Tag Archives: Beer travel

Mongolia and Irish bars!

Irish bars

I spent about a year living and working in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was a great year of fun and good times. Mongolians are a jolly bunch, lively and friendly. One thing that did stand out was the amount of Irish (“Oirish”) pubs in the city. I counted just under 20, but was assured that the real figure was close to 40. I can’t really explain why there are so many Irish pubs in the city. I figured some Mongolian Googled the words “good bars” and the search engine came up with “Irish pubs”. So perhaps Mongolians think that “Irish” actually means “decent pub”. I say that as I felt a lot of Mongolians really didn’t know much about Ireland.

Another factor could be that during Ireland’s mini economic boom, the “Celtic Tiger”, many Mongolians got work permits to go and work in Ireland, as it was easier than getting a visa for the UK. As the Irish economy faltered a few years after, the Mongolians without work returned and quite a few of them started opening Irish themed bars. I did meet an awful lot of Mongolians with rather cool Irish accents.

Either way most of the Irish bars in UB were mostly a load of rubbish, as most “Oirish” pubs are. (Read here for my opinions on Irish bars in general). Overpriced, teeming with foreigners, and lacking in soul and some real Irish spirit. Having said that, Ulaanbaatar’s night life is pretty damn good and if you are prepared to hang out with the locals you will have a mad time. For a country with just over 2.5 million people there sure are a lot of decent pubs, clubs and restaurants going around.

Grand Khaan

The biggest Irish bar was The Grand Khaan Irish Pub, a good place for food, with great service, and where all the hot shots of the city hang out. A bit expensive and really doesn’t offer much in terms of decent entertainment, but not that bad for a quiet drink and a chat in the day time.

Dublin Irish bar

My favourite Irish bar was The Dublin Irish Pub, which for an “Oirish bar” wasn’t too bad. They say they were the first Irish bar in the city, but truth be told the city still has to have a real authentic Irish pub. I was a regular customer there and managed to get a tab running, which is always a bonus. Had decent food, good music on the jukebox, had a chilled out atmosphere and sometimes on special nights an impromptu music session would get going. The only negative was the bar staff had terrible English and were a bit dim.

Of course some of the bars do have Guinness, which isn’t too bad in all fairness. But I usually stuck to Tiger beer or the local brew Chinggis Beer, much cheaper than overpriced western styled beers.
Anyway I will return someday to UB as I loved the people of Mongolia, tough people but full of friendship and kindness.

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St Mel’s Brewery, the long return

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St Mel’s Brewery, the long return

St Mel’s Brewery, Longford

Something is stirring in the centre of Ireland. A new and exciting brewery is opening, the first in the midlands region in about 150 years. St Mel’s Brewery, based in Longford Town, has decided to dip its toe into the ever increasing market in the country for craft brewing.

St Mels brewery is a new venture started by Liam Hanlon and Eoin Tynan. Two local lads who have decided to set up their own brewing enterprise, bringing it home. Liam, who has an MSc in Brewing and Distiling Science from the prestigious Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, is the Master Brewer and has over 10 years of experience in the brewing business, gaining invaluable knowledge as a former Head Brewer with Ireland’s craft beer kings, O’ Hara’s. Eoin is a relative novice to the industry, but he has a master’s in Business Management with a wealth of experience in the investment trade. They certainly knew what they are doing and have the skills and expertise to make Longford an unlikely place for a craft beer hit in the making. The main thing both guys are bringing to the industry is a deep love for craft beer and a willingness to get involved in Ireland’s Craft beer revolution.

The St Mel’s duo

(Photo: Courtesy of the Longford Leader. Read article here)

The beers they are introducing onto the market are a Helles Lager, a Brown Ale and a Pale Ale. They are all bottled, so they are not available on tap just yet, but there are plans to produce draught in the near future. At their launch their mission statement was to “brew the highest quality beers from the best possible ingredients, combining innovation, passion and tradition.”

Even though St Mel’s Brewery have only started production recently (less than two/three months), so far the feedback to their brews has been fantastic. Longford, and the surrounding towns as a whole, have embraced the beers. Beer Appreciation Clubs are appearing, something that isn’t very usual, in the sleepy towns of the midlands, and St Mels is able to compete against the big boys as their produce is now on the shelves in many of the local supermarket chains. Further afield, the beers are already stocked in about 50 pubs in Dublin, and have shown up in bars all over the country. Slowly St Mel’s is making waves. No doubt in part to the great reaction the beers are getting. They had a very successful pre Tasting launch in Dublin, and just recently were considered “Beer of the week” with the Irish Examiner, one of Ireland’s national newspapers. (See Irish Examiner review here)

St Mel’s are hoping to go fully nationwide by the end of the year and, if all goes well, try and export within the next three years.

