Hey guys,
Our blog entry of today is all about the Irish Cuisine. We want to give you some understanding of the versatility of food and drink of Ireland. First, we want to show you some basic facts about the Irish cuisine. Secondly, we are going to present the traditional Irish food. Furthermore, we will show you the typical drinks of Ireland and last but not least, we will tell you the important facts about Guinness beer.
The cuisine of Ireland is very versatile. It is influenced by the mixture of different cultures and is based on the animals living and the plants growing there. The Irish cuisine altered greatly by the English conquest because of the 
introduction of a new agro-alimentary system of intensive grain-based agriculture. Due to that, large areas turned over to cereal, but the most important food for poor people was and still is the potato.
Since the good old days the traditional dishes are still part of the menu plan of the Irish, but nowadays they are influenced by the whole world and are presented in a more modern artistic way.
Some of the traditional dishes of Ireland may sound a little confusing but are actually not bad and also in some kind similar to Austrian traditional food. There is, for example, boiled bacon and cabbage, which, first of all, speaks for itself concerning what it is and secondly, is like the Austrian “Geselchtes mit Kraut” or Boxty, a kind of potato pancake is also similar to an Austrian dish called “Kartoffelpuffer”.
There are also dishes that aren’t even close to the Austrian food tradition like, for example, Coddle, a mishmash of the leftovers of the week, or typically shellfish, lots of salmon (whether smoked or not) or soda bread.
To sum up, there are a lot of similarities but also differences between the Austrian and the Irish cuisine, but after all, the dishes don’t sound that bad, don’t they? (Jürgen)
Of course, there are a lot of good drinks there, too. Let’s start with the alcoholic beverages. You’ll see this on almost every tap in every pub. If you find yourself in Dublin, be sure to visit the Guinness Storehouse where you’ll get a taste directly from the Guinness factory and learn to pull the perfect pint.
Another favourite of the Irish is Black’n Black. Guinness with a shot of blackcurrant, it’s usually for people who want to try Guinness but don’t like the porter bite. It takes the bite off. But there is more to the typical Irish drinks than just beer. Furthermore, a very popular drink in Ireland is the Irish Cider. This is with pears and berries. You must drink it in a glass with ice.
What is also very famous and well-known as a hot drink from Ireland is the Irish Coffee. Irish Coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar, stirred, and topped with cream. The coffee is drunk through the cream.
The Irish Flag Shots are traditionally drunk on St. Patrick’s Day. For Irish Flag Shots, first pour crème de menthe liqueur into a glass. Hold a teaspoon to the edge directly over the liqueur. Slowly pour Baileys over the back of the spoon. Pour the orange liqueur over the Irish Flag Shots using the spoon.
Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish cream liqueur – an alcoholic beverage flavoured with cream, cocoa, and Irish whiskey. It is often drunk with ice cubes.
But there are many other possibilities, often Baileys is used for cakes or other sweet dishes.
Of course, many people who go to the pub also enjoy non-alcoholic Irish drinks, for example, non-alcoholic Irish Rose. The non-alcoholic version of an Irish rose cocktail is just one of many variations on this tasty Irish mocktail.
There is also, for example, the Emerald Isle Mocktail. This virgin version of the emerald champagne cocktail uses non-alcoholic replacements for crème de menthe and sparkling wine. The pubs in Ireland are really recommendable. (Selina)
Now I am going to give you a better insight into the traditional Irish beer called Guinness.
It was founded in the brewery of Arthur Guinness in Dublin in 1759. Nowadays it is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide and is brewed in almost 50 countries and available in over 120.
The Guinness beer is made of water, barley, roast malt extract and yeast. A part 
of the barley is roasted to give it its special dark color and characteristic taste. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin explains the history of the beer and how it is made.
There are 11 kinds of beers:
- one of them is the Guinness Draught it has 4,2% alcohol
- the Guinness Foreign Extra Strout, an extra amount of hops and a stronger alcohol percentage
- the Guinness Original is very similar to the original recipe
- the Guinness Dublin Porter, (fewer hops used and the maturation process is shorter)
- the Guinness West Indies Porter has a chocolatey very bitter taste
- the Guinness Golden Ale is one of the lightest
- The Guinness Hop House 13 Lager has a lot of new ingredients and is totally different
- the Guinness Blonde American Lager (a collaboration between the Guinness brewers in Dublin and their counterparts at the legendary Latrobe Brewery in Pennsylvania)
- the Guinness Nitro IPA is way creamier than the
- the Guinness Special Export has a stronger alcohol percentage and is made with butterscotch
- the Guinness Black Lager is a softer kind of beer and feels creamy with just a hint of roasted barley. (Bianca)
xperience. One day my co-workers had some problems with the paying system, so they tried to fix it and I was left alone. I had to take care for 65 guests for 1,5 hours. It was impressive that I handled it quite nicely but I was stressed as hell.