February, 2026 - Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs

Sign in the Wicklow Wolf taproom We admit we are stretching the boundaries of the blog this week, as our profiled location is neither a pub, nor, in any meaningful way in Dublin. The clue, indeed, is in the name: we headed a long way out of town to visit Wicklow Wolf Brewery.

But given that it’s getting more and more difficult to find independent beer in Dublin, perhaps we should be practicing our longer-distance travel skills; taprooms are already Not Really A Thing here (with some exceptions we’ll get to), and getting beer fresh from the source made a huge difference – something else we’ll get on to momentarily.

Tanks in the Wicklow Wolf brewery First, though, the practicalities and context: it’s a good 90+ minutes on the bus (or train and bus) from Dublin city centre out to the industrial estate that houses Wicklow Wolf’s production brewery and taproom. The occasion in this instance was a Craic Beer Community meetup – for the Extremely Online, this is what happens when your local beer nerd WhatsApp group comes to life. We couldn’t make the last outing to O Brother and their relatively new taproom that is *nearly* in Dublin (though we must make it there at some point soon), so getting to join the outing to Wicklow Wolf was something of a moral imperative.

Your fave Beer Ladies Podcast hosts, Lisa and Katie, in the brewery Once there, we got the usual friendly brewery tour, made a little more in-depth and interesting as we could skip over a lot of the basics that one might get on a more general brewery tour for The Normals (which they absolutely do – the tour after ours was a knees-up for a local women’s rugby team). Instead, we could get some fairly obscure technical questions answered, and go deep on the merits of the brewhouse and the sustainability efforts of the brewery. And then it was on to the tasting, at one of the smaller, private bars that overlooks the brewing floor – your fair scribe was thrilled to see Locavore 2025, a fresh-hopped ESB still on tap (it appeared in cans around town just before the holidays, and as one of a very few bitters available in Ireland, it’s always most welcome to see), but trying the core range of Wicklow Wolf beers was more instructive than expected. We must confess that in general, we don’t gravitate toward Wicklow Wolf’s core range when we see it around town, but the massive difference in quality on-site more than suggested that we’re often not getting it in the best shape elsewhere. Now, to be clear, it’s never been off, but it does make one wish that more pubs looked after their independent lines as lovingly as they do their Diageo and Heineken ones – the beer here was all top-notch.

A tasting glass in the taproom

We settled in after the tour for pizza and more beers, and the taproom portion of the facility is spread across several areas – there’s a large covered and heated porch, which was clearly popular with families (they do coffee and pastries in the mornings and afternoons), and inside, more bar and couch-space, with some well-placed old can art and branding décor.

With the only real taprooms in Dublin proper at Rascals (who also do a lovely, albeit smaller, brewery tour, and fantastic pizza) and the Guinness Open Gate (no brewery tour as such, but excellent pretzels, which, if we’re honest, we tend to prefer to the beer there, though there can be a nice surprise), it’s nice to have the option for a short day trip. We’d be remiss not to mention other production breweries you can tour, however – Hope and Rye River both offer excellent tours, and while both include tastings, there isn’t (at present) a casual taproom you can simply pop into as there is at Rascals or the Open Gate. There are often rumours of more opening, yes, but with such a small market, there is no equivalent of London’s Bermondsey Beer Mile in Dublin.

Can wraps ready to go And beyond a great day out, with some really lovely beers, what was our biggest takeaway?

Well, we need to get down to O Brother…but in the meantime, we’ll be off on another out-of-town Craic Beer Community jaunt at the end of the month, to blog faves Ballykilcavan in County Laois – though we’ll be back in Dublin proper next week with a real local pub.

Where: Wicklow Wolf, Moneycarroll, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, A63 A243
Access from the city centre: Buckle up: Bus 133 from Busáras or Dart to Bray and the 131 bus
Food: Pastries and pizza
Sport: Might have been some!
TVs: A few screens, but not the main focus
Music: Likely depends on the crowd
Family-friendliness: Quite a few kids around, very family-friendly in the various seating areas
Pub-crawl-ability: You are on an industrial estate, but there is a pub, The Mount Kennedy, in Newtownmountkennedy
Local sites of note: Wicklow Mountains
Haunted: Even by our standards, highly unlikely
Other notes: There’s also a run club, just like at Rye River! We need some in town…
Socials: Facebook, Instagram

*All are welcome to join the Craic Beer Community! Simply get in touch.

