireland (and first time in an aeroplane) at the end of this month, to visit my dad's relatives who she has corresponded with for many years, but never met.
Aaargh...you lot are MERCILESS... LOL -- Yohan, if you look carefully, you'll probably find a bottle of Ciaran Carson's "Irish Scotch" somewhere on a bar shelf. Breandan, I always wondered, did he just make that up, or is there somebody out there who put that on a bottle on purpose?!
Yohan is quite correct - whiskey [with the e] is Irish and whisky [without] is scotch [not scottish which is an adjective applied to a person from Scotland]
If he had consumed some whiskey shortly before his post then he would most assuredly have as much claim to irishness as most of the Ireland soccer team! Indeed he may even be eligible to play!!
I've had poitin a few times. But it was "Bunratty Potcheen", imported from Ireland, sure, but I have a suspician that the real stuff is very different. I don't think the Bunratty is for sale in Ireland.
Anyone else tried this? I have to admit I wanted to try it after reading Last Night's Fun. So, Ciaran is to blame! And I'm pretty sure it didn't help my fiddling
It seems my big bro has a lot to answer for - never saw him as a poitín peddler!
You are also correct in assuming that Bunratty Potcheen is most unlike the real thing.
One little anecdote about the quare stuff.
Ciarán was visiting friends in the US and one of them produced a bottle of poitín. Ciarán sampled it and declared 'Hmm - defintiely from the North' [of Ireland that is], the host was suitably impressed but became ever more astonished as he declared 'Probably from Derry or Antrim' sampled another drop and stated with authority that it was definitely an Antrim brew. At his final taste he declared to the utter amazement of the host that he thought the pure drop had originated from somewehere close to Ballymena - perhaps Kells.
The host was flabbergasted at Ciarán's informed palate and confirmed that it had, indeed, originated from Kells.
Ciarán accepted the plaudits but omitted to mention the slight clue - the poitín was in a Braid Mineral Water Company lemonade bottle and anyone from the North knows exactly where this is!!
Hmmmm. From Bunratty Castle? Thon pink monstrosity on the way out of Limerick up to Galway? It must be owned by Holiday Inn, or Macdonalds or Wallmart or some such conglomerate, by now.
I'm surprised you managed to find any Gen-U-ine molecules of alcohol in a Poitin mass-produced by that gang.
Irish people wouldn't feed the rats on their shite.
Tell me, are you sure you experienced thon wee glow of alcohol inebriation, or d'ye think ye might have been poisoned?
Ahhh!... Breandan, Hooknose (to quote yerself!)... I thought it too great a coincidence that 2 northern flute players (of Irish music!)would share such an unfortunate surname (if.. ye know... yer his-toree...ye'll know what I'm on about).
I suppose if he'd had someone sat on his flute he'd have written a book about it, then been able to make a tidy enough profit from the proceeds, to afford 2 Cotters, a Sam Murray and a set of pipes thrown in.
Guess it's a bit late in the discussion, but I seem to be living in the wrong time zone or something... Anyway, the scotch/scottish thing... English is not my native language, and in swedish you'd say the same thing for scotch and scottish (we use only one word, that good, because you never pick the wrong one...) but thanks for the correction. Whatever you call it, I drink a lot of it... (whisky, not whiskey)
And yesterday I got attacked by a rottweiler who bit my left hand, so now I can't fiddle for some time (and that is a true story, how strange it may sound). *sad*
The poteen I had was brought back to England in a plain bottle by one of my Irish friends. It seems it was acquired by going to the right sort of pub in the country, saying the right sort of words to the barman, then being introduced to someone who took my friend a few miles out into the back of beyond to an anonymous little cottage where the stuff was provided. And it was powerful stuff, too!
Trevor
Actually Will, I can apply for irish citizenship since I married an Irishwoman. The bad news is I have to renounce to my spanish citizenship first.
But who knows, if Mr. Aznar (or Ansar as Dubya says) wins the election next year with majority, I might do it anyway.
The poor Catalan-Irish who is force to be an spaniard.
Good Lord, Pobe...thank goodness it's only your hand! No permanent damage, do the doctors think? Hope so...geez, well at least now you can give yourself time to learn lots and lots of tunes...
Well, there *is* a picture of a castle on the front of my no-doubt-very-authentic-Irish-potcheen jug. And underneath the picture it says "Bunratty Mead & Liqueur Co. Ltd., Bunratty Winery, Bunratty Co. Clare, Ireland. Is this the same castle, Danny? The stuff was very strange. Maybe it *was* slightly toxic! One day I hope to taste the real thing. Probably have to go to Ireland for that.
