Guinness 'Five' - The Guinness Food Experience

Yesterday evening, Thursday 11th August, I had the absolute pleasure of popping along to the Guinness Storehouse to experience their brand new Guinness food experience. Adding to its already top class offering, the Guinness Storehouse unveiled an incredible new food experience which sees the entire fifth floor dedicated to Guinness and Food.

The €2 million investment in the heart of St. James’s Gate has been fittingly named “Five. Guinness and Food Experience”. The new experience includes an authentic Irish Bar called Arthur’s Bar, an 18th Century inspired Brewers Dining Hall, a restaurant named Gilroy’s inspired by the iconic Guinness advertisements by John Gilroy. Beyond this, however, there will also be live cooking demonstrations where foodies and Guinness drinker’s alike can see an unique Guinness gastronomical experience driven entirely by the Irish tradition of wholesome, local produce. Finally, there is also an interactive recipe sharing bank that allows visitors to take Guinness recipe cards home to try the recipes for themselves and also share their own Guinness inspired recipes with others.

Speaking about “Five” the new Guinness and Food Experience at the Guinness Storehouse, Managing Director, Paul Carty said “We are delighted to officially open the doors to our new Guinness and Food experience which marries the best of Irish produce to Guinness, an iconic Irish brand. We have a dedicated team who have been working on this specific food project for over a year now, so we are thrilled with the results which we look forward to sharing with our visitors from all over the world, show casing the best of Irish produce”.

The Storehouse team have carefully selected a number of key local suppliers to work alongside with and their produce can be seen on the menus at “Five” including Ardsallagh goat’s cheese, Irish mussels from Carlingford and MD Bakery in Waterford who supply the Waterford Blaas.

Executive Chef at Guinness Storehouse, Justin O’Connor, said, “Certainly the most recognisable and popular Guinness dish in the world is Beef and Guinness stew; in fact, since we opened our doors in 2000, we have served over 400,000 portions of Beef and Guinness Stew. We have refined this traditional dish as part of our project using Hereford beef from Nenagh in Co Tipperary. The meat is marinated for 24 hours in Guinness and aromatics and then slow cooked for succulence and taste.”


Full outlet details...

Brewer’s Dining Hall
The Brewer’s Dining Hall takes inspiration from the 18th and 19th century dining room of the same name. This traditional dining hall catered for the hard working at St. James’s Gate Brewery, who wanted to eat well. The Brewer’s Dining Hall is an informal dining experience served buffet style featuring the freshest and most wholesome ingredients. All of this is experienced with full views of the working kitchen which is on show through a large glass viewing area.

Gilroy’s Restaurant
Gilroy’s restaurant is inspired by the artist, John Gilroy, who was the artist and creator behind the “MY GOODNESS, MY GUINNESS” marketing campaign. In Gilroy’s you will be greeted with a warm setting surrounded by the wonderful animal characters created by Gilroy, all of which are displayed prominently overhead to add to your dining experience.
Gilroy’s is a waiter style bistro restaurant offering a premium food experience serving traditional Irish food complemented by a contemporary twist.

Arthur’s Bar
The Irish Pub is an integral part of Irish life and always has been. The pub is the focal point of community life where music, sport, literature and family occasions are all celebrated.
Arthur’s Bar is a modern twist on a traditional Irish pub, taking elements of a traditional Irish pub, and showing them in a contemporary manner.

Captain Morgan's Caribbean Adventure - The Captain's Island

Sun, sea, surf, Captain Morgan and a chance to win €15,000….. where do I sign up?

Simples. Just pop over to the Captain Morgan Ireland Facebook Page and start your adventure for a chance to join Captain Morgan, Mena Suvari and 13 other teams of aspiring buccaneers in a contest to win a €15,000 share of the Captain's legendary bounty on The Captain’s Island (from 9th – 14th October) in the Caribbean.

Before you get the chance to prove yourself against these other teams you first need to be selected to go - not everyone can get to The Captain’s Island. First you need to show Captain Morgan that you have traits befitting of a Captain – leadership, camaraderie, bravado (without recklessness), clever thinking and determination. To prove yourself, you will need to complete a number of different challenges on the Captain Morgan’s Facebook page to earn ‘keys’. ‘Keys’ are also available on promotional Captain Morgan packs in supermarkets & off-licenses, in bars, at events and in a number of other secret locations. You will need to collect five keys in total.

