Category: The Guinnesslove Blog

The Long Stone, Dublin – Dec ’15 (2/4)

Not Guinness time, not here anyway.

This is a nice pub alright & was all Chrismassed up which added to the atmosphere & the anticipation because, as we all know, it’s always nice to have good G when you have all the decorations up all round & a Christmas tree in the corner. With Christmas cheer a decent looking pint landed in front of me (see bottom left below) so I gave it a good gulp-gargle. Unfortunately the head wasn’t great on the cream side & the taste was well-off. Bit o’the squinty-wince face I’m afraid; wasn’t happy. In fairness, the chap that poured it wasn’t a local so for my second I tried the back bar & a local lad. The pint tasted just a little better, nothing to drag itself over the halfway line into the much sought after 3 territory though. The head retention was good on this pint (see left below) but the taste was still off which goes to show, it’s all about the chemicals!

Long Stone 1.2.1

As ever, I trudged on through them but wasn’t too happy, considering I could practically smell the goodness from Mulligan’s around the corner. The pints never improved, nor did my G-mood. Sorry Long Stone, you gotta try harder.

Mulligan’s, Dublin – Dec ’15 (4/4)

My goodness! Now that’s Guinness!

Had been seriously looking forward to this pint as it had been over 2 months since my last visit to G-Mecca. Got in early from a cold & blustery winters day, ordering my first pint at around 1/2 1. The place was all Christmassed up so, though it was pretty empty, it was still cozy enough & the though of Dublin’s best pints would warm any heart. The anticipation… imagine how happy I was when this landed in front of me. Holy crap! Look at the head on that; cream-heaven! It’s actually gravitating towards my mouth!

Mulligans 2 dec 15
I could eat you for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Yes, it treated me to the softest & most glorious lip-flop, like I’d just popped my head up through a cloud. So cold, so delicious…. so consistent. As you can see from the pic, once the dribble cream-leak fell overboard, the head closed up again immediately; quality (the alternative is when a cream leak starts a waterfall, that’s a bad sign).

The pints in here never cease to amaze me. All day they were just perfect. And they just kept on flowing, mmmmm…..

mulligans dec 15 1 1
Quite a few had been consumed at this point so you’ll have to excuse the tardy 9pm look about them.

Guinness as it should be in here. Again, thank you Mulligans for your efforts; you keep our faith in the G alive!

Ely Winebar, Dublin – Nov ’15 (2/4)

Not Guinness time, not here anyway.

As can probably be ascertained from the name of this establishment, this is not somewhere one would generally frequent if they were after the finer pint. But for those of us who are after the pint regardless of where we are, this review is pertinent. I would not expect the pint to be all that great here to be honest but they have a tap & they charge €5.30 a jar & therefore they are fully open to judgement & that’s what they’ll get.

The cosy cellar had a pleasant, if mildly-pompous, atmosphere & the pint didn’t look half bad when served; bit o’the cream, nothing overly watery & nothing to be afraid of. Upon tasting, it didn’t seem too bad at first but as I moved through it the squinty-wince came to the fore. To compound the problem, my ultra-sensitive nose was picking up extreme fermented-grape flavourings which was making the pint taste worse. As they only have a Guinness tap & a blandom high-street-beer tap here, I do not expect that much effort goes into the Guinness draft & thus the over-carbonated taste. I saw the pint through, though disappointingly couldn’t hit the finisher. You are only getting a pint of Guinness here if you don’t like wine (me) & are eager to see if they can pull off the pint-o-G in a wine bar (me) but take it from a G-man; they can’t. Try a bottled beer or maybe a tea.

The Gingerman, Dublin – Oct ’15 (2/4)

Not Guinness time, not here anyway.

I had been looking forward to my end-of-week pint for a couple of days. It was well deserved too as work had been busy-as-fork all week. Arriving at around ten past six on a Friday, the crowd was 4 deep outside, but it wasn’t at-all jammers inside so there was no bother getting served. I was at the upstairs bar & the pint on delivery looked grand; the head had a bit o’the cream so I was upbeat about how the experience would be. Unfortunately, the taste was off, not squinty-wince-face but just not on: anti-tasty; the wrong side of 2. I knew by gulp 2 that it was a full-on let-down which is always so annoying when you can see a decent bit of cream n all. Anyway, I soldiered on through but knew it would be my first n last in this establishment. Absolutely not up to standard & not worth drinking in here. Try the Writers Block lager instead, nice & tasty; like Kronenberg, just without the violence.

Cassidy’s, Camden St., Dublin – Oct ’15 (4/4)

My goodness! Now that’s Guinness!

I was starting to think I’d never find another 4/4 outside of good old Mulligans. Well, how delighted I am to be able to say I was wrong. Yes! There is another pub in Dublin that actually cares enough about the average Guinness drinker to make sure that the pints are top quality every time.

The place was fairly packed, as it was the Sunday of an Ireland weekend & there was rugby then football on the telly, so it took a few mins to get my pint but by-jaysus was it worth it. Good creamy head, nice & solid, sprouting up over the lip, perfect priest’s collar. Look at this beauty:

Cassidys 11.10.15 2 small

But the real excitement hit during my first gulp. Not only did it give me the perfect creaminess but the taste was just amazing! I was buzzing as it flowed down, I knew it was good, possibly very good. When you realise you have a really good one on your hands you get that feeling you got when you’d get into an over 18’s disco at the age of 16: pure giddy. Mmmmmm, this was a great one. I could not believe how tasty it was; pure golden creamy goodness all the way to an absolutely gorgeous finisher. Heaven for a G-man.

