What Makes A Good Irish Bar

Though I was born and raised in Ireland I have become very Americanized (see I even spelt it with a "z") probably from being online so much. Recently I got the chance to see New York on St. Paddys day and spent the night drinking in an Irish bar.

Now the first thing I have to tell you is American Irish Bars and Irish Irish bars are too completely different things. The days of hanging bicycles on the wall and random road signs pointing to diffent Irish counties are long gone. Hey we even drink American beer over here, well those of us who have no taste buds! :p

But it got me thinking, when makes a really good Irish bar.

The first thing that comes to mind is what you see from the outside. The perfect cheesy Irish bar always has some combination of your guinness sign, yellow or green walls and the obvious green painted door. If it's really cheesy it'll probably have shamrocks somewhere.

I think that needs to be toned down though. A simple Irish name on the front and maybe a board advertising your home made stew will work wonders.

Inside the lighting needs to just glow, no more. Us Irish don't look the best in bright lights! Obviously the barman should know how to pull a proper pint of Guinness but beyond that bar skills should come second to personality. When an Irish person goes into a real irish bar he is not looking for next great juggling act he is looking for someone to "have the craic with".

When we get onto the music front. Yes traditional Irish music is a most. The diddly-dy of it in the background really sets an atmosphere but I'm glad to see a shift lately away from exclusive Trad music. Ireland has produced some great bands in it's time, Thin Lizzy, U2, no not Boyzone! When you have a few drinks it's nice to break out a bit of rock music and liven the place up. All I ask is for a healthy mix.

Oh while I have you here may I suggest the next time you want to try an Irish whiskey forego the obvious jameson and try a shot of bushmills much better stuff.

I do feel that a modern Irish bar needs to have a presence online. Most bars nowadays can quickly be checked out online and having a good site or social network will attract more customers.

I've touched on food already but an Irish bar should really be looking to serve your stews or bangers and mash. These are the staples of any good Irish menu. Sure nowadays we eat as many burgers and fries as our American cousins but once you are having a few beers traditional meals taste so much better. Good heavy drink absorbing meals. Meals of kings!

So there you have it. What I would do if I ever got the chance to set up O'Shootersfnasees Bar :) A cice classy front entrance a bit of Irish rock and trad music sessions. Hot food and a barman who loves the chat. I hope you would be interested in popping in for a beer sometime!