All Over the Place

So today was the day on which Carolyn was buying me my wedding gift . . . a trip to Victoria Spirits, a micro-distillery about 30 minutes north of Victoria. We discovered that we are accustomed to being completely dependent on my iPhone for directions to places, but because data roaming costs a fortune, we have chosen to go without it . . . which turned what should have been a 30 minute drive into an hour-long adventure. Oh well, no bother, we eventually found it . . . only to discover that we had misread their website on which their published hours of operation are: Weekends, 11 - 5. But we thought we would drive down the driveway and see what we could see.

As we were parking, the head distiller (Peter) came out and confirmed to us that they were closed . . . but we chatted with him for a bit, explaining that we were on our honeymoon, and he graciously agreed to give us a private tour and tasting! We left our camera in the car (doh!) but take our word for it that they had a beautiful German-made, wood-fired still and Peter was very knowledgeable in his explanations of its operation. He was currently distilling a run of gin (a 6-hour process) and was currently collecting the hearts. He explained that they sell their heads to a company that turns into bio-diesel. Neat! He also explained that he will blend the hearts of several runs before bottling.

Afterwords, he took us upstairs to the tasting room and we sampled all of their products. We enjoyed it all . . . Carolyn's favorite was the gin, which I enjoyed too, but I was particularly enamored with their Oaken Gin, which is aged in new oak for about one year before bottling. They also made a hemp vodka which was pleasant.

From L to R: Victoria Gin, Hemp Vodka, and Oaken Gin

After the tasting, we headed back into Victoria. Carolyn had decided that yesterday was finally the day to get a haircut, so we found a salon about 2 km from our hotel and walked over. While she was getting her hair cut, I walked over to Irish Times

and enjoyed a few pints off their 2-Mile Menu, which contains only beers brewed in a two-mile radius from the pub. Their beer selection was quite good, though I was horrified when the woman next to me ordered a Bud Light and tomato juice, and then mixed them together.

Eventually Carolyn walked over and showed off her super-cute new haircut:

We finished up the day here:

Does anybody know where we were?

Then it was time for dinner at The Tapa Bar in Trounce Alley

where we enjoyed Gambas al ajillo,  grilled eggplant with goat cheese, marinated artichoke hearts, and chorizo fondue (not pictured).




The walk home gave us an opportunity for some silliness: