Belfast - Bushmills

Belfast, Northern Ireland, does not seem like the typical tourist destination. However, I like to include non-touristy areas in my trips to see something more local. Also, I found there's a Bushmills distillery, which is one of the major Irish distilleries, located 1.5 hours northwest of Belfast.

Unlike Scotland, most major Irish whiskies belong to 4 major distilleries. Because of different factors, such as alcohol prohibition, decline in demand, etc. smaller Irish distilleries were forced to close and bigger distilleries acquired them. One of the major distilleries is Bushmills. I was less interested in Irish whiskey because it felt more "manufactured" than Scotch whisky, so I signed up for a tour mainly to Giant's Causeway with a short stop at Bushmills,

Before I got to the meeting point for the tour, I stopped by at Harlem for breakfast. My purpose was the full Irish breakfast! Irish breakfast is known for the substantial portions. It comes with pancakes, black pudding, fried egg, bacon, sausage, mushroom and tomato. Flavor-wise, there's nothing special. I just wanted to experience an "Irish breakfast." Again, the sausage seemed to have some filler.  

The first stop of the tour is Giant's Causeway. These hexagon shaped columns were formed naturally. It's amazing!

I knew that visiting Bushmills distillery was not the main event of the tour. But it was too brief a stop, unfortunately. The departure of the tour was a little delayed and it seems the driver shortened the time we stayed at the distillery. Besides, this was the lunch spot too. After finishing lunch at a very crowded cafe in the distillery, all I had was 20 minutes or so. I knew I didn't have time for a tour but I managed to try their tasting and buy a bottle.

One of the three samples I tasted was a 12yr single malt. They said it was sold only at the distillery, so I bought one bottle.



After I came back from the tour, I went to another pub, called Robinson's, which is close to the drop off location. I was trying to get into the restaurant section, which is on the second floor. It was a touch late and the group in front of me took the last table... The restaurant staff told me that I could still have food at the pub downstairs, although the menu is limited.

But I enjoyed the real "Pub" feel with the not-so-elaborate foods. The Shepherd's Pie was excellent. It was pretty big. The meat underneath was not too salty but packed with flavor. I tasted more tomato in the meat sauce, probably tomato paste (not ketchupy). Although it was 3/4 potatoes, the balance was working out.

This is an obviously Irish dish, which is called Irish Stew...  It's made with lamb, carrot and potato. The potato was half pureed. The pureed potato gave the stew some thickness. Again, very flavorful, but the portion was much smaller compared to the Shepherd's Pie.

I'm taking a train to the last destination, Dublin, tomorrow. I'll spend 2 more nights there.