Outside Piper's Corner Although Dublin has no shortage of pubs featuring music, it’s by no means all the traditional Irish music overseas tourists may be seeking out – there are many regular live DJ sets, local and touring bands across all genres, music-led performance art and everything in between. Finding what’s on when, though, can be harder than it should be; there’s no direct equivalent of Time Out (one of your fair scribe’s first employers), especially for those seeking something a bit more unusual – but we have our ways.

Outside The Cobblestone We’ll start with trad, though, as ‘where should I go in Dublin to hear trad Irish music?’ is a common enough question, and there’s a bit of nuance in the answer. Yes, there are package-tour ‘shows’ featuring Irish dancing and music at places like Johnny Fox’s or The Arlington, but these are very much performances, often at a not-inconsiderable price, though the musicians and dancers are fabulously talented – but know what you’re booking. If you’re looking for more of a local affair, try a session at The Cobblestone or Piper’s Corner. The Cobblestone has live music every afternoon or evening, while Piper’s Corner’s sessions tend to begin after 9 or 9.30 pm (so, for those keeping score, music at Piper’s Corner is too late to be out and about with kids – they need to be out of the pub by then).

But these are not the only trad games in town – L. Mulligan. Grocer often has a Saturday night trad session, with TP Smith’s hosting trad musicians on Sundays at 6 pm. Hynes’ Bar has weekly trad on Thursdays, but keep an eye out for DJ sets there, too. The Big Romance features queer-led trad sessions semi-regularly, and we’ll return to their music offerings shortly – there’s much more to hear. Dudley’s also regularly hosts trad sessions – no booking required, as does The Hairy Lemon.

Martin and Eliza Carthy at The Hut There’s a folk club upstairs at The Cat & Cage, which is another one that crosses genres, and The Four Provinces offers a mix of trad, blues, swing…you name it. Monday is usually blues night at The Porterhouse, but again, there’s a mix of genres and DJ sets. And yes, while you may see tourists flocking to hear ‘trad in Temple Bar,’ The Porterhouse is the only spot we tend to go in Temple Bar…and there are plenty of other, less-crowded/expensive options for trad elsewhere, as you can see. Folk and trad both make appearances upstairs at The Hut from time to time, though theirs can be more of an IYKYK setup vs more well-publicised events. And right around the corner at (er) Doyle’s Corner, there are plenty of gigs spanning a variety of genres, now that Gavin James is calling the shots behind the scenes – you may be able to catch him doing a residency there, too.

Speakers at Fidelity

If jazz is more your thing, try Lucky’s, The Circular, The Big Romance (yes, again) or Arthur’s – they each have a slate of local and touring artists. The Vintage Inn also hosts regular jazz, folk and trad, plus a bit of everything – even CMAT stopped in after the Late Late Toy Show this past Christmas season. Slattery’s also has the odd bit of jazz upstairs…it’s not just an early house.

For the DJ set, Fidelity and The Big Romance are both go-tos, with bring-your-own vinyl nights and headlining acts from across Europe, and MeMa’s and The Bernard Shaw also get in on the electronic and adjacent scenes.

A Scraggy Bay at Anseo And if you’re looking for up-and-coming local bands or established touring acts, there are plenty of pubs that also serve as music venues. Whelan’s, Anseo, The Thomas House and The Workman’s Club all tread the fine line between pub/venue, but we’re including them here as you can very much just stop in for a pint without intending to see the band playing, whilst for a spot like The Button Factory, drinks are a secondary feature to the music, so we leave them off this listing.

With so many options, how can you keep track of what’s on? Broadly speaking, each pub’s Instagram account may be your best bet for many musical pub activities, but specifically for gigs, try Nialler9. You can typically simply drop into one of the abovementioned trad sessions, but tickets or cover charges will vary for other events, so it pays to do some research in advance.

Finally, if you want to join in, consider Ukulele Tuesday upstairs at The Stag’s Head. BYOU and enjoy.

Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs: Wicklow Wolf

Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs: Best Pubs for Music