Captain Morgan commented: “The chance to have a three day legendary experience on my Caribbean Island and a share of a €15,000 bounty - why wouldn’t you want to be part of that adventure? Sign-up for The Captain’s Island and if you’re lucky enough it could all be yours. Oh, and did I mention that you’ll get to hang out with me, the Morganettes and get interviewed by Island reporter Mena Suvari too? What are you still reading this for – enter now!”

Mena Suvari added: “But you’re going to have to impress Captain Morgan to stand a chance here. If you can’t show leadership, camaraderie, determination, bravado and clever thinking then you can kiss goodbye to an Island adventure and a share of his bounty. He doesn’t just give this away – you have to earn it.”

The contest is open now to everyone in the island of Ireland above legal purchase age and challenges conducted via Facebook require a fun-loving Buccaneer who has a passion for adventure, creativity and a winning spirit. The closing date for crews to sign up and collect five keys is 18th September 2011.

About Captain Morgan:
In 1654 a young Henry Morgan left his native Wales for the West Indies. He never looked back. A born leader, he quickly made Captain and became famous as a legal pirate or Buccaneer, defending British interests and generally rocking the Caribbean. His awesome exploits on the high seas earned him a knighthood and by 1680 Sir Henry Morgan was a plantation owner and Governor of Jamaica. There he lived out his final days until his death in 1688.

Centuries later he became the figurehead for a company that became as famous as the man himself… The Captain Morgan Rum Company.

Three launches ‘S’Up’ Campaign

Three have just launched their latest campaign with everyone's favourite music and reality crazy kids, Jedward. The campaign, which announces Three's new “All you can eat” data on Prepay, will hit TV screens tomorrow evening (5th August) and run for five weeks until 11th September 2011. The campaign uses 30 second placements on RTE, TV3, 3E, Sky packages, Comedy Central, MTV E!, Living and E4. Aside from the TV slots, the campaign will also run online rich media banners on yahoo, MSN, Ryanair, Facebook, and Skype. Finally, the campaign will also use targeted press advertising and special builds in Dublin’s city centre.

The campaign was developed by McCann Erickson and the TV ad was directed by Damien O’Donnell, who has directed the films; ‘East is East’, ‘Heartlands’, and ‘Inside I’m Dancing’, and produced by Russ Russell of Russell Curran Productions.

The TV ad features Jedward calling, texting and tweeting each other all day long. This may not appear unusual given the close bond the twins share, but what is different about Jedward is that they call text and tweet each other even when they’re in the same room, because it costs them nothing on Three Prepay. They can call each other to say hello or in Jedward’s case ‘S’Up?’ and make sure they don’t miss what’s going on even for a minute.

So we have TV, online and press so far, but the most interesting part of the campaign is the in-store POS and PR activity, which will focus on recruiting a third member of Jedward via on-street and social media auditions to spend a day with Jedward at a secret Three Ireland Jedward gig on 16th September. Lucky Three Prepay customers will receive a special Jedmail inviting them!

Commenting on the launch, Sales and Marketing director, Elaine Carey at Three, said: “We at Three are very excited to be launching ‘All you can eat’ data for our Prepay customers, marking another important first in the Irish market for Three. From Friday the 5th of August, Three Prepay customers can avail of the exclusive ‘All you can eat’ data price plan for the first time, giving unlimited mobile internet access, free any network texts, and free Three to Three calls, all for just €20 a month minimum top up. To celebrate this we are offering the Samsung Galaxy Europa on Prepay for just €49, an amazing price for a great Smartphone, with the ‘All you can eat’ data plan allowing Three Prepay customers to make the most of its enhanced social media functionality.”

Commenting on the launch, Emma Sharkey, McCann Erickson, said: “Jedward’s star power and their ubiquitous popularity will help Three to reach a larger prepay audience. Jedward’s youthful energy and innate sociability are a natural fit with the brand’s Prepay proposition. Three understands that people want the ability to stay in constant contact with their closest friends through texts, social sites and calls, without fear of burning through credit.”

For further information on Three, the new offer or the handset, just visit www.three.ie and be sure to follow Three on Twitter and Facebook.

Scott Campbell Backs Bahrain Storm For Galway Plate

Unless you don’t own a TV or a smartphone you’ll know who Scott Campbell is. Well, Ireland’s new fresh face of weather and frontman to Budweiser’s current campaign - The Ice Cold Index - is down in Galway for the Races. Scott, a wealth of information and insight, has turned his weather foresighting skills to the horses for the day and named Bahrain Storm as his pony to win the Galway Plate race this afternoon at 3pm.

