Come Here To Me!

You won’t find this on tap in Dublin anywhere today.

Walking through Temple Bar, you can’t help but spot the fantastic ‘Beoir’ stickers in the windows of pubs, telling the punter that the establishment offers a selection of Irish craft beer. They are a fantastic and welcome addition to the front of Dublin pubs, and give hope that an era of new selection and taste for the Irish pub frequenter is upon us. What Daniel O’Connell failed to do (that is eh…take down Guinness in the city), Irish craft brewers may manage in time. Of course, I love a few pints of plain as much as the next Dubliner, but diversity is the spice of life.

Our pubcrawls have taken us from Windy Arbour to Lucan and everywhere in between, but I thought rather than look at a geographic location I’d go for a theme. Could we manage an entire pub crawl without a pint of Guinness or Heineken being consumed? I thought it worth a shot. Could we do it without crossing the River Liffey and staying on the northside? Challenge accepted.

The numbers were low at the outset. I’m not really surprised, as I’m up to my eyes at the minute and I don’t think I made the same gallant effort to recruit troops as the others have on past efforts. Still, anything over a dozen people entering a pub can resemble a riot and not a pub crawl, so perhaps starting with six and ending with around ten isn’t a bad days work in terms of numbers. The route I had planned would take us from The Brew Dock opposite Connolly Station to The Black Sheep on Capel Street, with plenty of variety on between.

‘The Brew Dock’ (From official site)

The Brew Dock occupies what was formerly home to Kate’s Cottage opposite Connolly Station and within pissing distance of the IFSC. Kate’s Cottage always struck me as a real ‘locals’ establishment, and the outside is unrecognisable today. The folks behind Against The Grain are responsible for this new effort. Actually, they’re behind much more than that. Against The Grain, The Black Sheep, The Brew Dock and a host of brilliant Galway pubs are part of the one family tree.

‘Life is too short for crap beer’ reads the blackboard behind the counter. The selection can knock you back a bit, but we run with 5AM Saint from Brew Dog in Scotland. It’s become a CHTM favourite. It’s a damn good red ale, 5%, and something we’ve been drinking for a good while now and enjoying. It’s great to see it on tap. The only problem? A pint comes in at over €6.

Now, of course you get what you pay for and all that, but €6 for a pint is a bit much and it’s only when Ci draws by attention to it that I notice. It’d be a pricey pubcrawl at that rate across the board. Still, this is a great pub, and there’s a selection of beers at a variety of prices, and the offer of a beer of the week for €4. They seem to have a good line of coffees on offer too, and follow the company standard of offering two-for-one dinners once a week. We like this one. Will it take off and enjoy the success of its sister established Against The Grain? Who knows. The IFSC is a ghost town in many ways, it might come down to the locals warming to the change.

The company seem to have a ‘standard theme’ for their pubs, I’d like to see a bit of variety on that. There’s nothing wrong with some local history and snaps on the walls of a pub. This is a very welcome addition however, and shows that even closing inner-city pubs present an opportunity for something new.

We take off for Dorset Street and WJ Kavanagh’s. It is pissing rain, and the walk feels a lot longer than it probably is. We’d been here before. It was a decent boozer with a good pint, and a bottle of the cringy Michael Collins whiskey sat in the window back then in March 2010. Today, it’s
following the trend in Dublin at the minute and it boasts a whole new range of taps and bottles.

Image from official website. Hipsterific?

We’re joined by my other half on this pubcrawl and she’s already opted out of the pints, going for a glass of Galway Hooker instead. Galway Hooker has in many ways been the success story of the smaller Irish breweries, available in a wide variety of pubs in the city centre. The Palace comes to mind instantly, but there are many others. I opt for a bottle of Belfast Black from the Whitewater Brewery. I love this crowd, everything they touch turns to gold, and their Belfast Ale is a favourite in my house. I’ve never tried Belfast Black, but it certainly delivers. It’s a nice dry stout, unfaultable.

At the time this one was taken over, its new owners joked that:

Behind the facade teems stubborn dust, a half-decade of crisp packets, racing supplements c. 2006 and beer coasters from long-since forgotten products (‘Brew 39’ anyone?). In short, it has seen better days.