St Mel’s Crozier

One thing that’s impressive is that St Mel’s brewery have a very close connection to its surroundings. St Mel’s is named after the local saint, who helped St. Patrick his uncle, bring and spread Christianity to Ireland. He settled down in Longford and the town’s cathedral is dedicated to him. (Useless fact attack: Another famous Mel, Mel Gibson got his first name from his Longford mother!) The logo is of St Mel’s crozier, a very famous antiquity that dates back to the 11^th century, and used to highlight the power of Bishops.

Where the magic happens!

The spring in Longford has soft water, which is perfect when looking to produce good variety of tastes in beers, the bottles are sourced from Cavan, and the energy used in the brewery will involve Energia supplying over 10,000Kwh of renewable electricity to its production facilities in Longford Town. It is definitely a case of think local, drink local!

With many of the pubs in the town having the St Mel’s stock, I might just have to do a St Mel’s Beer crawl next time I am back in Ireland, with at least ten of the local bars in Longford town carrying the beers.

For more information on St Mel’s please check out their website www.stmelsbrewing.com, their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/stmelsbrewing and their Twitter account @StMelsBrewing

So lets do a beer review then!

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Brown Ale, 5.2%ABV

St Mel’s Brown Ale

St. Mel’s Brown Ale might be one of the country’s very few craft brown ales produced at the moment so unsurprisingly it might take a while for the public to adjust their taste-buds to this, but for the connoisseur and experienced craft beer drinker this chocolate and caramel tasting beer hits the spot.

The appearance on pour shows a good frothy head with a brown body, not a bad looking beer. Definitely enticing.

The aroma had a proper beer smell to it. Smelling of a good touch of cocoa, some toasty malts, and some light citrus smells.

The taste was very interesting. I picked up a good variety of tastes and flavours, and found that once you got more into the drink the flavours picked up. There was a chocolate and fruity caramel flavour giving it a nice taste, and on the aftertaste a citrus kick was noticed. A little bitter but very drinkable. Of the three beers from the St Mel’s range I have to say this was my favourite as it has a good body of flavours, had strength and a lovely taste. I really look forward to when St Mel’s develop this into a draught beer as a pint of this would be lovely as a thirst quencher.

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Helles lager, 5.0%ABV

St Mel’s Helles Lager

The Helles lager is the most popular of the three beers in the St Mel’s Collection, their best seller. It’s always a bit difficult when an Irish brewer tries to replicate a German Style beer but I think St Mel’s definitely have got the right balance of authenticity and respect to traditions here.

The aroma was not over bearing, and was of a good bready malty smell, decent on the nose.

On pour the head did dissipate rather quickly, leaving a golden brown colour with some carbonation.

The flavour was of sweet pale malts, wheaty, a little bread, with some sour notes and fizz. The aftertaste was strong and slightly bitter, but enjoyable. It was a quality beer to drink and a beer I can imagine would work well with a nice meal. If a punter is going to try a new experience and drink a craft beer then this beer would be a great introduction. A good local Irish lager.

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Pale Ale 4.8%ABV

St Mel’s Pale Ale

The last of the three beers, this Pale Ale was hopped three times during the boil and then dry hopped using cascade hops. This session ale has a fine balance of flavouring and taste.

It had a nice pleasant smell of pale malt, straw, and some decent fruity hoppiness

On pour a lovely white head appeared but dissipates to leave a golden amber look, with a somewhat cloudy appearance.

Full of flavours on taste which had a good feel in the mouth. The taste comprised of pale malt, citrus, straw, light bread dough. and very sweet fruity malts. A lot was going on, from start to finish, very sweet, very bitter, lots of tastes and overall it was a very balanced enjoyable drink. A craft beer that will awaken your taste buds.

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Dublin bar crawl. Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs

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Temple Bar prices

Dublin is a great drinking city, we all know that. You won’t walk too far without passing a top quality boozer, serving the best Guinness in the world. Many tourists head straight to the Southside of the Liffey over to the Temple Bar area to experience overpriced drinks and watered down “craic”. To be fair Temple Bar isn’t as bad as many Irish make it out to be. There are some decent pubs in the area and there can be wild fun to be had late at night, but by god it’s pricey and has an overabundance of stupid cunts in a very small sized area. I prefer the Northside, it has more character, better pubs, and decent priced booze. Ok it might get a little hairy at times, but heh that’s half the fun, right?

