39 thoughts on “Settle This Now

      1. theo kretschmar schuldorff

        Something about Slattery’s Rathmines getting 5/10 didn’t sit well with me. I think you’re right, its the one on Capel St that gets the half points pints.
        Still, at NS 2 | SS 12 – its time Pintman found his way to the Hut. Or perhaps I simply have a (Golden) Chip on my shoulder.

  1. Paulus

    There are small family-run pubs in towns and villages across the country that would bate the lot of ’em:
    Guinness barrel just under the counter – minimal cooling and a DRY glass.
    (Minimal telly. . . or none if you’re really lucky).

    1. Worlds Biggest Ranter

      Honestly I almost got up from the desk to go home and get changed after reading that. You have me on the stool already

    2. bisted

      …I only know a few of the places listed but I miss Dublin pubs…the least of the places I went to while I lived there were better than the best in my home town…wall-to-wall tvs and I wouldn’t take a free pint of Guinness in any of them…

    3. The Old Boy

      Quite right Paulus – places with short beer lines and the old-style coolers under the taps tend to have superior pints – as long as they keep them scrupulously clean.

  2. Pee Pee

    Is it true that the quality of a pint of Guinness depends a lot on what detergent is used to clean the glass?

  3. AFoxIndeed

    i wouldn’t consider the orchard to be a Guinness bar, some bars you walk into and know not to order the Guinness. But still 2/10 [hope that included value for money]

    What does the Guinness Quality team do when they go into some of these bars, there’s so little consistency from one bar to the other

    1. The Old Boy

      When Guinness set up the Quality Team, the goal was to eliminate, as far as possible, the inconsistency from pub to pub. Even though most punters know that a poor pint is the fault of the pub, Guinness’s marketing research showed that inconsistency was a huge threat to the brand. Loyal and regular drinkers wouldn’t order a pint in an unfamiliar place without a recommendation that it served a good pint.

      The Quality Team has made some good inroads – at the very least, every Guinness line and tap in the country is cleaned and serviced every week by someone whose sole concern is that the pints will be good. You simply don’t get the jars of foul vinegar that were a peripatetic drinker’s occupational hazard twenty years ago any more. They can’t force the pubs to do the things that would turn a poor pint into a good one, ie shorten the lines, be scrupulous about line and tap cleaning, use dry, cool glasses that haven’t just emerged from the dishwasher, train the 17 year old bar staff not to dole the pints out like slop.

      Of course, the fact that it can be so variable is part of the mythology and it inspires the sort of devotion seen above.

      1. Paulus

        There’s a great line in Tom Corkery’s “Dublin” about a pint-drinker who’s wary of the quality in a pub where he’s never been before. His technique is to make sure he has the barman’s undivided attention and then says:
        “I’d like a pint of Guinness . . . for drinking”

  4. dhod

    there are a few similar accounts knocking about. Guinness advisor seems to have kicked it off. birchalls in Ranelagh wins my gold medal for its pint of Guinness

    1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

      Mulligan’s is smelly. I loved it back in the aul days when I was also smelly. Now I’m fragrant I prefer a more ladylike environment.

    2. $hifty

      Have you been in Mulligans lately? The old bar staff bought the place and retired, installing a load of minimum wage staff who are brutal at their job. Loads of overpriced “Mulligan’s” tat for sale hanging on the walls etc. It’s a far cry from its glory days. Last time I was there, Guinness drinkers were in the minority. I realised why as I walked out the door leaving a half full pint on the bar.

      1. scottser

        alas it’s been a while.
        i am most distressed by this news as i am due to start working back in town from next week onwards and i’ll be needing a decent watering hole for cheeky scoops on the way home, so i’m going to bookmark this thread.

      2. The Old Boy

        My biggest objection about Mulligan’s these days is that it gets rammed with the Carlsberg and wine-drinking, suit-and-no-tie brigade of braying w***ers on Friday evenings. I was in over Christmas after a long absence and was served by Darren Cusack, whose father and uncle have owned it for donkey’s years. The two other barmen that afternoon have been there for ten years or more. The pint isn’t perhaps quite as good as it once was but certainly nothing like undrinkable.

        It’s hard to argue that its glory days aren’t behind it – sadly, there are precious few pubs where that isn’t the case.

        1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

          At least in the old days the vicious smell of Guinness farts was covered by the smell of Sweet Afton or Player’s No 10, maybe.

        2. scottser

          true, as ever old boy. if someone tells me the same about the long hall or the swan i shall be most upset.

      3. Spaghetti Hoop

        Was there last Saturday!
        Didn’t have the Guinness though. The night had reached the stage of the quare stuff. Which, I add, had none of the negative consequences of short or long pipes, pouring angles, expertise in delivery nor distance from point of manufacture.

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