Breandan, Zina's right. That story sure sounded familiar! But your bro's not a poitin peddler. I'm just very suggestible when it comes to trying out different kinds of liquor! The more obscure, the better
I'm Polish and Italian, but I've got curly black hair and freckles and I'm constantly mistaken for being of Irish decent. Probably doesn't help that I play tunes either. All of my relatives are very confused. But they do like the polkas.
Christine - re the Poitin - I suppose as long as it works, that's the main thing. Bunratty Castle - isn't it a garish pink in colour? I believe it's a restaurant now - someone might want to update me, though.
Re being Irish: The English in the eighteenth century used to refer to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of North-West Scotland as the Irish. As I'm from that stock, does that count?
Yeah, it worked ok, Danny! I can't tell if the castle is pink. The print on the bottle is black, no color shading. But how many Bunratty Castles can their be, I wonder! And now I know why the jug says it's "illegal to sell or consume this product in Ireland". It makes it sound like someone in Ireland would actually *want* to drink the stuff, even though they can get the real stuff. They're just trying to make us that live outside of Ireland feel special. Pathetic, ain't it?
Breandan, it is a *very* good yarn and well worth repeating!
It is illegal to sell Potcheen in Ireland because the excise laws specifically name poitín [and other vaiant spellings] as an illicit brew. I belive that one company tried to get around it by calling thier stuff THE Poitin.
But sure half the point of drinking the stuff is that with every swally you are diddling the excise man out of a few pence!
Hey David - totally different subject - I'm just curious to know - what's the difference between a Rabbi and a Jewish Priest? Is the priest 'higher up', or what?
I think a Jewish priest is... Catholic? OK, I'll keep my smart-arse comments to myself. 6 weeks, David? Wow! You've got it sussed. Will you be at Willie Week?
Danny,
Bunratty Castle is most definintely not pink. it's a genuine 13th or 14th century castle, (grey). There is a hotel near it however called the bunratty castle hotel, which is a gaudy pink colour.
>>Re being Irish: The English in the eighteenth century used to refer to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of North-West Scotland as the Irish. As I'm from that stock, does that count?
Perhaps that is because the Hibernian (read:Irish) Scots settled in that area and drove out the native Picts?
Apparently in the 13th Century, people from the South of England were sometimes referred to as Irish - because the southern province of Britain included Ireland. Hey, don't throw things at me! It was in a book!
(ref: The First Scientist, A Life of Roger Bacon - by Brian Clegg.)
So, there you go, Ana, the English, Scots, probably Welsh, half the North Americans, Aussies, Kiwis anyone, for that matter are in fact Irish. A proven fact.
and not to be left out, my partner is from Ireland, at least when he's speaking to me - which is not tonight, so maybe we're not
partners tonight...........I guess I am left out................my great-great grandfather was Irish (protestant) doesn't count I know....
Well said, Dave! We're all from the same stock originally, anyway, whatever byways our ancestors may have followed along the way.
I also think we have to be especially cautious about concocting grand theories on the history of the Celts - historians can't seem to agree on what the term means.
Poteen? Brings back memories. In '78 I went to the Republic for the first time, on a long weekend. Arriving in Galway one evening from Dublin, I was asked by an old chap if I needed a bed for the night, and went back to his B&B. Over breakfast he asked me what I was going to be doing that day. "Looking for a pub where they play Irish music", I said. "That's too bad," he replied, "It's Good Friday and they're closed. But do you drink poteen?" I was flabbergasted; I thought the stuff was only to be found in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere and that one's credentials had to be a password in Gaelic or a chit from Charles Haughey, besides the going rate. I felt a bit like Dr. Livingstone as it was. "Yes of course", I replied.
Warmed by a tumbler of the stuff, which I found immediately palatable, I wandered out into Galway, where I probably spent the day looking at the Spanish Arch.
Plenty of music and Murphy's the next two days - and on these, and the day after, a solid bedrock of good breakfast accompanied by a sizeable tumbler of poteen, hotted up, with sugar.
(A footnote to that Galway trip: On the train back to Dublin were two lasses talking quietly in English. But the closer we got to Dublin, the louder they were shouting, and laughing, in Gaelic!..were they trying to prove something?)
My only subsequent trip to Eire also featured poteen. I was with a group, one of whom bought a bottle in a pub (not, of course, from the bar). (This was certainly in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, come to think of it.) It made a very welcome nightcap - we were staying in a very cold, damp youth hostel. That's where I remember a slug falling off the ceiling on to my forehead, as I was on the point of dozing off.
