DUBLIN BEER STORIES

“It would be a good exercise to try to get through Dublin without running into a pub,” said Leopold Bloom, a character in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”. Well, that seems to be possible even though it is not simple. Namely, Rory McCann, software developer, developed a special algorithm to draw a road from one end of the city to the other without running into a pub.

The Brazen Head is considered to be the oldest pub in Ireland, dating back to 1198. The Dawson Lounge is the smallest with only 2.78 m2 and The Black Sheep serves the strongest beer with as much as 14% alcohol.

Downey’s pub in Dun Laoghaire is famous for the staff’s strike that lasted 14 years. The owner fired a bartender after which the syndicated staff went on a strike. They were all fired immediately. But every day they gathered, in shifts, in front of the pub, interfering with the guests and the normal pace of the work. The strike drew international attention to the point that when an Irish fishing boat, driven by a Dublin man from Dun Laoghaire, ran aground on a German ship during World War I, the submarine’s chief officer wondered if the strike was still going on at Downey’s Pub.

Dublin is the city of beer where the pub is an institution whose rules apply to everyone, including Quentin Tarantino. One of the many anecdotes told in Dublin pubs says that the famous director was rejected by the staff at Stag’s Head when he asked to be served a mug even though their working hours were over. Of course, Tarantino went on with the line “Do you know who I am?” but he failed.

Another movie legend with a Dublin story is director Sergio Leone. A scene from the movie “A Fistful of Dynamite” was shot in Toner’s. There is still a picture of him holding a rifle on the pub’s wall.

Many Dublin beer stories have been told in Against the Grain, Brew Dock and The Black Sheep, pubs considered to have the widest range of service. 23 types of lager beers and over 100 brands of beer from all over the world are served in these 3 Dublin institutions.