Tag: Morning Wood

Our Wedding And The Trip To Ireland

~ Ken Valley ~ Leave a comment

In the multi-part series, we continue with our wedding day and the trip to Ireland.

My New Bride and I
My New Bride and I

The day of our wedding arrived, and the weather was perfect.  We had our wedding outside at the location we had the reception.  At the reception, we had an open bar (of course), with Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Blue Moon as the beers available.  At one point during the reception, I cracked open a bottle of “Morning Wood“, and enjoyed that with my new bride and friends.

We shut down the reception, and at one point the reception hall flickered the lights in an effort to get us to move along.

We went back to the hotel and danced the night away at the hotel bar.  By the way, they also had Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and the had the special glasses to make it taste even better.

Saving the Ales, One At A Time
Saving the Ales, One At A Time

The day after the wedding, we woke up, brought some of our friends to the airport, and said our goodbyes.  We were able to hang around with family for a bit before we started our journey to Ireland.

We left several hours early to go to JFK Airport, and from western New Jersey, because of the traffic (even on a Saturday night), it took us almost 2.5 hours to get to the airport.

As we were standing in line at the airport, one of the airline representatives asked for those going to Shannon, Ireland because the flight needed to board within 30 minutes.

When we boarded the plane, we had seats on the opposite side of the plane.  Because we were on our honeymoon,we requested to be seated together, and the airline put us in the back of the plane sitting together.  Also, because we were on an international red-eye flight, we were able to get free beer.  The best quality beer available was Corona (in cans), so we were able to have a couple, and then we slept.

After the overnight flight,  we were still tired, but were able to drive up to our first bed and breakfast, near Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher.

Cliffs of Moher
Cliffs of Moher

We checked in and went to the Cliffs of Moher.  It was an amazing sight. One of the most interesting pieces of information is that the Atlantic Puffins nest in the side of the cliffs.  If you aren’t familiar, the puffin is the bird in several of the Guinness advertisements.

On our way back to our bed and breakfast, we also toured around The Burren and saw the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb.

For dinner, we stopped in Lisdoonvarna, where, for 150 years, the Matchmaking Festival happens each fall.

At dinner, I had a couple of Irish firsts: I had my first order of fish and chips and my first Irish Guinness.  As we were eating, in the courtyard a musician was playing several familiar American songs, and one of the locals walked over and asked for one of my chips.  He said (in his accent) “I didn’t even want any chips until you put on the vinegar and dipped it in ketchup.”  Of course, I gave him one.

After dinner, we drove back to our bed and breakfast, and our jet-lag made us take a “quick” nap that lasted from 9 PM until 7 AM the next morning.

So, if you’re keeping track, that’s only 1 Irish Guinness.  Stay tuned for the rest!


The Week Before Our Wedding

~ Ken Valley ~ 2 Comments

Since there’s a lot to tell, I’m going to break up the stories, first starting with the week leading up to our wedding.

My future wife, myself, and another friend of ours drove from Iowa to New Jersey a week before our wedding.  We traveled well and made great time (mostly because we drove overnight and I slept).  The first few days were dedicated to planning, and as friends and family began to arrive, we started to hang out with them as the wedding plans started to fall into place.

McSorley's Old Ale House
McSorley's Old Ale House

The first big event we did when our friends from Iowa arrived on Wednesday was go to one of our favorite spots in Manhattan, McSorley’s Old Ale House.

We love this place because they only have two types of beer: light (similar to a pilsner) or dark (kind of like a darker red ale).  McSorley’s is so old-fashioned, as a great example of an old-style ale house, they didn’t allow women (even the owner) in the bar until the early 1970’s.  When you order a beer, they bring you two 12 ounce mugs, and with almost 20 people in our group, they kept bringing mugs of ale.  After we left, we were congregated outside the front door, and the barkeep who kept our table full of beer chatted with us.  He had a bit of an Irish accent, and I mentioned why we were there, and that we were planning on going to Ireland for our honeymoon.  He wished us well and called us “Lucky”.

Morning Wood
Morning Wood

On Thursday, we had our rehearsal dinner.  At the dinner, I handed out the special beer I made for my groomsmen, called “Morning Wood”.  From the blurb I wrote on the label:

Take a luxurious dark breakfast stout, made with oatmeal and chocolate, infused with three types of coffee: Sumatra, Kona, and Peruvian Dark, and you get something to wake up to.  But, take that stout and age it for several months with toasted oak to give it nice vanilla overtones, and now you have “Morning Wood”.

The name made this beer unique enough, but we tried it to celebrate, and it was delicious.  It smelled like coffee, and had a nice smooth roasted chocolate flavor.  The oak was just right, and gave it a slight oak and vanilla flavor.

Summer Bryed
Summer Bryed

In addition to the “Morning Wood”, I had also made two 5 gallon kegs of a dry-hopped rye pale ale to commemorate our wedding.  It was named  “Summer Bryed”, after my own summer bride.

With almost 50 people at the rehearsal dinner, the 10 gallons only lasted a few hours.  It was nice and light, and had a great hop aroma and flavor.

That brings up to the day before our wedding, so stay tuned for more stories, and more beer!