OK - not related to whiskey at all.
I went for a ramble on Sunday with the young lad (aged 9) - we stopped at McEvoys at Hazelhatch for a Coke & Tayto for him, Smithwicks shandy and crisps for me. McEvoys is a grand spot, particularly when Kildare are playing Dublin.
Anyway the language was a bit ripe in the pub, so we rambled into the lounge where we had the place to ourselves - the sun was streaming in and we sat up to the bar where we could take in the match and the lads in the pub part of the bar.
Now, our lad has very rarely been in a pub so this was a bit of a treat.
I started thinking of a time when after going for a walk up the line, my grandfather would take me into the Railway Bar in Charlestown (Mayo) for a bottle of Phoenix Ale (him) and a Zesto mineral & Tayto for me - a very special treat for me as our house was tea-total.
Anyways, what do I see on a shelf in McEvoys but a bottle (empty) of the same Phoenix Ale, brewed at the Cherry Brewery in Waterford. The bottle (1/2 pt) had a best before date of October 1989.
Given that the brew is now extinct (sad for a brew named Phoenix), and also given that I had searched before for images of the beer on the web without success, I thought I'd post a picture of a Phoenix Ale bottle here - it might be of interest to some passer by!.
Michael