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View Full Version : Dublin crawl November 2010



gillhalfpint
09-11-2010, 14:34
Arrived at Ardmore Hotel just outside city at 5.30pm on Friday so dumped cases and got a lift into the centre with our coach and were told we would need to find our own way back, 10- 15 minutes by bus.

Will just list the places visited and the beers we had, hopefully all Breweries and ABV’s are correct. Had to ask for some that were not on the discs on the fonts, and as rugby was on in most bars they were crowded and so it was difficult to see the beers available at times, let alone ABV’s. All beers believed to be keg unless otherwise stated, as they were from fonts with the small circular discs on. Loved the different pub styles and the snugs in so many of them, some of which have won awards. One was so small it only had a couple of stools and a shelf inside, but all were charming to see – if we could get close enough. All beers were great despite most being well chilld.

Messrs Maguire.

Lovely building with bars on 3 floors. Brewery visable through glass wall on ground floor.

MM Rusty 4.6%.
MM Weiss 5.2%.
MM Haus 4.3%

Porterhouse – Parliament St, Temple Bar.

Loved this place. Wandered all over up stairs and down. Will never know if I got into all the rooms as it was a maze of a place. Used to have the brewery downstairs here if I remember rightly from a visit many moons ago. Music playing and there was a great atmosphere on Friday night. Packed but we got a table and enjoyed soup and soda bread with our beer. Beer menu helpful for draught and bottled beers available.

Porterhouse Red 4.4%
Porterhouse TSB 3.7% Handpull
Dungarvan Helvick Gold 4.9%. Gravity from cask on the bar.
Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale 4.4%

Ardmore Hotel. - Shared taxi for 15.5 euros to get back to hotel.

Smithwick Irish Ale 4.2%

Saturday coach took us in again. As we wanted to get to TramCo on the south side of the city we bought all day bus tickets at 6 euros each. Went to TramCo first and took photo but it was closed. Next door said they opened around 5 or 6 pm so we decided to go back later.

Bull & Castle.

There was a large room with a few stairs to a raised area where the bar was situated. An upstairs area was closed when we were there during the day. Had soup and bread but a good food choice available. Good beer menu listing Irish Craft breweries and their draught and bottled selections.

Carlow O’hara’s Irish Stout 4.3%
Franciscan Well Castle Red 4.2%
Carlow O’hara’s Red Ale 4.3%
Buckleys Golden Ale 3.9%. Believed to be cask as there was a handpull but did not see it served.

Temple Bar.

Lovely looking bar on the busy street with lively customers enjoying the live music. Didn’t have a drink in here, but it had a great atmosphere. Went into what I thought was a room, and it was an outside courtyard area with canvas top for smokers I imagine, although it was seated like another pub room. Lights around gave it a Xmas feel.


Porterhouse – Central

Seemed to be a smaller version of yesterdays with a similar beer menu.

Porterhouse Wrasslers xxxx stout 5.0%
Porterhouse Red 4.4%

Palace.

Crammed with folk watching Rugby on tv. Customers wouldn’t part enough for us to see the bar let alone what beers were available. Made way to another packed room with no bar but a serving hatch. Looked a great pub though and may get to see it properly and have a drink another time.

Ginger Man.

Loved the tranquility of this place. Franciscan Well beers available.

FW Writers Block Lager 4.2%
FW Friar Weiss 4.7%
FW Writers Red 4.3%

M.J. O’Neills.

Another great bar with lively atmosphere and loads of rooms all over the place. Found a serving area for delicious looking food in one of them, but didn’t have the time to try any, although another of our party I found out later had tried and recommended the food.

Trouble Brewing Or 4.3%. This was shown on a poster to be a fairly recent craft brewry.

TramCo Brewery.

Not a brewery but a massive bar with loads of floor space and seating round the ground floor bar, a few steps up both sides to a large seating area with bars and a further upstairs area roped off when we got there. Looked like a converted warehouse. Massive space with a cinema type screen at the back showing the rugby with sound relayed round the bar areas. Made me think of a zerodegree style place because of extreme vastness of space and height of the rooms. It appeared to have just opened when we got there around 7pm, although notices on the wall said open 5pm – 3 am. Massive outside area at the back that could seat over 100 comfortably at a guess with its own bar under a partial covered area. During the whole time we were there there was only us two as customers and the 2 bar staff. This did feel strange given the size of the place and the massive screen when all the city bars were crammed, but the lads said it would get busy later.

Dearg Ale 4.6%
Killary Lager 5.0%

No brewery or ABV on either circular discs ( doesn’t feel right to call them pump clips) but the lads told me they were White Gypsy brewery and gave me the ABV’s. Maybe one of you know if this is correct.

Porterhouse North

On our way back to the hotel this was a completely different style to the other two Porterhouse bars. Dimly lit massive floor area with a long central bar with the beers on the one side and the other having hatches through for service. Beer menu ok but the 7% Brain Blasta one we had been trying to get all day again missing apart from bottles.

Porterhouse Hersbrucker Lager 5.0%
Porterhouse Plain Porter 4.3%

Gill

ROBCamra
09-11-2010, 15:08
Sounds like a good couple of days away Gill.

I've always loved Messrs Maguire. It's often our first & last stop each evening in Dublin as we usually stay on O'Connell Street.

an_ecumenical_matter
09-11-2010, 16:30
As someone who often drank in the 2 orignal Dublin micros I have to say the Porterhouse was always far more consistent than Maguires. I had some "memorable" 2 and a half hour bus journies home after several Brianblastas........