5 best craft pubs in Dublin

Ireland is not only Guinness although it might seems so after a short walk around Dublin. All the pubs in the city proudly announce having it in their offer. It turns out that its probably only the lure for turists. Once they get inside they can discover another world of different kinds and types of beer. In Dublin there is a pub at every corner but before choosing one it’s worth to check which are the best of them and not to waste time for others. Hope that knowledge will be particularily useful now as St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner.

1. The Brew Dock is considered by beer drinkers to be the best pub in Dublin. And indeed the amount of people on Saturday afternoon seems to confirm this opinion. The small place barely fits all the people interested in getting in. Although it’s not located in the very heart of the city, it was really crowded. The place has over 20 taps and 100 beers in bottles. They offer their own craft beers, brewed in Galway Bay Brewery as well as some bottled beers of other producers from Ireland and outside. Galway Bay Brewery is a small craft brewery, where the beers are produced in traditional manner. Their popularity in Dublin is growing and they already have couple of pubs in the capital city. All of them are the top rated Dublin pubs. No wonder since the brewery became no 1 in Ireland in 2014.
If you get dizzy of the great choice of beers there are beer experts behind the bar ready to help you make the right choice. Friendly stuff will find something right for you, either of your favourite tastes or something that will surprise you. For a visit with a little on we recommend some early hours when all the beer enthusiasts are not there yet. All others – do exactly opposite.
The place is located near Connolly Train Station at 1 Amiens Street in Dublin.

2. The Porterhouse Central – the pub with the longest bar in Dublin but also with rich selection of beers. Run by Porterhouse, a craft brewery. They have couple of pubs around the world and Central is one of their latest. It was opened in 2004. The pub is very big; small entrance doesn’t indicate that but the bar goes deep into the building. The decoration resembles traditional Irish pub and it’s full of people even during the day. The view of the outside made us think that the place is hundred years old. Atmosphere we would describe as cheerful and fun. Besides beer produced in their own brewery they offer wide range of beers from outside Ireland. Apart from many of taps they also serve some beers from casks. As every decent pub, they have serve some food and live music in the evenings. Draught beer prices start from 5 euro and 5,50 after 11 pm.
It’s located near the important Dublin landmark – the Trinity College, at 45-47 Nassau Street.

3. Against The Grain – another pub run by Galway Bay Brewery with an incredible range of beers and friendly, humorous staff. Decoration of the pub is not rather simple, nothing impressive, although it became our favourite one. Walls are hung with different beer-connected posters. Bar is filled with taps; hard to say how many of them are there. Chalk board above lists 30 different tempting beers but we advise checking their degustative sets. Fantastic stuff will choose something interesting for you if only you tell them what you like. The set is three kinds of beers 150 ml each. That gives the possiblity to try some new tastes and either choose what pint to order or encourages to continue looking for new flavors. It’s a very good idea especialy that prices are fair – for that sample amount they charge appropriate part of the regular beer price. So you are not paying anything more and get to try different variations. Look for such offer in other multitap bars! It’s really a good way to experience the most. Prices start from around 5 euro for pint, the upper limit doesn’t probably exist. We visited the place early afternoon and beside couple drinkers at the bar the whole space was for us. Ola of course had to inspect every corner and luckily she didn’t disturb anybody. She was happy to run around the place. She even tried to get behind the bar but we held her up in the last second.
Location: 11 Wexford Street, Dublin.

4. The Noorseman – they claim to be the oldest place in the Temple Bar quarter. Besides the bar they offer hotel rooms upstair. A good solution for those who like to party a lot – you are staying in the heart of entertainment district of Dublin and to start the party you just have to go downstairs! We made beer leitmotif  of our pub crawl in Dublin but of course Ireland besides of beer is the home of whiskey. Of course all the pubs we have been to offer both whiskey and beer but on this trip we decided to stick to beer. To describe the bar it’s necessary to mention that they had a wide range of whiskey, not only Irish but also Japanese, American, Lowland, Highland, Speyside. For whiskey tasting they have even developed the special routine but again we decided to choose something from rich offer of craft beers. In Norseman we also tried some of their cuisine and the thing that we really liked was a seafood chowder. It’s a thick soup made of milk and seafood. It was invented by Irish people and is a really popular option for lunch in Dublin. It is served with some homemade porter bread.
The place has classic, traditional Irish design and kitchen open all day long. Live music on weekends starts from early hours.

5. The Black Sheep – another place run by the Galaway Brewery that is in the top rated Dublin pubs. Again, place full of craft brews. Outside decorated with traditional Irish wooden cover but inside the place is, we would say, rather in hipster style. Different chairs at the tables, people playing some table games, chalk board with their seasonal and rare beers. For undecided there is an interesting proposal to spin the wheel and let the fortune start their evening. Multitap offers plenty of beer types starting from 4.00 euro for pint; in addition, just around the corner, at the opposite end of the bar they have a cask corner. There is a choice of 3 or 4 beers from the casks. The difference between tap and cask is that from the cask the beer is pumped out mannualy, using just air without carbon dioxide. Beer experts say that only some kinds of beer are to be poured that way because beers of higher bitterness do not taste as the should when pumped from cask. Place offers some simple food to beer.
The bar located on the other side of the river Liffey than Temple Bar area, 10 minute walk from O’Connel Street. Address:  61 Capel St. Dublin.

Enjoy St. Patrick’s Days! Cheers!