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This week in Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs, we’re not just crossing the Liffey – we’re going Far Away, to the suburbs (though still via public transit – we’re not monsters here). While I had been told by many people that The Brickyard was a must-visit, not just for the beer selection but for the food, as someone with a violent aversion to most suburbs, I had not made my way down there in the nearly four years we’ve lived in Dublin. And, to be fair, it’s a very accessible suburb; indeed, the pub is situated right above the Luas tracks, only steps from a station.

Although I had not previously actually visited, I have been using their beer delivery service, Yards & Crafts, ever since it launched, as they have always had an excellent selection of beer from Ireland, the UK and beyond, including their own label, Two Sides, originally a collaborative effort with the recently-shuttered restaurant 57 The Headline (though in that case, they should be re-opening in a new form in the not-too-distant future). And while that part of the business is winding down – it sprang to life during the Covid shutdowns – the Brickyard Gastropub itself has recently undergone a major renovation, and the attention to detail is evident; it’s a bright, open space with a variety of seating options, both indoor and on the covered patio.

Now that I have finally visited, I was rather regretting not having experienced the previous look and feel, simply for comparison, but what is there now very much reminds me of some of the places we used to frequent in the Philly area, especially TJ’s Restaurant & Drinkery. Both spots have an emphasis on great craft beer from near and far (plus the usual macros for good measure), and an excellent and varied food selection – yes, the usual burgers, but also a changing variety of other options – as well as a similar exposed-brick decor. The other obvious similarity is that both are in relatively far-out suburbs, but with handy train connections – the broader unprepossessing exterior doesn’t give an obvious hit of what’s inside until you’ve made your way past the ‘shopping centre’ surrounds and find the ‘semi-industrial with hops’ look inside.

I was finally motivated to make the trip down to The Brickyard for their Oktoberfest offering – one with real pretzels, a rarity around these parts. I know few people want to hear my Grand Unified Theory on why all pubs the world over should always offer soft pretzels (not hard pretzels, which are garbage), but I will say these more than met with my approval. And I was certainly not disappointed in the beer offering; indeed, it’s probably one of the best in Dublin. I especially appreciated the attention to detail on the beer menu, separating out the low- and no-alcohol options (of which there were many – more on this in a moment), as well as gluten-free choices and useful broad categories beyond that would appeal to the beer newbie and jaded expert alike. In short, they make great use of all 27 taps, with a wide range of styles and strengths. This is not the spot you find 25 basically-identical hazy IPAs and a Guinness, and thank goodness for that.

But back to the impressive non-alcoholic beer list for a moment; our Beer Ladies Podcast episode this week is on the topic of ‘sober-curious,’ – both mindful drinking and simply drinking, well, less. Having such a great lineup, including the brewed-with-a-unique-NZ-yeast Dot Brew Non-Alcoholic IPA, but also a no-booze sour, hefeweizen and some lagers and stouts, really offered something for everyone, whether they were off the drink for the evening, or just choosing to swap a ‘real’ beer for a non-alcoholic one on the odd round. Given the relatively long trip back into town for me, I liked the idea of being able to keep things on the light side, while still enjoying some good flavours – and having a real choice in that regard was a lovely novelty.

All told, this is the sort of place that would absolutely be my regular spot if I lived nearby, but now that I know it’s very much worth the trip, I will certainly be back. I mean, the Luas is free, right?

Where: Brickyard Gastropub, Ground Floor, North Block, Rockfield Central, Dundrum, Dublin 16
Access from the city centre: Luas Green Line – no walking unless you are incredibly ambitious
Food: Gastropub, with many specials
Sport: All the sport! Sport for all!
TVs: So very many TVs!
Music: Felt explicitly targeted as a specific GenX sub-group; so much early ’90s indie joy
Family-friendliness: Lots of families, and a thoroughly welcoming atmosphere
Pub-crawl-ability: Low – this is the suburbs, after all – but you could hop the Luas back toward the city…
Haunted: Perhaps in a sort of late-stage capitalism, Municipal Gothic sense…
Local sites of note: Dundrum Town Centre, Airfield Estate
Other notes: Walk-ins only, unless your group is large

They don’t have German beer on tap any more.

