This was back in 2001 or 2002 - my mother and I went to Ireland. We mostly ate in local pubs, but one place we stayed was the Cashel House Hotel in Cashel, Connemara, Co. Galway, because I wanted one “nice dinner”.
Back then, Mom would have a single drink before dinner; on very very rare occasion, two. Prior to our dinner, we went into a small, beautiful dark wood bar near the dining area to have a before-dinner drink. We were the only ones in there, so the bartender was chatty, as was Mom.
Since we were in Ireland, she wanted a Jameson’s whiskey, which she’d often have with her late husband. She savored it, telling the bartender she was enjoying it in Ireland more than she did in the States. The bartender asked if she’d like to try another brand so she’d get a good round of Irish whiskeys. She waffled on it, but I told her “Go on - we can sleep in tomorrow!” So he brought over a small pour of another whiskey. After tasting it, her eyes got huge and said “Oh, Linda - you need to try this!” When I sipped it, I was floored at the smoothness and delightful taste. I looked at him and said it was amazing.
When I went to pay the bar tab, I noted that there were only two drinks on the bill - Mom’s original Jameson’s and my glass of wine. He winked at me and said the extra whiskey for Mom was on the house, as he enjoyed seeing her enjoy her drink so much. I made sure to tip him well, even without knowing the price of the gifted whiskey.
I later looked up the price of the glass he gave her - it was somewhere around $50 USD (somewhere near $85/glass in today’s dollars). Suffice to say, it was one of the many nice occurrences we had from very nice people we met while in Ireland. And Mom slept VERY well after two whiskeys that night!
Unfortunately, the name of the gifted whiskey is lost to the ether, unless Mom wrote about it in a little travel diary she kept while we traveled through western Ireland and up the coast to Northern Ireland. I’ll have to see if I have that in my things of hers.
