It's my second week of dry January and I must say I feel great. Not so much as a smell of Porter or whiff of IPA this week. Ok, some raised eyebrows. Let me educate the uninformed. What is Dry January?
I'm not sure if this is even a thing outside of Ireland, but here in the emerald isle Dry January is pretty common. After lots of nights out with friends and family in the weeks leading up to Christmas and the nights out over Christmas, where many people enjoy some wine, beer and other alcohol drinks, people feel like taking a break from it all, and so Dry January came to be.
I have done it a few times myself and it's always quite enjoyable to do to be honest. It's a good detox and offers a good chance to rekindle some healthy habits like workouts, jogs and the likes. By the time February comes around, you are looking forward to a night out again, and it's good for your health too.
Does that mean no Beer Saturday posts??
Does the pope wear a hat?
Of course,I will still post. I'll think of something Beer related to post about, whether it's a funny story or some photos of beers I have enjoyed in the past, I'll try to still post.
Today I'm going to look back to a recent birthday, which for me falls in Autumn.
It was one of those rare times when my wife and I get a babysitter and we got out for a lovely dinner in my favourite restaurant in Galway, a gorgeous Tapas place called Cava. Our table was booked for 8pm and beforehand, we got in for a couple of nice Prinks (pre dinner drinks!)
As you can see, I opted for Guinness and it was creamy and magnificent, with the porter clinging to the glass after each sup, the real test of quality Guinness, as any Guinness drinker worth their salt will tell you.
That same weekend, it just happened that one of my good friends from Dublin was in town and was staying at Glenlo Abbey's 5 Star Hotel and Golf resort.
We both play golf, so I bought two rounds for us and we went for a round of golf and had a great catch up.
This is my friend furiously looking for his golf ball on the 2nd hole up the hill towards the hotel.
We actually share a birthday, although he's around five years older than me.
Here I am on the 4th hole, which is a magnificent hole, I must say. It's 180 yards to an island green and would test any level of golfer, especially when the flag is tucked away on the left of the green.
He actually got the better of me with his tee shot, which was phenomenal and landed ten feet from the hole, with me just missing the green.
We both made par in the end, but his par was worth more than my one, as he has a higher handicap, so he won that hole.
I've played this golf course many times, especially when I was a teenager, as I worked at this hotel as a summer job and could play golf for free, so I know every nook and cranny, so to speak. My favourite hole is the par 5 eight. You can play safe and go a bit right with the tee shot, or you can take on the lake and carry 220 to 250 yards. This day I opted to take on the lake and hit a whopper straight over the lake leaving me around 190 yards to the green.
I hit a nice hybrid and actually went a bit long to leave myself a very long Eagle putt. Yes, it was a chance, but even if I was a tour player, the make percentage would be maybe 3%, so for me it was 1% chance at best. I left it short, but tapped in for birdie for an easy win on that hole.
We really enjoyed the golf and even more so enjoyed catching up with each other and shooting the breeze for a few hours. We met our wives afterwards in the nineteenth hole for some food and a pint and it really capped off a brilliant birthday weekend for the both of us.
That's it folks. Dry January, birthday Guinness, Old Friends, Great drives and missed Eagle putts...
Until next time Beer Saturdayorians...
Oh by the way...
How was your Beer Saturday?
Where were you?
What was the drink of choice?
Who was with you?
Are those your feet?
How's your auld one?
Any other craic?
Thanks to 
Sláinte wherever you find yourself, take it handy, and if ya get it, take it twice!
*The beer photos used throughout this post are all my own taken on my Samsung smart phone. The funny memes were sent on to me on WhatsApp*