Anyone from Ireland out there
Anyone from Ireland out there
Hi, I just wanted to know of there were any Irish people logged on. I haven't come across anyone yet.
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Ana
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I know someone from Swaziland who isn't logged on either.
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Celtic1234. Mairtin. Conan. Breandan. Ottery. There's any number of them Irish who log in here...
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Zina Lee
Oh, and Jeremy too, of course... who else am I forgetting?
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Bernie, Carrie, and LongNote all live in Ireland, I think (although LN also spends a fair amount of time Stateside).
Oh, and Zina's Irish, and Glauber, and Toni Ribas, and Jorge, and Lars, and Slainte...all good Irish names despite their cosmopolitanarianism.....
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I'm not Irish, Zina. I was brought up by an Irish stepfather. I'm actually taking my mum for her first ever visit to Ireland (and first time in an aeroplane) at the end of this month, to visit my dad's relatives who she has corresponded with for many years, but never met.
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Ottery
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Ana, are you looking for authentic people?
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by llig leahcim
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Im not from Ireland, Im from the Republic of Cork will that do?
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Northcregg
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
And my wife comes from Cork.
Trevor
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
The tunes I play come from Ireland.
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I drink whiskey
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Yohan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I do that to! But that's mostly scottish... I do drink a lot of Guinness!
# Posted on June 23rd 2003 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I think you'll find the whisky is called Scotch.
Someone once sent me a postcard from Kilkenny.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I once worked for a printers who considered opening another branch in Kilburn.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Ottery
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
The KIngdon of Mourne rules OK!!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
correction Kingdom - I must have had my Star Trek hat on when I posted that last message.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Kerryman chatting up English girl:
- D'ye have any Irish in ye?
- No
- D'ye want some?
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Aaargh...you lot are MERCILESS... LOL -- Yohan, if you look carefully, you'll probably find a bottle of Ciaran Carson's "Irish Scotch" somewhere on a bar shelf. Breandan, I always wondered, did he just make that up, or is there somebody out there who put that on a bottle on purpose?!
zls
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Zina, Of course my big brother never makes anything up!! *grin
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Yohan is quite correct - whiskey [with the e] is Irish and whisky [without] is scotch [not scottish which is an adjective applied to a person from Scotland]
If he had consumed some whiskey shortly before his post then he would most assuredly have as much claim to irishness as most of the Ireland soccer team! Indeed he may even be eligible to play!!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
thanks Breandan - I drink whisky as well - it's amazing how much my playing improves - at least it sounds fantastic to me after a few...
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Yohan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Yohan - try poitín for even greater effect!! lol
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
A lot of people from Ireland are out there.
Some of them are way out there.
Some of them are so way out there, there's little danger of them coming back.
Some of them don't know they're out there.
Some of them know they're out there ... but nobody else does.
Some of them would like to be out there, but their mammy wouldn't like it.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Aidan Crossey
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
All of which tells you that Aidan is Irish, too. *snort*
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
And I've drunk poteen.
Trevor
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I've had poitin a few times. But it was "Bunratty Potcheen", imported from Ireland, sure, but I have a suspician that the real stuff is very different. I don't think the Bunratty is for sale in Ireland.
Anyone else tried this? I have to admit I wanted to try it after reading Last Night's Fun. So, Ciaran is to blame! And I'm pretty sure it didn't help my fiddling
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by soft black stars
The Quare Stuff
It seems my big bro has a lot to answer for - never saw him as a poitín peddler!
You are also correct in assuming that Bunratty Potcheen is most unlike the real thing.
One little anecdote about the quare stuff.
Ciarán was visiting friends in the US and one of them produced a bottle of poitín. Ciarán sampled it and declared 'Hmm - defintiely from the North' [of Ireland that is], the host was suitably impressed but became ever more astonished as he declared 'Probably from Derry or Antrim' sampled another drop and stated with authority that it was definitely an Antrim brew. At his final taste he declared to the utter amazement of the host that he thought the pure drop had originated from somewehere close to Ballymena - perhaps Kells.
The host was flabbergasted at Ciarán's informed palate and confirmed that it had, indeed, originated from Kells.
Ciarán accepted the plaudits but omitted to mention the slight clue - the poitín was in a Braid Mineral Water Company lemonade bottle and anyone from the North knows exactly where this is!!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Hmmmm. From Bunratty Castle? Thon pink monstrosity on the way out of Limerick up to Galway? It must be owned by Holiday Inn, or Macdonalds or Wallmart or some such conglomerate, by now.
I'm surprised you managed to find any Gen-U-ine molecules of alcohol in a Poitin mass-produced by that gang.
Irish people wouldn't feed the rats on their shite.
Tell me, are you sure you experienced thon wee glow of alcohol inebriation, or d'ye think ye might have been poisoned?
G'Luck,
Danny.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
The Brother
Ahhh!... Breandan, Hooknose (to quote yerself!)... I thought it too great a coincidence that 2 northern flute players (of Irish music!)would share such an unfortunate surname (if.. ye know... yer his-toree...ye'll know what I'm on about).
I suppose if he'd had someone sat on his flute he'd have written a book about it, then been able to make a tidy enough profit from the proceeds, to afford 2 Cotters, a Sam Murray and a set of pipes thrown in.
Sorry - just messing about.
danny.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Isn't that story IN Last Night's Fun, Breandan? Come up with a new one, willya! LOL
I've never had any poteen. But I used to clean my viola fingerboard with vodka. Does that count?
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Guess it's a bit late in the discussion, but I seem to be living in the wrong time zone or something... Anyway, the scotch/scottish thing... English is not my native language, and in swedish you'd say the same thing for scotch and scottish (we use only one word, that good, because you never pick the wrong one...) but thanks for the correction. Whatever you call it, I drink a lot of it...
(whisky, not whiskey)
And yesterday I got attacked by a rottweiler who bit my left hand, so now I can't fiddle for some time (and that is a true story, how strange it may sound). *sad*
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
The poteen I had was brought back to England in a plain bottle by one of my Irish friends. It seems it was acquired by going to the right sort of pub in the country, saying the right sort of words to the barman, then being introduced to someone who took my friend a few miles out into the back of beyond to an anonymous little cottage where the stuff was provided. And it was powerful stuff, too!
Trevor
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Actually Will, I can apply for irish citizenship since I married an Irishwoman. The bad news is I have to renounce to my spanish citizenship first.
But who knows, if Mr. Aznar (or Ansar as Dubya says) wins the election next year with majority, I might do it anyway.
The poor Catalan-Irish who is force to be an spaniard.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Toni Ribas
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Pobe, that's a nightmare. My condolences.
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by jerball
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Good Lord, Pobe...thank goodness it's only your hand! No permanent damage, do the doctors think? Hope so...geez, well at least now you can give yourself time to learn lots and lots of tunes...
Zina
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Pobe were you playing when he bit you? You need to sharpen one end of your bow...
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Yohan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Oh no Phobe, hope you recover soon. That's a BIG dog!!
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by deblittle
and a baaad dog too
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by deblittle
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Well, there *is* a picture of a castle on the front of my no-doubt-very-authentic-Irish-potcheen jug. And underneath the picture it says "Bunratty Mead & Liqueur Co. Ltd., Bunratty Winery, Bunratty Co. Clare, Ireland. Is this the same castle, Danny? The stuff was very strange. Maybe it *was* slightly toxic! One day I hope to taste the real thing. Probably have to go to Ireland for that.
Breandan, Zina's right. That story sure sounded familiar! But your bro's not a poitin peddler. I'm just very suggestible when it comes to trying out different kinds of liquor! The more obscure, the better
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by soft black stars
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Third generation in the states.
Or should that bebe.. t'ird generation in de states?
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Pádraig
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I'm Polish and Italian, but I've got curly black hair and freckles and I'm constantly mistaken for being of Irish decent. Probably doesn't help that I play tunes either. All of my relatives are very confused. But they do like the polkas.
Cara
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by carafiddle
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I'd forgotten it as my own copy of Last Night's Fun was liberated from me some time ago!
Anyway - still a good yarn.
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Christine - re the Poitin - I suppose as long as it works, that's the main thing. Bunratty Castle - isn't it a garish pink in colour? I believe it's a restaurant now - someone might want to update me, though.
Re being Irish: The English in the eighteenth century used to refer to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of North-West Scotland as the Irish. As I'm from that stock, does that count?
Not that I care really...
Danny
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Yeah, it worked ok, Danny! I can't tell if the castle is pink. The print on the bottle is black, no color shading. But how many Bunratty Castles can their be, I wonder! And now I know why the jug says it's "illegal to sell or consume this product in Ireland". It makes it sound like someone in Ireland would actually *want* to drink the stuff, even though they can get the real stuff. They're just trying to make us that live outside of Ireland feel special. Pathetic, ain't it?
Breandan, it is a *very* good yarn and well worth repeating!
