Beer suggestions for Dublin & Galway

I have not visited Ireland so no specific beer tips but based upon the below linked thread I suppose good advice would be: bring lots of money!

Cheers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...e-day-before-cheap-booze-ban-kicks-in.664318/

 

in Dublin, O'Hara's Red, Pale and Leann Follain

Galway Bay (tied) public houses in both cities

In Dun Laoghaire, the Forty Food for inexpensive English cask ales, poor food, terrible service and great views

 

Yup…this

 

So the below is a bit of a cut and paste from a previous thread but I think most of it is still relevant

Dublin

Urban Brewing is a cool place https://www.urbanbrewing.ie I personally don’t rate their own beers very highly for the most part but they’ve a huge selection of other stuff and their food is excellent.

The Galway Bay Brewery http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/bars/ have a large number of bars in both Dublin and are all good bars with a mix of their own beers and guest taps. In Dublin the most central Galway Bay Brewery Bars are


The Brew Dock - http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/brewdock/


The Black Sheep - http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/blacksheep/


The Beer Market - http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/beermarket/


Against the Grain - http://www.galwaybaybrewery.com/againstthegrain/

Taco Libre - https://galwaybaybrewery.com/tacolibre/

The Porterhouse http://www.theporterhouse.ie/bars-dublin-temple.php is a long established bar in Temple Bar and also another one near Grafton Street I personally find them both not great these days but the one in Temple Bar can be good for live music if you’ve had a few drinks already.


If you want a quality craft beer bar that does good food I’d strongly recommend L Mulligan Grocer http://lmulligangrocer1.weebly.com/ it’s not exactly central but a quick taxi ride or 20 minute walk from the city centre.

Some other bars in the city that are not linked directly to a brewery but all very good for craft beer are

P Macs - https://www.facebook.com/pmacspub/

The Bull and Castle - http://www.fxbuckley.ie/the-bull-and-castle/

Cassidy’s - https://www.facebook.com/Cassidys-Bar-27-Westmoreland-Street-

In terms of bottle shops depending on where you’re staying you might need to jump in a taxi to go to some of the better ones but the ones I’d recommend are Martins http://www.martinsofflicence.ie/ McHughs http://www.mchughs.ie/ Redmonds http://www.redmonds.ie/ Drinkstore http://www.drinkstore.ie/ and any of the Fresh stores. If you’re staying centrally then www.craftcentral.ie across the road from P Macs has a great selection of beers for a small shop.

Irish breweries to look out for Whiplash, Galway Bay, Kinnegar, Trouble Brewing, Rascals, Whitehag, O'Brother Brewing, DOT Brewing are just a few of the Irish breweries. Most of the Irish breweries are making styles similar to what you’ll find in the US so you’ll still see plenty of canned NEIPA’s even in Ireland!

Also other Euro breweries to look for are Cloudwater, Lervig, Northern Monk, Magic Rock, Wylam, and many more. We get some 3F and Cantillon but best to check with the bottle shops in advance if you want to find them specifically.

One thing to note in terms of the Irish breweries is that due to ridiculous laws here most of them can’t sell directly from their breweries unless they have a bar license so tap rooms aren’t really a thing Rascals https://rascalsbrewing.com/ is the only one currently in the city if you want to visit. You’ll be able to find the better breweries in most of the bars I’ve linked and in all the off licenses if you want to bring some home.


Traditional Irish bars:


These are all pretty central and should be a good mix of locals and tourists and will be less crazy than Temple Bar


The Long Hall - https://www.yelp.ie/biz/the-long-hall-dublin


Grogans - https://www.facebook.com/groganscastlelounge/


The Stags Head - http://www.louisfitzgerald.com/stagshead this is great for traditional music as well.


Mulligans - https://mulligans.ie/ this is a different place to Mulligans Grocer which I’ve linked above.


Cobblestone - https://www.facebook.com/thecobblestone/ if you want to see real authentic traditional Irish music this is the place to go it’s also a great bar and if you go to Mulligans Grocer this is only around the corner from it.


A bit further afield but if you’re feeling adventurous you could try The Grave Diggers - https://www.traditionalirishpubs.com/company/john-kavanagh-the-gravediggers/ it’s called this because it still has the hatch in the back where they served pints to the guys digging the graves in Glasnevin Cemetery – the cemetery is a good tourist attraction in its own right.

Temple Bar

I’ll be honest most local people dislike The Temple Bar area and don’t really go out in it as it is very touristy, expensive and can be crazy busy. Now I actually don’t mind it and you can have a lot of fun in Temple Bar it tends to be better mid-week were the pubs will be lively but not too crazy. The Temple Bar pub is probably one of the better places if you’re going for the touristy type pubs and it’s worth going in for a pint at least. Some people love the area and will spend days in it but I’d recommend taking a look yourself and seeing if it’s for you.

If you’re looking for an area with a variety of bars and restaurants that local people go then I’d look at the Wexford St/Camden St area these are 2 streets that lead into each other that are about 15 minutes’ walk from the city centre. Up here you’ll find loads of places to eat and drink for bars Against the Grain, Whelans (Great live music bar with good beer), Ryans (Traditional old school bar), Jimmy Rabbitte’s, Camden Exchange and the Bernard Shaw https://www.facebook.com/thebernardshaw/ to name just a few.

Also nearer the city center the area bordered by Georges St, Stephens St Lower, Wicklow/Exchequer St and Clarendon St is full of nice bar/café/restaurants.


I’d have a huge amount of restaurant recommendations depending on what kind of food you like just let me know what you’re into and I’ll get some info for you.


Galway

So unsurprisingly the Galway Bay Brewery bars are good over here with the Salt House and Oslo (This one is actually in Salthill which is about 2 miles outside the city) are good options. There’s also Bierhaus, Caribou, Universal and McGinn’s

McCambridges https://mccambridges.com/ has a decent selection of beer and wine.


Galway is a very compact city and you’ll be able to get around and figure it out very easily having a quick look at Tripadvisor I think it looks solid in terms of restaurant recommendations depending on what you like


https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurants-g186609-Galway_County_Galway_Western_Ireland.html

In terms of the minimum unit pricing this doesn't affect pub prices and so far hasn't had any impact on the price of craft beer in shops - it only has had a significant impact on big brand beers, cheaper wine and some spirits but it won't have a huge


If you've any specific questions just give me a shout and I'll try and help out as much as I can.

Cheers!

 

The Brew Dock has a decent selection of beers. The brewpub J.W. Sweetman at Burgh Quay is worth a visit for a sampler tray.

 

Graingers Café Bar in 51 Talbot Street should also be mentioned. This is not a place you search out, but rather a place you inevitably stumble into, with its location close to Connolly train station. If you have never been to Ireland before, you will easily get 8-10 ticks on tap here, all from keg. Some taps have rotating offerings. I visited 4 times. The food is good.

 

No bother at all a couple more in Dublin that I forgot about are

The Beer Temple - https://galwaybaybrewery.com/beertemple/

The Big Romance - https://www.thebigromance.ie/

Are you going anywhere apart from Dublin and Galway? Feel free to send me a PM for any specific questions always happy to help!

 

Haha very good. I lived in Dublin for a long time so I’ve a lot of non beer based recommendations and things to miss if you really need them

 

Awesome and hoping you have a great time over! Irish craft beer has really "exploded" in the last few years. I can direct you to a group I'm in on facebook called Irish Craft Beer Forum. It's a public group with about 684 members. Ask folks directly about Galway & Dublin area brews or just scope it out. Hope this helps! Cheers!