Arrived very early into Dublin from a cheap Ryanair flight, planning on heading to an evening football match in the FAI Cup first round. The match was between Belgrove and Drumcondra to be played out in the grounds of Dublin’s most famous schoolboy club, Home Farm, and wasn’t kicking off until 7.45p.m. I had ages of time to kill so I decided, after a nice stroll along O Connell Street, to have 10 pint of Guinness in ten top drinking establishments on the way to the game. But in Ireland the pubs don’t serve alcohol until 11.30 a.m. which is fecking ridiculous and unless you want to head to some early morning bars near Smithfield then you will have to wait.

Graingers Bar

Address: 51 Talbot Street, Dublin

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Graingers Bar, Talbot Street

After another few strolls around the centre of Dublin, eventually the time came to drink and I was hungry and needed to fill the belly, and there really is only one pub I know that serves great food with a good pint in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Graingers Bar on Talbot Street. Near both the national bus and train Station this bar always has good food on offer. Great friendly service and a good way to start my Guinness bar crawl. In fact the Guinness was so good here it was very tempting to go all out and have a few, but I didn’t and just had the one. One of my favourite bars for a quiet pint and some food. Recommended.

Graingers Bar on Talbot Street, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Graingers, good food, great Guinness

Molloy’s Bar

Address: Talbot Street Dublin

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Molloy’s Bar

Pint number two was to be in another one of my old favourites, Molloy’s Bar, just a few steps down from Grainger’s, also on Talbot Street. This bar has a good lively atmosphere and is close to two betting shops. The pint was great, and had a good time just relaxing, reading the paper, checking my (losing) bets and taking it all in. Usually the bar staff are top notch in this place but on the day I was there they had an English woman at the counter and she was a right fecking eejit (fool). Think she was trying too hard with her “banter”. But anyway, Molloy’s, always worth a few pints and great pub for gambling and drinking. Recommended.

A pint of plain

Briodys

Address: Marlborough Street, Dublin 1

A good pointer

For my third pint I headed up to Marlborough Street, to have a pint in Briody’s, a very small pub right beside a bookies. Good pint, relaxing place to have a beer, small and comfortable. One thing that is common with a lot of these decent pubs is the look of the toilet area. Cheap old fashioned steel sheeting always means its a decent boozer. That’s always a given.

Relaxation therapy

Sean O Casey’s

Address: Marlborough Street Dublin 1

Sean O Casey’s, top class Dublin pub

Fourth pint was also on Marlborough Street in Sean O Casey’s on the corner. Love this pub. Think the owners are from Kerry, old folk and really friendly. Good pub for watching sport, and they generally will show any kind of sport if asked nicely. Good pint (do I really have to keep mentioning this, as all pints of Guinness in Dublin are great!?), good bar chat, and one of my favourite pubs in the city. Strongly recommended.

Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

A lovely pint!

Lovely!

Hop House/The Shakespeare Korean Pub

Address: 160-161 Parnell Street, Dublin 1

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Next I headed up to Parnell Street at the end of O’Connell Street, an area with a lot of decent boozers and good for a spot of food. Originally planned on having a pint in the Hop House/The Shakespeare Korean Pub, which is a weird Korean restaurant/old man’s Irish pub combo. It sounds strange but it really works well and it is the best of both worlds, good food washed down with good beer. But the best thing is that it has still retained a lot of the pubs old clientele which is great. But unfortunately it was not opened when I was about, which was a damn shame.

O’Reilly’s

Address: Parnell Street Dublin 1

O’Reilly’s, Parnell Street.

On my fifth pint I was in O’Reilly’s on Parnell Street. A very lively pub in the inner city of Dublin. While I was there three separate fights were going on in and around the bar, nothing too serious but it was midday and the pub was heaving. Great pub for the chat and the banter, and right beside a betting shop and some of Dublin best Chinese restaurants, you can’t go too wrong here. Many the time I spent time in this pub whiling away the hours before I headed home on the train. Has a small reputation but I like it. Recommended, especially if you like horse racing.

