It must be New Pub Season – everything around Dublin seems to be rebranding, relaunching or reopening.
This particular new pub is in the space previously occupied by the much-lamented Underdog, and it would be fair to say that there has been a certain amount of impatience in the local beer-nerd community to see what it would be like.
Of course, it’s an entirely different business, so there were no expectations that Bar Anam would be any kind of like-for-like match for Underdog. Yes, there is (some) independent beer, which we’ll come on to shortly, but it’s not the main focus of the experience. As we’ve already described elsewhere, there simply aren’t that many spots in Dublin that have much beyond your typical Diageo-and-Heineken options, and in the absence of Underdog, there’s really only Brickyard, Porterhouse or Tapped if you’re looking for a wider variety of both breweries and styles – spots like Rascals and Fidelity may have some guest taps, but they are mostly their own beers.
Yes, there are individual pubs that have a dependable set of the same 4-6 offerings – nearly always Scraggy Bay, Ambush and a few Whiplash choices – and it’s fair to say that Bar Anam fits into this category at present. There aren’t quite as many taps (yet?) as at their sister bar, Dudley’s, but there is a strong cocktail game – all those we saw on opening night looked wonderful.
The food is still on its way, but it sounds like it will be tasty: Korean-inspired fried chicken and dumplings from DAK will be serving up from the still-under-construction back room shortly.
While the proximity of The Black Sheep means there is still a somewhat-larger craft beer offering a short walk away (albeit one that is, again, mostly a single brewery – Galway Bay in this instance, plus some rotating guest taps), time will tell if this becomes a hangout spot for the now-peripatetic beer nerd crowd.
But we do hope that in any event, Bar Anam manages to make a success of this spot; the turnover here in recent years has swift. We’ll be back to test the food very soon…
Where: 199 King St N, Dublin 1, D07 PR5X (at the top of Capel Street)
Access from the city centre: Buses 1, 11, 16, 44, 46A, 155, Luas Green Line, 15-20 minute walk
Food: Korean fried chicken is on its way
Sport: Not so far
TVs: Not yet
Music: Perhaps a bit loud, but all bangers; there was even a DJ opening night
Family-friendliness: Remains to be seen, but the food sounds like it will be crowd-pleasing to most palates
Pub-crawl-ability: High – The Black Sheep, J McNeill’s, The King’s Inn, Bonobo, Bar 1661, The Church, Slattery’s…or wander on to Smithfield or Stoneybatter…
Local sites of note: National Leprechaun Museum, Wolfe Tone Square, 14 Henrietta Street, King’s Inns,
Haunted: Is this spot cursed? One hopes not…
Other notes: Still the same basement toilets, though a bit spruced up
Socials: Instagram
What is it with certain parts of Dublin and lovely places Going On Fire?
The ‘bumblebee’ yellow-and-black paint job outside has been replaced with a more plain black exterior, though still with yellow lettering, but it looks ever-so-slightly more sombre (or, perhaps, sophisticated?). Inside, it’s still got a bit of an under-construction feel, with the sense that more decoration is coming, but what’s there now is a mix of darker hues of blue, black and red, and to good effect. The stage area toward the rear looks like it will soon be back in action, and there is a comfortable mix of different seating options.
Where: 18/19 Francis St, The Liberties, Dublin, D08 EK06
It’s time for another pub re-brand, but this one does seem to be purely a name swap and a bit of a paint job, rather than anything more drastic. We speak, of course, of 
The Read family did run their business from what is now 
In truth, beyond some more sober colour choices and nods to both the Read family and a portrait of Michael Collins, little has changed – but this is no bad thing. The more recent trend around Dublin has been for pubs to remove their independent beer taps when they renovate, but happily, Thomas Read’s remains a Galway Bay Brewing pub, so there is the usual range of their beers and a few guests, although there are, perhaps, a few more Guinness and Heineken taps than there used to be. 
And it’s a change that makes sense from a tourism point of view: if we’re being honest, 
We are back in action this week, now that the Paddy’s Day crowds have moved on, and, as so often, we find ourselves in 
With one recent glorious afternoon of sun, however, making the most of it was a moral imperative – and so, we repaired to Lucky’s. The main pull was their large and well-appointed 
As a sister bar to 
Beer-wise, there’s a nice, rotating mix of local independent options from Whiplash, Rascals and Hopfully (among others recently on tap), along with the usual Guinness; bottles of flavoured cider seemed to be the thing the Young People were going for. Rather unusually, there’s also Hoegaarden, plus a range of cocktails and non-alcoholic options.