While The Porterhouse has been serving its own beer in Temple Bar since 1996, it used to highlight more overseas craft and traditional beers as well; or, at least, that is how it seems to stick in everyone’s memory – ‘everyone’ here being the group I most recently visited with – we all had pre-Covid memories of finding a range of interesting German, Belgian, British and American craft beers on tap, alongside The Porterhouse’s own well-known porters and stouts.

The bottles of beer from all over the world – a good portion of them from now-defunct breweries – still line the walls, there are sessions happening in multiple parts of the building, but there does seem to be a sense that things have changed – and perhaps it’s more because the local craft beer scene can now fill more of those taps, even in a huge venue like The Porterhouse. Indeed, the downstairs bar was nearly all local options like Lineman, The White Hag, Kinnegar and Whiplash, which was delightful to see – and the prices were not terrible, despite the Temple Bar location.

When The Porterhouse first opened here, Temple Bar itself was not the combination tourist trap/stag-and-hen destination it has become in the past decade or so, though it is worth noting that while the immediate area is a nightmare for a nice pint at a normal cost (without a bit of effort), there are still interesting places to go for tourists and locals alike – the Project Arts Centre and Smock Alley Theatre are great for performances of all sorts, and the National Photographic Archive has all manner of excellent exhibits. You may well have to avoid or step over certain kinds of revellers, and there are pubs to simply skip because they will charge you something like €‎14 for a Guinness, but having a spot like The Porterhouse that is a known quantity does provide a bit of a refuge from that aspect of the area.

There is probably some sort of thesis possible in terms of determining whether Temple Bar and its flagship modern businesses, including The Porterhouse, ever had a specific ‘heyday’ in between the overall regeneration of the area to pinpointing when the tourist trap tipping point happened – and I’m far from being best-placed to determine when that happened. And while the recent-ish news that Conor McGregor would be buying the brewing arm of The Porterhouse did not thrill most local beer nerds, it can’t be said that this turn of events is in any way reflected in the pub – yet. There was no sign of his stout, already brewed by the same team, and no obvious change in the overall ‘feel,’ though as the pubs are not part of the deal, we may not expect that to happen any time soon (or it may have already ‘happened’ to the old Porterhouse Central, now ‘Tapped‘ – a makeover about which I Have Opinions).

So, on balance, the absence of German beers nowadays may be a sign of the growth of the local industry – though I wouldn’t mind a nice radler in this hot weather. Mind yourself on the cobblestones.

Where: Porterhouse Temple Bar, 16-18 Parliament St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 VR94
Access from the city centre: 6-ish minute walk
Food: Pub grub, pasta, cheese boards, desserts
Sport: It’s on when it’s on
TVs: Scattered around, just keep an eye out
Music: GenX and elder Millennials are aggressively targeted by the playlist before the sessions – this is fine
Family-friendliness: While it can get crowded, its size usually makes it fine during the day
Pub-crawl-ability: High – The Stag’s Head, The Long Hall, The Lord Edward, The Beer Temple/The Oak…or walk across the river to hit The Black Sheep and Underdog. Oh, and there’s all of Temple Bar, if that is your thing
Local sites of note: Dublin Castle, Chester Beatty Library, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia, Olympia Theatre
Haunted: Big old building like this? Surely…
Other notes: Don’t get me started on Tapped

Look! We’ve gone south of the river! It does sometimes happen, if the right opportunity presents itself. And so, to The Stag’s Head.

While I had been to the pub at some point in the dim and distant past, long before I moved here, it was very much as a tourist. And while it does still feel a bit like a ‘tourist’ bar, with its well-preserved Victorian interior (see also The Long Hall, The Hut, The Palace Bar) and Temple Bar-adjacent location, there is some genuine local colour as well. That’s what brought me in most recently: a friend’s birthday party, and she chose the location because it has a very niche place in Irish music history: it is (so the story goes) where Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh dreamt up The Duckworth-Lewis Method – birthing the world’s finest cricket pop over (more than) a few pints. As an aside, the two have a new song out under Walsh’s aegis – check it out!

