Kilbeggan

Mom and I went to Kilbeggan today to tour the Locke's Distillary!

It was so cool to go in the old part of the distillery and hear the churning noises of all the old gears!

It was like crawling through a jungle gym/maze sometimes though on our self-guided tour...

But the building was so cool, there were little windows in random places around and you never knew what to expect!

It was all so beautiful and elaborate, like a castle that produced whisky - win-win!

Here is where they would light fires under the mix to heat it up!

After touring the old distillery, we got to poke our heads in the new in-use distillery right next to it where they still do everything the old fashioned way (by hand in small batches) but with new machinery. 

We got to see how the process worked from taking the grain and fermenting it and adding yeast then where it goes to age in barrels!

Pretty cool! And they have some barrels labeled aging for a select few special people, like Mumford & Sons!

And Obama!!

 After we finished our tour we went over to the whisky bar to have our free taste.

 Then to the gift shop, cause of course we need some Irish whisky around the house :)

One last stop in the restaurant next door for whisky ice cream!

So delicious! It really tasted like whisky too, ingredients were just milk and cream from a local dairy, sugar, and whisky!

Great day in Kilbeggan! Off to Dublin tomorrow for Fulbright orientation this weekend!