# Posted on June 26th 2003 by soft black stars
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
It is illegal to sell Potcheen in Ireland because the excise laws specifically name poitín [and other vaiant spellings] as an illicit brew. I belive that one company tried to get around it by calling thier stuff THE Poitin.
But sure half the point of drinking the stuff is that with every swally you are diddling the excise man out of a few pence!
# Posted on June 26th 2003 by breandan
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Breandan! don't tell me you actually enjoy failing to pay taxes for our great democracy!
# Posted on June 26th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
May I add Conán (with an 'á') to the list of people from Ireland? I will be from Ireland when I come back in 6 weeks.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
...I've just noticed Conán's name near the top of this thread. Still, he's a fine fellow and a fine player - he deserves to be mentioned twice.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Then you'll be an Irish Jew.
Irish stew? geddit?
Hey David - totally different subject - I'm just curious to know - what's the difference between a Rabbi and a Jewish Priest? Is the priest 'higher up', or what?
Danny.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
I think a Jewish priest is... Catholic? OK, I'll keep my smart-arse comments to myself. 6 weeks, David? Wow! You've got it sussed. Will you be at Willie Week?
only a week to go...
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Nell
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Danny,
Bunratty Castle is most definintely not pink. it's a genuine 13th or 14th century castle, (grey). There is a hotel near it however called the bunratty castle hotel, which is a gaudy pink colour.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by eimhin
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
>>Re being Irish: The English in the eighteenth century used to refer to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of North-West Scotland as the Irish. As I'm from that stock, does that count?
Perhaps that is because the Hibernian (read:Irish) Scots settled in that area and drove out the native Picts?
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Pádraig
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Whom, it is suspected from their surviving artefacts, were were Celts.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Apparently in the 13th Century, people from the South of England were sometimes referred to as Irish - because the southern province of Britain included Ireland. Hey, don't throw things at me! It was in a book!
(ref: The First Scientist, A Life of Roger Bacon - by Brian Clegg.)
Anybody else ever heard that?
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Nell
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
So, there you go, Ana, the English, Scots, probably Welsh, half the North Americans, Aussies, Kiwis anyone, for that matter are in fact Irish. A proven fact.
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
and not to be left out, my partner is from Ireland, at least when he's speaking to me - which is not tonight, so maybe we're not
partners tonight...........I guess I am left out................my great-great grandfather was Irish (protestant) doesn't count I know....
# Posted on June 27th 2003 by stewardy
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
celts,schmelts - the sooner we remember that we're a all a bloody great mixture of god knows what the happier we might be.
on the other hand,the unhappier some other people might be.
time for a quick rendition of the internationale...2,3,4:
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Too right dave. the irish are a mixture of god knows how many invaders as well.
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anyone from Africa out there
Well said, Dave! We're all from the same stock originally, anyway, whatever byways our ancestors may have followed along the way.
I also think we have to be especially cautious about concocting grand theories on the history of the Celts - historians can't seem to agree on what the term means.
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by Nell
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
do you have to be Indian to eat a curry
# Posted on June 30th 2003 by jerrygermany
Re: Anyone from Ireland out there
Poteen? Brings back memories. In '78 I went to the Republic for the first time, on a long weekend. Arriving in Galway one evening from Dublin, I was asked by an old chap if I needed a bed for the night, and went back to his B&B. Over breakfast he asked me what I was going to be doing that day. "Looking for a pub where they play Irish music", I said. "That's too bad," he replied, "It's Good Friday and they're closed. But do you drink poteen?" I was flabbergasted; I thought the stuff was only to be found in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere and that one's credentials had to be a password in Gaelic or a chit from Charles Haughey, besides the going rate. I felt a bit like Dr. Livingstone as it was. "Yes of course", I replied.
Warmed by a tumbler of the stuff, which I found immediately palatable, I wandered out into Galway, where I probably spent the day looking at the Spanish Arch.
Plenty of music and Murphy's the next two days - and on these, and the day after, a solid bedrock of good breakfast accompanied by a sizeable tumbler of poteen, hotted up, with sugar.
(A footnote to that Galway trip: On the train back to Dublin were two lasses talking quietly in English. But the closer we got to Dublin, the louder they were shouting, and laughing, in Gaelic!..were they trying to prove something?)
My only subsequent trip to Eire also featured poteen. I was with a group, one of whom bought a bottle in a pub (not, of course, from the bar). (This was certainly in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, come to think of it.) It made a very welcome nightcap - we were staying in a very cold, damp youth hostel. That's where I remember a slug falling off the ceiling on to my forehead, as I was on the point of dozing off.
# Posted on August 2nd 2006 by nicholas