Being the generous man that he is, Scott has promised that all his fans can avail of a free pint of Budweiser Ice Cold if Bahrain Storm finishes in the top three of the Galway Plate. Nifty!

Speaking about his visit to Galway, Budweiser Ice Cold Index weatherman, Scott Campbell, said, “It’s all happening this week in Galway. I’ve been doing my research and I’ve heard great things about Bahrain Storm so I’m really hoping he comes through for me – my Budweiser Ice Cold fans deserve a free pint!”

Scott will be hanging out at the Budweiser tent at the Ballybrit race course to cheer on Bahrain Storm but he’ll also be delivering an update as part of the TV3 evening news weather report live from the Galway Races on Ladies Day tomorrow (Thursday, 28th July).

Scott has also extended an open invitation to join him for a special Galway Races Budweiser Ice Cold Index party in The Skeffington Arms Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway city on Saturday, 30th July from 4-7pm. Rugby star Cian Healy and his DJ partner Gordon Johnston will provide music and acting as MC will be RTE’s Jennifer Maguire.

As part of the party, Scott and his crew will be holding auditions to search for Scott’s co-star. Galway is the second of three heats in the search for Scott’s co-star. Scott will finish his search in Cork next month. Each finalist selected from the three heats will win €1,000 on the night and go through to the final heat to win the overall prize which includes starring alongside Scott on national TV and winning the ultimate holiday to Los Angeles. You can pre-register for auditions on www.facebook.com/budicecoldireland.

To check out Scott and keep up-to-date with the search for his co-star, visit the Facebook page where there will also be regular competitions, updates from Scott and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow Scott on Twitter.

Dublin To Paris With The Irish Hospice Foundation

Yesterday saw the start of the annual Irish Hospice Foundation cycle from Dublin to Paris. The gruelling 600km journey by 17 cyclists is the charity’s annual campaign to raise funds to support the development of Children’s Hospice Home Care.

In order to take part in the 5 day event each cyclist raised €3,500, equating to €720,000 over the past two years (2009 and 2010). The cycle takes them from Dublin down to Rosslare, across to Cherbourg, and then on up through the beautiful and historic Normandy countryside to finally arrive in the French capital.

The event has been so successful, both in raising funds and drawing participation, that a second cycle has been organised where 44 riders will cycle from Geneva to Nice from Sunday 24th July. It is hoped that around €220,000 will be raised between the two cycling events this year.

Sharon Foley, Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Hospice Foundation, stated: “We hope that the participating cyclists enjoy their experience. To fulfil this feat, they have undertaken many hours of training over several months. Their families have also been fully behind their efforts. We appreciate their support for one of our most important programmes. Their fundraising efforts will be used to support a new service for some of the most vulnerable children in society.”

You can follow all the action on the Irish Hospice Foundation Twitter account and through the hashtag #ihfcycles, or over on their Facebook Page.


Dublin-Paris cycle itinerary
Sunday17th July
Depart from the southside of Dublin and cycle to Arklow -93kms.

Monday 18th July
Cycle from Arklow to Rosslare-85kms.The group will take the 3.30pm overnight Irish Ferries to Cherbourg from Rosslare.

Tuesday 19thJuly
The cyclists arrive in Cherbourg at 11am and cycle from Cherbourg to Bayeux-108kms.

Wednesday 20th July
This is the longest stage of the event a massive 168kms taking the group from Bayeux to Evreux.

Thursday21st July
Last day of cycling: This sees the riders enter Paris -105kms.

Friday22nd July
The cyclists can enjoy the sights of Paris before catching a flight back to Dublin.


Additional Information
On a national level, an estimated 1,400 children are living with life-limiting conditions in Ireland. There are about 350 child deaths every year – the majority in the first year of life. The Irish Hospice Foundation has committed €2.5 million to the implementation of the national policy Palliative Care for Children with Life-limiting Conditions in Ireland. The Irish Hospice Foundation funds the role of Dr Mary Devins who in June was appointed Ireland’s first Consultant in Children’s Palliative Care. The Irish Hospice Foundation has also agreed to fund five out of eight outreach nurses, who will support families caring for their children at home. Since 2007 the Irish Hospice Foundation has funded courses in children’s palliative care for nurses and healthcare professionals where over 1,500 have been trained.

Leading Irish sustainable products manufacturer Kingspan Group is the overall title sponsor for both of the Kingspan Irish Hospice Foundation Cycle Challenges.