Tag: Guinnesslove

The Haven Hotel, Dunmore East, Co Waterford, June ’16 (2/4)

Not Guinness Time, Not Here Anyway

I don’t know how it is for everyone else, but when I’m on my holidays all I can think about is a nice cool pint. Lounging around is lovely; wandering on walks is wonderful; family fun n frolics in freezing seas is fantastic, but all the time on my mind is to find somewhere to enjoy a pint of the smooothest, coolest, creamiest Goodness. Mmmmm, just the thought of it.

It was a blisteringly hot day & I was on on me jollies in the sunny South-East & I was gagging to get a taste of the local attempt. To my delight, my auld pair said they knew a lovely spot with a great view that was perfect for some afternoon refreshment. The sun was splitting the pebbles in front of this period house hotel so we opted for a picnic table with amazing views across the bay to Hook head. The scene was most certainly set, it was missing just one thing. I ordered the pint but was too busy bringing drinks to the family to stay n view the Settler so it was ready n waiting upon my return. I wobble-tested & to my disappointment found a watery cheann. To add to this, the first thing my aul lad said when I sat down was “oooh, awwww, doesn’t look great that”! Irish auld lads probably just know, it’s intuition; you get to a certain age and you just have the-Knowledge-of-the-G. He was right, there were a good few tiny bubbles in the head; a bad omen. There was no lip-flop, twas more like what happens with the head of a beer, and as I tasted it I knew, I just knew the taste had lived up to the look and feel. I even tried to pretend it was half decent the second time I went at it but I had to give up, it just tasted off & my idyllic view was tainted. Too much carbon dioxide I’d say if pushed, but definitely not good enough. Get a beer if you want to enjoy the view but my advice is go somewhere else where the G-punters are treated with the respect they deserve.

VIP Bar, Guinness Storehouse, May ’16 ()

My goodness, Now that’s Guinness

I hadn’t had a pint in a couple of weeks so I was really looking forward to this one. Add to that the fact that this was the VIP Connoisseur Experience bar, nestled away in a secret location deep in the bowels of the Guinness Storehouse, & I had just been shown the best way to get the most taste out of a sup of Guinness, & you can only imagine how raring to go I was when the thimble sized drink was placed on the bar in front of me; my Guinness-senses had reached a crescendo.

VIP2

Nose in the glass, deep breath in through the nose, hold it, take a mid-sized sup, breath out through the nose, swallow. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, damn that was good! My salivary juices were flowing all over, huge flavour really, all around the mouth. I jumped back in & polished it off in about a second. Unfortunately, we only got 2 sips of this amazing 4/4 fluid so I can’t really give it a full rating. The pint I poured later on was a mere 3/4, as was the one I enjoyed in the Gravity bar later too. There is top-quality nectar to be had in this bar, but with the tiny amount they give you after all the Guinness talk, it doesn’t give itself the opportunity to get the Guinnesslove seal of approval.

Crossbar, Davin Stand, Croke Park – Apr’15 (2/4)

Event Drinkable

As most of you are probably aware, event G’s are, in general, fairly poor. If you get an average one you’d be delighted. Often they’re a messy single-pour, lashed out at a furious pace in an effort to cater for the volumes. This, of course, doesn’t engender a happy Guinnexperience but when it’s that, Carlsberg  or a small bottle  of wine, there’s only one winner for me.

The unfortunate thing about looking for a half-time pint in Crokers is that, depending on how well attended the match is, you could find yourself getting served just when they’re about to throw in again, which is exactly what happened me on this occasion. Likely as a result of the crowds of bouseys with pints in their hands hanging around the entrances trying to get a view of the match before heading back to their seats, the-powers-that-be have installed tellies outside the bar so you won’t miss anything, which is very handy. At a fiver, I guess it’s what you’d  expect & it’s not like you can go somewhere else. The pint was a single-pour but it settled fairly well & looked very drinkable.

Davin Stand

I put it to my lips, expecting, from the look of her, a decent bit o’the cream but was immediately disappointed by the watery taste. It wasn’t that the taste was off, as in establishments that show a severe lack of respect to the Guinness by over-carbonating, rather, it was just a lack of taste. It was a pint of Guinness alright, it was just devoid of character. I would class the pint as “stadium drinkable”; you can get it into you in about 3 minutes if necessary in order to get back to the stands & it’ll probably make that first one in the pub after the game that bit more enjoyable. Yes it’s a 2 out of 4 but in all honestly, I’ve had worse in pubs, so it’ll do you for a swifty at half time.

The Bram Stoker, Dublin – Apr’15 (3/4)

Guinness Time

They say your first pint after the birth of a child is one you really savour. I never understood how or why but now I do; it’s because it’s been so bloody long since you had a sup of that creamy Goodness! You’d seen manys the good jar get polished off by your  mates while you were stuck at home, sober as a judge, on baby-watch & now your time has come. My time came on a Wednesday afternoon not 2 weeks after the birth of my first child, & nearly 4 weeks since my last G!

The Bram Stoker is a really nice spot along the Clontarf seafront that is very sparsely populated on a weekday afternoon but has a waiter nonetheless. The pints are €4.50, which is solid in today’s market, so we got off on a good footing. The pint when it arrived looked well but it did seem to contain a few small bubbles which led to some spillage so I was just a little suss ahead of my first taste. I was absolutely gaggin for it at this stage though, a whole month & here it was sitting in front of me looking all lovely so I dived on in. Yesssss, thank you G-sus for giving us your beautiful nectar; it was a beauty & I was back in G-heaven. It was cold & tasty with a nice bit o’the cream, as it should be. It had a lovely G-sniff about it; that smell when yer nose is right in the glass as you gulp it down, & it was a  delight to drink; I savoured the hell out of it, I was one happy G-daddy.

Ri pint

Of course, I went for a second, just to be sure, & this one was even better. Clean headed, perfect collar, creamy & smooth all the way down to the final, glorious finisher. These were great pints & any establishment worth its salt should be able to produce this level of quality if they to ever claim to sell Guinness. A high 3.

BS 2
Look at that for a smoothie!

Mulligan’s, Dublin – Feb ’16 (4/4)

My goodness! Now that’s Guinness!

By now any blog followers will be fully aware that this is my favourite pub, due mainly to the fact that it never delivers anything less than a 4/4. Though I’d had plenty of nice pints over the festive period, I hadn’t had top-notcher in 2016 so was delighted to finally get the chance to drink at the best Guinnessing-hole of them all.

T’was a Wednesday evening but the place was still well populated creating a nice din & the perfect drinking temperature. The pints are fiver even, which is well worth it for the black-soupy perfection that this establishment produces time after time. This beauty landed in front of me, the creamy head seemingly ready to plop out over the top, & my anticipation grew as I knew from experience what to expect.

Mulligans Jan16 2

At this point in a pint you start salivating; it’s the pre-G. I couldn’t resist, I couldn’t savour, I just dived straight in. The quick lip-flop barely had a second to hit me when I was into to gulp-gargle. So tasty on the palate & all the way down; pure BlacknWhite perfection, all the way to the loaded, creamy finisher. Mmmmmm. Never a frown with Mulligan’s brown.  It put me in such a great G-mood that I just delighted in those that followed.

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.

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