Tag: drinking

A Visit to the Heineken Experience (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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Heineken Experience

The “Heineken Brouwery”, aka the home of the Heineken Experience

One of my favorite stops during a trip to Amsterdam, the Heineken Experience does the whole interactive museum thing right – brilliant design and a fun “ride” make this destination a must-see for beer lovers and friends alike.

Heineken Experience

Replicas of scenes of the past are quaint and imaginative.

You can do a self-guided tour through this experience and stop at interesting stuff along the way, where staff are on hand to explain things. The tour takes about an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how much you want to learn.

The place itself is a lot like another favorite destination of mine – the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland. It combines education with a bit of fun and, of course, alcohol at the end.

Don’t miss the bottle “ride” Continue reading →

Top 15 Reasons to Love Dublin, Ireland

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Dublin, Ireland is one of my favorite cities in the world. There are several reasons for this. And, without further ado – here are my…

Top 15 reasons to love Dublin, Ireland

  1. Its Size

    Population-wise, Dublin has about 527,000 inhabitants, and covers an area of about 44.4 square miles. Much of what a tourist wants to see and do is packed into only a few square miles in the city center and this results in a very accessible, walkable town.

    Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin, Ireland

    View of the Millennium Spire through the Samuel Beckett Bridge

    I’ve spent a day walking one end to the other – starting around the Grand Canal Dock at Samuel Beckett Bridge and strolling along the Liffey all the way to Phoenix Park and Kilmainham Gaol. It takes a few hours if you stop here and there to see the sights, and it may not be great if you have older folks in your group, but it’s a definite plus that you can see most of the sights on foot if you want.

  2. Ease of public transportation

    You can take public transport all around the city and skip taxi cabs all together if you like. Take the DART from the outer neighborhoods to Tara Street and you’re smack in the middle of Temple Bar, for example. Or, take the DART out of the city to Malahide or Howth and take in the beautiful sea views.

    The Luas, a relatively newer light rail system, hits the city’s shopping streets north of the river, but it doesn’t go many other places that a tourist would want to visit.  Nevertheless, DART and Luas tickets are cheap and are a great option for travelers who are solo or are in small groups (when splitting a taxi doesn’t make sense).

  3. Direct flights to Dublin from many cities

    Dublin’s status as the capitol of Ireland and a tourist destination means that it’s easy to get to from many world cities. There are direct flights daily from the U.S. cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Orlando, for example.  The best airlines to get you there would be Ireland’s own Aer Lingus, or the other major carriers like Delta, American Airlines/US  Air, and even Emirates. I love Aer Lingus personally because you start getting the hospitality and flavor of Ireland the minute you step foot on the airplane.
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In Vino Veritas – Casa Bleve (Rome, Italy)

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If you find yourself in Rome doing the whole tourist thing near the Pantheon, and have some cash to burn and a hankerin’ for some vino, strut your fabulous butt over to Casa Bleve and enter perhaps the most luxurious wine bar and restaurant that you’ve ever been to.

I had Casa Bleve on my list of “must-sees” in Rome after scouring the boards over at Chowhound to find the best wine bars in Rome. After a careful selection process (which was pretty much just figuring out what was close to stuff that we wanted to do – and that people could agree was a good place), Casa Bleve was “it”.

And “it” did not disappoint.

A mini Versailles dedicated to the tasting of delicious, gourmet Italian food and appreciation of wine, the nectar of the gods, the downright opulent surroundings made Frank Sinatra look like a hobo. But, now that you’ve read this post, you’ll dress nicely before you go. Unlike us…We felt like Continue reading →

Fernet and Coke

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A brief, uplifting note about an Argentine tradition that I’ve come to enjoy over these past few months: Fernet con Coca Cola, or, simply “Fernet and Coke.” Note: I wrote this post in 2011 when I was living in Mendoza – updates below!

Fernet and Coke – The Phenomenon

Fernet Branca is an herbacious digestif made in Italy by Distillerie Fratelli Branca. However, Argentina is the only other place in the world that they make it outside of Italy.  Fernet became popular in Argentina with the Italian immigrants at the turn of the last century (as in 1900) and then spread like wildfire throughout the country.

How does Fernet Branca taste? On its own, it is disgusting. (At least I think so.) It’s bitter, it’s really hard to describe the taste, and the recipe is a secret.

Its Wikipedia entry describes it as “myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron, with a base of grape distilled spirits, and coloured with caramel colouring. Ingredients rumored to be in fernet include codeine, mushrooms, fermented beets, coca leaf, gentian, rhubarb, wormwood, zedoary, cinchona, bay leaves, absinthe, orange peel, calumba, echinacea, quinine, ginseng, St. John’s wort, sage, and peppermint oil.” The Fernet Branca website describes it as having 27 herbs, roots and spices.

There are several different types of Fernet: Fernet Branca is the default, while Fernet Branca Menta is a mintier version. Fernet Branca is mainly what’s used to make Fernet and Coke.

Fernet is an acquired taste. The first time I tried it, I hated it. I asked my friends how they could possible drink something so terrible. They assured me that I’d come to like it, especially if I was having it as Fernet and coke. I was a nonbeliever.

Fernet and Coke – “Para Preparar”

There are a couple ways to order Fernet in a bar here in Argentina. You can either get it normally (fernet con coke), or you can get it “para preparar”, when the bar gives you 1 glass with ice and fernet, another glass with just ice, and a bottle of Coke to mix your own according to how you like it.  This is probably the best way to go and the best value – and you can make it more suave at first (mostly Coke) and then move on to higher potency combinations later in the evening.

Then one day I enjoyed it. It was after a few adult beverages, of course. But for some reason, I began to like it. And now I know I’m going to crave it when I get back to Texas. Hmph.

Since 2011… Fernet Branca is everywhere.

Update: We love the tradition of Fernet and coke so much that we named our sweet French bulldog “Branca.” When folks ask what her name is and we tell them, they inevitably ask what it means and it ends up being a little education for them about what Fernet is and some even say “OMG I’ve had that!”

Turns out, Fernet is having a “moment” back here in the U.S. after I originally wrote this post back in 2011. You can find it behind nearly every bougie cocktail bar in the States. Bartenders love the stuff for adding an amaro note to cocktails. There’s so much more to do with Fernet Branca than make Fernet and Coke.

Who’d have known?

Are you a Fernet fan? Let me know your favorite recipe in the comments below!