They’ve done a great job. The staff in this one are fantastic, and don’t mind answering a million and one questions as we make up our minds. I nearly always choose from the taps but went with a bottle here. We also ordered food here, which came quickly but tasted great. The curry chips are excellent, head and shoulders above any chipper offering or the pub standard. I’d be tempted to stick here if that were allowed, but protocol is protocol. In the past they’ve hosted some fantastic whiskey nights in this establishment. While craftbeer pubs have done great for themselves in the immediate city centre, it’s great to see them move out a bit to the likes of Dorset Street. I notice in a Yelp review that Kavanagh’s offers pints of Galway Hooker at a cheaper rate than a nearby establishment does Heineken, and at the time we were in a decent crowd suggested some success in the area.

Next, we hop in a taxi for Stoneybatter. We’re not lazy, but we are wet. L.Mulligan’s awaits us.

In a recent CHTM post, we featured this great image contrasting Stoneybatter today with the Stoneybatter in 1978. If you click it and expand, you’ll notice only L.Mulligan’s remains the same! While it might look the same, it’s certainly a different pub inside.

Cheeky gits, as you walk in the door the pricelist of old remains. Guinness, Heineken and what have you. The familiar harp of AGS (that being Arthur Guinness & Sons) is still to be found inside this pub, but the taps have given way to new and exciting Irish breweries. The smell of food in this one is what hits you immediately, and we bump into a friend over from London for the weekend who remarks that the food is fantastic. It smells like a good Sunday at home. The staff here are more than deserving of a mention, they know and love their product. This pub has a great relaxed vibe, but what I like most about it is the decor, as it remains very true to a ‘traditional’ pub in many ways. Sometimes, while the beer is great in craft beer pubs, the pubs themselves can be a bit boring.

I had a bottle of Celebration Stout here. I got through most of it, but passed it around a bit too, at 11% it’s a strong one. Matured in whiskey casks, it comes from the Porterhouse range and I really liked it. Did it leave me a bit pissed? Absolutely. This is a great pub in many ways, and its complimented nicely by the top class ‘The Drinks Store’ off licence across the road which boasts an incredibly diverse selection of beer too. A friend likes to joke that Stoneybatter is Dublin’s Left Bank (remember when they said that about Temple Bar? A time before McDonalds were applying for planning permission), and while you have to laugh at that, it certainly is an area on the up in many ways.

Which is alright really, as there isn’t far to go around the corner to a CHTM favourite, The Cobblestone.

The Cobblestone (Via Official Site)

An old reliable pub with a new and great range of craft beer, I think this was the one people didn’t see coming on this pub crawl. It’s Sunday, so there’s trad music playing as we walk in and a packed crowd as ever. The variety of ages in here speaks volumes.

Traditional music in Dublin pubs is hit or miss, but this is an institution and the music is found nightly. You can take or leave a lot of what you find in the immediate city centre, but this is perfect.

I should mention that I love the walls of this pub. It strikes me as a pub that could sell its soul if it wished to, but has never even considered the idea. The flag of Palestine, a portrait of Maud Gonne, the remains of Nelson’s Pillar and more besides dot the walls, along with a poster for the priceless Commitments among other things. You couldn’t dream up a better pub than this one. It’s smoking area is known to be very lively on occasion, but Sunday is a funny one and the focus and conversation is inside. I’m swaying a bit by this point, as one does, and can’t even recall what was drank here, beyond ‘plenty’. It’s the kind of pub you could settle into nicely, and my only regret is that it wasn’t last call. There’s something poxy about doing pubcrawls on a Sunday, as the last bus prevents the long night you’d like. I’ll have to lodge a complaint.

We head off to the final stop, nearer to home, and it’s The Black Sheep on Capel Street. We end in a sister establishment of the first stop then, and I wrap up with a bottle of Triple Chocolate Stout, which brings my night to a nice conclusion. Previously home to Youth Defence, sex shops and early houses, The Black Sheep seems to be constantly busy at night but Sunday seems the exception and we have no difficulty finding a big table by the door. Much like earlier visited pubs, the staff are not only friendly but knowledgeable, and manage to understand what we’re saying, which by this point is an achievement. For beer lovers, the four cask hand pumps will be the big draw here. Some great products from the Dungarvin Brewing Company are found here on cask. Being a sister pub of Against The Grain and The Brew Dock its layout and style is simple, its staff knowledgeable and its selection plentiful. Boardgames sit in the corner waiting to be taken out, but it’s Sunday and there’s work to do tomorrow.

The Black Sheep, Capel Street.

All in all, this proved an interesting and diverse pubcrawl. Going out drinking isn’t a race, at least if you don’t want it to be. A bit of variety is nice, and remember we managed this one without even crossing the river so it’s a good sign for beer lovers in Dublin that this diversity exists in 2012. I recommend each of these pubs, and across the board the staff were deserving of praise too. A good day out.