Summering on the Continent

tomorrow I leave for a 3 week holiday to London, Dublin, and Portugal. w00t!

while in London, I look forward to partaking in some of the England's finest ales, however this may present a challenge. the friend that I am staying with refuses to drink English beer; he sticks solely to Belgian, Czech, German, and Polish imports. on my last visit, there was no way that we could stop at any of the hundreds of amazing pubs lining the streets of London, we had to go where the Belgian triples were poured. I do love his beer tenacity, but sometimes a brother just needs a drink. luckily, London's selection of pubs that serve Belgian beer is still pretty impressive.

then, I'm off to another mecca of beer, Dublin. last time I was there I did a tour of the Guinness factory, which was equal parts awesome and weird. the end of the tour was were I had wished the tour started, at the pub on the roof of the Guinness storehouse overlooking Dublin with a complementary pint in my hand. the tour is a huge tourist attraction and it was presented much like an exhibit at a kid's museum. there were a bunch interactive buttons to press and wheels to turn, and there were lots of little tykes saying stuff like, "MOMMY! look at me - I'm a drunk!" while holding giant plush novelty Guinness pints. I'll be sure to get a few pulls of the black stuff while in Ireland.

I'm not sure what to expect beer-wise in Portugal. I'm going to keep it simple and focus on some crisp lagers for the beach and attempt to find the best Port imaginable. I'll try to post something while away, but no guarantees. Big Love will be holding down the fort a few weeks.