But back to the pub itself: while the ground floor hosts the main bar and generous snug, there are smaller spots to sit with a pint or a few friends, or even to host a corporate or life event – indeed, before we settled into the upstairs lounge, with its view over the alleyway, a wedding was in the process of winding down. The beer selection is mostly the usual suspects – a well-poured Guinness and the odd Five Lamps ‘crafty’ option – so not necessarily my first choice, but it’s worth noting that for a city centre Guinness, it’s not a bad price, and certainly cheaper than many (likely most) in the immediate vicinity.

It does feel a bit less welcoming than the places I more typically frequent, with a bit of a wait to be served, even without a queue, but some of that may be that the staff had already slogged through a wedding, and it was by that point a Friday night, so very understandable, especially in this part of town. But it is a beautifully-maintained spot, and there are times when simply relaxing with friends over a Guinness is called for.

And as a folklore nerd, I’m curious to see what one of their Folklore & Fairies evenings is all about, though I suspect it would be full of the louder spectrum of The People From Where I Came From, and I tend to avoid that crowd – still, perhaps something to try with a few friends rounded up in advance…if more local craft beer options were on offer, I’d be in!

Where: The Stag’s Head, 1 Dame Ct, Dublin, D02 TW84
Access from the city centre: You are there
Food: Toasties, oysters, pub grub
Sport: All sorts on the televisions
TVs: TVs in the main bar
Music: Live trad bands Fridays & Saturdays; stereo soundtrack was ‘wedding favourites’ on my visit
Family-friendliness: Likely depends on the time of day
Pub-crawl-ability: High – very short walk to The Oak/The Beer Temple, O’Neill’s, The Lord Edward, The Bull & Castle, The Brazen Head, The Porterhouse and all of Temple Bar, if you hate your money
Local sites of note: Olympia Theatre, Dublin Castle, Dublin City Hall, Chester Beatty Library, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia
Haunted: Surely a quality candidate for ghosts, if ghosts like dark wood and leather
Other notes: Extensive whiskey selection

Is it a pub or a Korean restaurant? Why not both? Indeed, the Kimchi Hophouse is resolutely two things at the same time – a slightly scruffy, traditional Irish pub, and a thriving Korean restaurant, in one slightly-creaky building. The former Shakespeare Pub still bears its previous branding, with the small addition of a small rectangular sign with the current name just under the gilt Victorian (Edwardian?) one.

Parnell Street is sometimes called Dublin’s Chinatown, in that there is a pretty decent concentration of restaurants and supermarkets representing many different Asian cultures and cuisines, and you could do little better than listen to the excellent Three Castles Burning episode on the street and its history, which also highlights its many African and other influences – there’s a lot going on here.

And in this case, it seems that it’s entirely accurate that Kimchi Hophouse is the oldest Korean restaurant in Dublin – it’s so rare for an ‘oldest’ anything to pan out, yet here we are. The pub can feel a bit warren-like – there’s the main bar when you walk in, which shows signs of various configurations over the years, plus a dining room off to the side, as well as a curving hallway to the extremely pleasant beer garden – something of a hidden oasis in this part of the city. Indeed, tidy outdoor space is hard to find in much of Dublin, but especially so around here, so the covered space with the colourful murals is most welcome.

But while there’s plenty of authentic bibimbap and other deliciousness, punters are equally welcome to simply come into the pub for pints – being au fait with the latest Korean food trends is by no means required, and on a typical day, you see the full spectrum of pub-goers here, from old-man pub denizens to hipsters on a night out. And while there’s naturally the well-poured pint of Guinness, plus all the other usual suspects, local craft options pop up, too, most recently Rye River and a bit of Galway Hooker.

It’s an unfussy, unpretentious spot to while away the time until everyone realizes that edamame is the Best Bar Snack. It’ll happen, some day.