Cassidys 11.10.15 Double

And the good ones kept coming. Guinnesslovers, this place cares about you. This is gonna become a regular G-haunt for me; nice atmosphere, nice interior, nice staff, Sunday trad seis is good craic too &, most importantly, top-quality Guinness. Thank you Cassidy’s.

The Long Hall, Dublin – Oct ’15 (2/4)

Not Guinness time, not here anyway.

No doubt about it, this is a cosy pub. The carpet on the floor, the friendly staff, the lively banter; it has all the right attributes. This is what was going through my mind as I ordered my first pint so I was feeling warm, fuzzy and generally happy with my lot. The pint, a fiver on the head, was expensive but I was expecting great things so didn’t let the price get me down. It looked great, really creamy looking head, the stage was set for this to be right up there.

Long Hall 10.10.15 small

The creamy head obviously provided a great lip-flop & I took a good long gulp. I tasted long & hard, I wanted it to be a success but unfortunately it just wasn’t up to it. It gave me that feeling that I may have been misled. Having a few more good slurps confirmed my initial thoughts. There was an inkling of that sharpishness that can ultimately lead to a squinty-wince face of a finisher & this one, though not by any means in the absolutely brutal category, turned out as expected. I had another to be safe but the result was the same. This is a lovely spot, they just need to make an effort with their Guinness to be able to justify charging €5 a pint in here. 2/4; Guinneslovers, avoid it.

Becky Morgan’s, Dublin – Oct ’15 (3/4)

Guinness Time

If I haven’t had a pint in a particular establishment, it is with trepidation that I make the order as you never really know if you’re going to get dealt a bum-hand. Thankfully, this was not the case in Becky Morgans; a few excellent pours landed in front of us, ready for the drinking. Look at these beauties.

Becky Morgans 8.10.15 smaller

They settled perfectly, nice bit o’the cream & the taste was good. The pints here are solid, as they should be, worth going back for more. Unfortunately, the clock was against us & they wouldn’t budge on a sneaky after-hours pint so we had to leave it there. A nice spot with good pints of Guinness; will definitely be back here for a Black one.

Slattery’s, Beggars Bush, Dublin – Oct ’15 (3/4)

Guinness Time

As previously mentioned, this is the pre/ post -match watering hole on match days, but considering it was a positively balmy October evening, the cans were out so Slats had to wait until after the game. They reason I’m mentioning this is due to the fact that, seeing as how we’d just beaten world-champs Germany 1-0, there is the distinct possibility that I could have drank from an old-shoe & enjoyed it so take from this report what you will.

The pints this time round were served in plastic glasses but, as before, this didn’t detract from them in any way. There was a good bit o’the cream, the taste was excellent, very tasty; I really enjoyed the pint. You can see from the pic that the creaminess lasted really well right down the glass, providing a gulpulicious finisher. Was gagging for the next one once the first was polished off. This place is really consistent & serves good Guinness. Another high 3.

Slats 8.10.15 small

The Celt, Dublin – Sept ’15 (1/4)

My goodness! Is that Guinness?

Bloody hell, another massive let-down. This place would have been my most regular haunt back in my 20’s & I have had many a great night on the perfect creamy pints in this place so I come to the table with the utmost of respect for the pintability here. Having had an absolutely brutal pint here when I was practically the only person in the pub back in April before the league final, I wanted to give them another chance in the hope that the experience was a one-off: how wrong I was.

Lets start with the basics; the pint of Guinness is €4.90: total blaydin rip! A bad start, but if the pint is going to be up-to-standard then I can let it slide. Sadly, & it genuinely breaks my heart to have to admit it, the pints in here are far from up-to-standard. As you can see from the pint-pic, the head has already flattened out before I’ve even had my first sup. A good quality creamy head should be blubbering over, ready to burst into your gob at the sniff-o-the-lip. This pint was saying to me “I’m going to let you down” & a Guinness head tells no lies.

150925 Celt Before After

When the black stuff hit my palette it was like chewing on a gone-off lemon: full on squinty-wince-face. Gutted I was. As you can see from above, we had hit pencil-tache territory after a few gulps &, though I’m not sure if it’s that obvious from the pic, the tache-head was foamy, rather than creamy; an absolute disgrace when it comes to a pint of the good stuff. Like any good food critic, I soldiered on through but there was no pleasure in the final gulp, nor redemption in the next pint.

The Celt: why have you forsaken us so? It could be the curse of the Tripadvisor, as seems to be happening down at The Cobblestone, or maybe publicans just don’t care about punters any more but this place has a long way to go if it ever wants to get back the lofty heights of those heady days when certified 4/4’s were rolling out night after night.

The Cobblestone, Dublin – Sept ’15 (2/4)

Not Guinness time, not here anyway.

Disappointed does not describe how I feel about the rating I’m giving this establishment’s efforts. I am gutted. This place was once amongst the top-dogs when it came to a tasty pint of the black stuff & as a result I had well talked it up to some mates I was taking here. Jayz, did I overpromise & underdeliver, it was actually embarrassing. Here’s me telling them about how I know good Guinness & how this place has always delivered a 4/4 pint & then bang; brutal pints. The head was a bit of a fluffy one which by halfway through was akin to that scruffy brown foam you see atop water. The taste was definitely not right but for the sake of The Cobblestone, a place that has given me many great nights & quality pints, I soldiered on through to the end. Sadly, the pint ended on a forcing-it-down squinty-wince-face that speaks volumes for the quality of the pint.

I don’t know if it’s the Tripadvisor certificate of excellence & the guaranteed tourist money or the fact that maybe less & less punters go for the pint o’G these days but something has gone seriously wrong here. To go from a 4/4 to a 2/4: seriously gutted for the place; biggest let-down so far on Guinnesslove.com.