Truly a life less ordinary

Over the years since I started Bia Sásta, I had the pleasure meeting interesting, dedicated and amazing people.

As my business has changed since, so have the people I have met along the way. So, I thought I would catch up with a few of them over the next few weeks and see what they are up to these days.

I met Susan Boyle at an event during the Great Gathering celebrations in 2013 – she performed a beautiful show called Chasing the Irish Wine Geese in l’Atitude51. It was an entertaining history of the Irish wine trade (did you know that at one stage, Ireland imported more wine than the UK?).

I found Susan’s knowledge in-depth and herself very interesting. We connected and stayed in touch over the years. When I am in Dublin, I try to catch up with her but her busy lifestyle makes mine look rather boring. Her business has changed very much since 2013 – from being a wine expert to an actress to a beer brewer to a researcher on Irish food and drink. She had the opportunity to improve her French in Paris with the Irish Cultural Centre and has stayed on as she thought that Paris has a lot in common with Ireland and even said that she felt ‘more Irish in Paris than in Ireland’ due to the strong Irish community.

She is a beer judge in international competitions, has worked with the British Museum on how to re-brew original beers and has now accepted a fellowship at the Smithsonian American History Museum to study the history of European alcohol in the United States before Prohibition.

All the while, she is also writing her PhD thesis on how to use elements of theatre to share knowledge – her show ‘Chasing the Irish Wine Geese’ has shown how theatre can be used to teach not only history but other elements of education.

I was wondering how these different avenues can be summarised and she replied: “The cross disciplines give me a broader understanding of Irish food and drink.”

In my humble opinion, this can only help in educating us further on where Irish food & drink came from and where it might go. Susan’s passion for Irish food and drink as well as history is firstly contagious but secondly, founded in a deep understanding of Irish roots.

When I asked her if the path she is on now was carefully planned, she laughed and said: “Absolutely not – I came across opportunities and was given chances which I took.”

I enjoyed catching up with Susan before she was heading off to the States for her 6 month fellowship. I asked her if she might stay on longer and she replied that she only got a six month visa and she wants to finish her thesis to get her PhD.

What other plans might she have? She just smiled and I think opportunities will keep coming her way as she is simply an amazing person and I am hopeful that we might see her againon the stage bringing us a deeper understanding not only on the history but also the future of Irish food and drink.