Where: Kimchi HopHouse, 160-161 Parnell St, Rotunda, Dublin, D01 Y4A7
Access from the city centre: Buses 1, 9, 11, 13, 16, 44, 46A, Luas Green Line, 12-ish minute walk
Food: Korean (obvs), and a nice break from potato-heavy bar snacks elsewhere
Sport: Football & rugby are both represented, one presumes other sports pop up as well
TVs: A fair few scattered around for the footy
Music: Seems to always be ’80s hits when I’m in
Family-friendliness: Likely depends on the time of day
Pub-crawl-ability: High – a short walk to The Big Romance, Mema’s, The Confession Box, Piper’s Corner, The Flowing Tide…even the Spoons isn’t too far away, in case you wanted to downgrade your food options
Local sites of note: Parnell Monument, The Spire, GPO, Garden of Remembrance, Gate Theatre, Rotunda Hospital, Hugh Lane Gallery
Haunted: Definitely an atmosphere
Other notes: Don’t hesitate to order things extra-spicy if that’s your preference – some things are dialed a long way down

While I very much consider Underdog the only ‘true’ craft beer bar in town, we do have some pubs here in Dublin that reside comfortably in Craftonia, and this week, we’re heading to one of those: Bonobo.

Bonobo is part of what seems like an ever-growing team of bars with animal-themed names – Caribou in Galway, Impala in Cork, and the recently-opened Jackal in Navan, with another sister bar in Dublin, Kodiak, in Rathmines (which I keep going past on the Luas when it is not open – I must remedy this). However, as is usually the case when something is aimed at people who are Much Cooler than I am, the names are less about animals and more to do with electronic music (which, to be clear, is a thing I like, but my close familiarity with any artists ended around 1997, unless you count Philip Glass, or people sampling anonymous numbers stations).

This introduction may sound like I’m being a bit snarky about it, but in fact, I absolutely love the atmosphere at Bonobo – the weird-old-religious-books-and-jazz-records aesthetic is something I am very much here for, and the different areas of the bar each have a slightly different vibe. I’ve seen the odd complaint on local Reddit that it’s ‘snobby’ but I’ve never personally found that to be the case; I’ve always had a warm welcome. Granted, it’s possible that being a purple-haired woman who knows all the breweries on tap may mean I am already among the elect, but there are plenty of ‘normal’ beers on tap – no difficult entrance exam is required.

I’ve also heard someone refer to it as ‘one of those IPA bars,’ which is an interesting if worrying linguistic development – it’s bad enough that ‘craft’ meant everything and nothing, and now ‘IPA’ seems to be heading the same way. And, in any case, it’s hardly accurate – Bonobo always has a range of styles on tap (often a fair few sours of late), with the likes of Trouble, Kinnegar and Third Barrel representing the Irish contingent, and plenty of Spanish (as in actually from Spain, unlike Madri) and Scandinavian options most of the time as well. Again, there is no shortage of Guinness/Hop House 13/Madri if that’s of interest to someone in your party, along with some quite interesting cocktails – most tastes seem to be catered to.

There is also quite tasty pizza – unless you are a monster who refuses to eat pizza with sauce, but I suspect that is unique to my smaller child. And while some may sniff and/or roll eyes at just how Instagrammable Bonobo is, with its candles, plants and vintage lamps, I think it’s quite charming, and I certainly won’t complain at how much better my low-effort photos look there, nor am I the only weirdo photographing my beer.

It’s true that I may occasionally feel like the oldest person there – not something I mind, incidentally – I (mostly) attribute that to the proximity of the TUD Grangegorman campus – I will have to put this assumption to the test by finally getting over to Kodiak; clearly, I need to head south of the river, for science…

