After 2 nights in Dublin, guests will pack up to be transferred to Cork today. After breakfast at the hotel, guests will be assisted with the check-out process.

Depart Dublin and drive two hours to Cooleeney Farm, where you are welcomed by Breda Maher for a tour and tasting. The Maher family are the fourth generation of Maher’s to work the land at Cooleeney, outside Thurles in Co. Tipperary. All the milk in production comes from the family’s own pedigree Friesians, with goat’s milk supplied locally from two Tipperary farmers. Faced with an excess of milk due to cutbacks in guaranteed milk prices, Breda and Jim were forced to find a means of adding value to their milk production.

Breda’s background in hotel management meant she had always been interested in food and she was excited by the idea of cheese making. In 1984, Breda decided to take a cheese making course in University College Cork and in 1986 Cooleeney was born. Breda chose to produce a soft, camembert-style cheese because the market was full of hard cheeses at the time. Cooleeney now produces up to 12 different varieties of cheeses both cows and goats, soft and semi hard.

On the way to Cashel Farmhouse, stop at the Rock of Cashel on route for a photo stop at this iconic landmark. Set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale, The Rock of Cashel possesses the most impressive cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland. Among the monuments to be found there is a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic cathedral, an abbey, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and a fifteenth-century Tower House. Originally the seat of the kings of Munster, according to legend St. Patrick himself came here to convert King Aenghus to Christianity.

Arrive at Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers, home of Ireland’s original farmhouse Blues, to meet Sarah Furno and the Cashel Blue Team for a Tasting Experience that encompasses the maturation journey of their cheese. When Louis & Jane Grubb set out to make Cashel Blue in the early 1980’s, their ambition was to create a farmhouse cheese that “truly represents the outstanding quality of Tipperary grass-fed milk.” Today, 40 years later and in the hands of the 2nd generation, Cashel Blue is still made by hand on the same 200-acre farm; Beechmount, in Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

Enjoy a 2-course lunch at a typically Irish pub nearby.

This afternoon embark on a fully hosted tour through the original Midleton Distillery, where Jameson Whiskey is made. Guests will learn about the hard-working people and field-to-glass processes responsible for the whiskeys that make up Midleton Distillery’s seven iconic brands. On this tour, one of their ambassadors will guide you around some of the key buildings, including the warehouses. The tour finishes with the chance to enjoy a guided comparative tasting of three famous whiskeys, including Jameson.

Guests will check in to their accommodations in Cork and have the rest of the evening at leisure to explore at their own pace.