O’Reilly’s

Bermingham’s

Address: 111 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin 1

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After Parnell Street I ventured up to Dorset Street to see if I could find Bermingham’s, an old style Dublin pub, that hasn’t changed since the time of dawn. Cracking pub with good banter and even better pints. But imagine my horror to see that the bar has closed and is not open anymore. It seems the owner passed away last year (Dec, 2013) and with it the closing of one of Dublin’s finest boozers. A pity. RIP

Bermingham’s, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Bermingham’s, RIP

Mayes Pub

Address: Dorset Street Upper, Dublin 1

Mayes Pub, Dorset Street

So I headed over to Mayes Pub also on Dorset Street with its distinctive signage and good central location. First time drinking here, and a good pint and good banter, not a bad pub and was good to get the break and rest the feet after wandering around looking for a non-existent Bermingham’s.

Mayes Pub

The Auld Triangle

Address: 29 Dorset Street Lower, Dublin 1

The Auld TriangleFor my 7th pint I went into The Auld Triangle, a well-known Republican bar with a H Block mural featuring on its walls. Not a bad pub, good pint, good banter, some rebel music on the jukebox and a nice place to relax and take a breather as I was getting a bit tired with all the walking around and betting and drinking. Just as I was finishing the pint some of the regulars started an old sing a long, was a pity I had to go, but time was of the essence.

The Auld Triangle, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

A republican pint

Quinns

Address: Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9

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Quinns in Drumcondra, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Quinns, Drumcondra,

8th pint was had in Quinns in Drumcondra, a good lively bar, a well known and popular bar which is always busy when there is a GAA game nearby in Croke Park. I like this bar, good friendly staff and a good pint. Good pub and much better than the nearby Fagan’s a shithole which is to be avoided. Recommended, especially if attending a game at Croker. Can get busy at night time, and is a student favourite (but don’t let that put you off!).

Quinns

Millmount House

Address: Drumcondra Road, Dublin

Millmount House, Drumcondra,

Millmount House, also in Drumcondra, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Millmount House, great for a game of pool

9th pint was in the Millmount House, also in Drumcondra. A good bar for a quiet drink in the day and a game of pool and a decent pint. Good crowd at the bar, friendly staff and good Guinness. One of my favourite bars this side of Dublin. At night time it gets pretty lively, and on occasions has some good live music. Recommended.

Millmount House

Home Farm Whitehall

Address: 97a Swords Road, Whitehall, Dublin 9

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Finally managed to walk up to Home Farm Football Club for the match and had my final pint at half time in the clubhouse. Good banter at the game, and a very friendly and chatty bar staff. Had a nice pint, probably had more than one but can’t remember as I was just glad to have arrived at my final destination. Was completely knackered after all the walking, but was glad to get some football in my itinerary. Belgrove won one nil by the way!

Home Farm Football Club

Football and Beer

So after my ten pints ten pubs I walked back to the Bus Station near Connolly and got my late bus home to the midlands, happy with my achievement but tired. All of the pubs on my crawl were decent boozers, the Guinness was top notch in all the pubs (seriously it would have to be in Dublin!), and all the bars were enjoyable in their own unique ways. Must do this again but with a different ten! Got to love Dublin!

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A drinker’s dictionary

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A drinker’s dictionary

A Drinker’s Dictionary: How to Order Beer in Different Languages

When traveling abroad, one of the simplest yet essential skills is knowing how to order a beer. Whether you’re in a bustling German beer hall, a cozy Spanish tavern, or an Irish pub, you want to blend in and avoid the awkwardness of struggling with the local language. Fortunately, technology has provided us with a handy solution. Some bright sparks have invented the world’s first beer-ordering app, designed to translate the word “beer” into 59 different languages, and is now here to save you from those embarrassing moments at the bar.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2344354/Worlds-beer-ordering-app-translates-beer-59-different-languages.html

Not to be outdone, we at ThisDrinkingLife have created “A Drinker’s Dictionary“ for popular destinations, including Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, and many more. Whether you’re in Spain, France, Italy, or even Ireland, you’ll be able to order a cold one without hesitation. Just don’t forget—Google Translate might give you a hand, but don’t rely on it in tricky situations!

Why It Matters

Having a beer abroad is a cultural experience. Being able to ask for it correctly can make you feel more connected to the locals. In our dictionary, you’ll find key phrases for ordering beer in countries like Germany (“Bier”), Spain (“Cerveza”), France (“Bière”), and even Ireland (“Beoir”).

A cut out and keep guide to better drinking abroad.