Where: Bonobo, 119 Church Street Upper, Inns Quay, Dublin 7, D07 E128
Access from the city centre: Buses 9, 37, 70. 83, 140, 145, 155, C2, C3, Luas Green Line, 20ish minute walk
Food: Pizza & flatbread
Sport: Not really that kind of thing
TVs: I have never noticed any, but it’s possible some are hiding
Music: Typically very GenX-friendly, even if it’s really for their GenZ offspring and/or younger Millennials
Family-friendliness: Depends on the time of day, but I’ve certainly seen the hipster babies and have taken my own smaller offspring for pizza
Pub-crawl-ability: High – it’s essentially in between Underdog and L. Mulligan. Grocer, with The King’s Inn, The Cobblestone, Bar 1661, Fidelity and many more within a short walk
Local sites of note: Smithfield, St Michan’s Church, Collins Barracks, TUD Grangegorman
Haunted: Maybe some haunted paintings? Definitely a spot for that kind of thing
Other notes: Plenty of board games available to borrow for a session, lots of doggos, outdoor deck

I was busy doing Important Work Stuff in London last week (only time for one half-pint of cask, alas, but at least it was a lovely Sussex Best), but we’re back at it with Weirdo Dublin Pubs this week.

It would be hard to think of a pub with a more lived-in, traditional interior than The King’s Inn, but in fact, the current owners only took it over and refurbished it in 2018 – and after it had been shut for 3 years. The same team behind The Flowing Tide (more recently spruced up and discussed here) worked their magic here first, and their attention to detail shows. The prints and pictures around the pub are all genuine nods to the immediate neighbourhood – 18th century Henrietta Street and the enormous King’s Inns (plural, though the pub is singular) complex of roughly the same vintage, still a key site of the country’s legal training, so law-related themes are very much on view inside the pub. And it does come by the age posted outside honestly – although it was originally built as a residence, it has been a licensed pub since at least the 1860s, if not before, so the ‘since 1842’ signage is certainly more accurate than many with a date advertised outside.

While there is a peculiarly ersatz suit of armour, the overall feeling is still much more genuine; you don’t feel you’ve been transported into an Oirish Pub, with its random assortment of road signs in Irish and black-and-white images of stone walls, or, possibly even more worthy of hand-wringing, a Wetherspoons with all its LOOK AT OUR LOCAL CULTURE posturing (though to be fair, the ‘Spoons would at least have cask).

Lack of cask ale notwithstanding, and that’s hardly unusual here, there is nothing to complain about with the beer here: traditional though it may feel, with plenty of well-poured Guinness, there are also taps for the likes of Trouble, Kinnegar and The White Hag – indeed, similar to the lineup in their sister pub nearer the river. Unfortunately, on my most recent visit they had run out of toasties – the only reason my smaller companion for the afternoon had agreed to leave the house – and so we had to move on elsewhere, but as there is so much in the immediate vicinity, it was easily managed. Ironically, the very next day I listened to the Publin episode about toasties, so there must have been something in the air.

Although it is generally handy for me as it’s a relatively short walk, it’s also extremely useful for anyone visiting the excellent 14 Henrietta Street museum, a must-do for anyone touring Dublin who wants to find out more about the Georgian architecture all around, and how this area’s fortunes changed over time – there are few better social history museums anywhere, and given how difficult Dublin likes to make it to look after its built heritage, the entire street, anchored by The King’s Inn is an example of how it can be done well.

Hopefully, next time I head over, the toasties will be back.

Where: The King’s Inn, 42 Bolton St, Dublin, D01 EH56
Access from the city centre: Buses 1, 11, 13, 40, 46A, 122, Luas Green Line, 20ish minute walk
Food: Toasties, crisps
Sport: ‘All the big sports’ per their Instagram, but certainly plenty of GAA
TVs: For the sport
Music: Gentle indie tunes on my last visit, but turned down for the sport
Family-friendliness: No one seemed to mind my smaller food & drink partner of a Sunday afternoon, but it could easily be too crowded for the younger set at peak times
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Underdog, The Black Sheep, Bonobo, Bar 1661, The Church, Slattery’s…you could easily carry on to L. Mulligan, Grocer and/or Fidelity…
Local sites of note: 14 Henrietta Street, King’s Inns, The Hungry Tree, Smithfield
Haunted: Given the history of the local area, the entire street must be haunted
Other notes: Lovely fireplace in the back for chilly and damp weather, very dog-friendly