Regular readers know that we tend to keep 
However, our midweek daytime visit was quite a different affair, and all to the good. Both the interior and the large beer garden were calm, though not empty – as we write this, it is 
That said, we are more likely to take ourselves to
It’s March, and while we wouldn’t dream of taking on the subject of ‘what’s the best pub in Dublin for Paddy’s Day?’ we are, nonetheless, aware that there are many additional out-of-town guests here over that weekend/bank holiday, and that most of them are looking for Guinness…as well as other stouts, given how synonymous the holiday and the beer style have become in the global public consciousness.
Although much – if not most – independently-brewed Irish stout ends up on tap in France or Italy, there are a number of places in Dublin to give some a try. Sister pubs 
Other local stouts to keep an eye out for include Four Provinces Dublin Dubh – definitely available at their own pub in Kimmage, but frequently on tap at pubs such as 
And for the stout completist, there are a number of pubs that will allow you to try the big-brewery trinity of Guinness, Beamish and Murphy’s side-by-side; you can even set yourself up for a blind tasting if you’re feeling adventurous, and at some, you can add an independent option for good measure. For this type of experiment, we are fans of 
Finally, it’s worth noting that a pint of Guinness is only €6.30 at 
Back in the 1990s – before Trainspotting, as it happens – Robert Carlyle and Shirley Henderson starred in Hamish Macbeth, a vastly-underrated Scottish cosy crime comedy-drama, with a bit of quirky/folksy paranormal goodness thrown in here and there for good measure. In the show, Carlyle played the titular Macbeth, a police constable with an adorable Westie, a fondness for the odd herbal cigarette and a work ethic that isn’t overly-dedicated to solving crimes, but who, nonetheless, keeps his small, eccentric village in good order. Shirley Henderson’s character starts off as a relatively conventional love interest (this was, after all, the 1990s), but as with all the characters in this excellent show, we discover much more as we go along.
In 2024, Dublin craft beer OG Against the Grain closed abruptly, not long after a renovation. What had been a friendly and welcoming Galway Bay pub with an excellent tap lineup of own-brand and guest beers was replaced by the wildly-underwhelming 
Although initial chatter was the Barebone would be ‘just a restaurant,’ we’re happy to report that it does still feel like a neighbourhood pub – but one that also happens to do quite good food. Yes, the décor has been upgraded even a smidgeon more – lots of dark tiles, mirrors and subtle brass fittings (including very handy coat/bag hooks, which we don’t see enough) – but it’s all thoroughly welcoming, both for the person stopping in for a quick (or not-so-quick) drink and their more relaxed-dinner counterpart. While the taplist isn’t quite as extensive as it was during the Galway Bay days, there were independent options from Hope, Whiplash and Trouble, as well as more ciders than one usually sees, both on tap and in bottles. The cocktail list is interesting, and the only especially ‘expensive’ drink was Beavertown’s Neck Oil, which you can skip nowadays in any event. And there’s both Guinness and Beamish for the stout-comparing person in your life.
Food was fantastic – it’s not just your typical bar food – and it looks like a great spot for nibbles with a group, too, with a variety of options. The only major change to the layout is the addition of a DJ booth and some well-placed speakers – this is now another spot catering to the music enthusiast, in the vein of 
And so while it’s true that we didn’t need to quite go to the extremes the townspeople of Lochdubh did, we’re thrilled that the place that replaced the place that replaced Against the Grain is a worthy successor. And if you haven’t binged Hamish Macbeth yet, what are you waiting for?
BrewDog is, once again, back 
Inside, the look is straight out of 
Nowadays, we are rarely in this part of town, and if we were looking for pre-show drinks, we’d be more likely to hit up 
We have no insights into ‘what will happen’ with BrewDog’s uncertain future (though it’s difficult to imagine a space of this size continuing without global private equity money). In our ideal world, this would continue as an independent tap room and community space with the same staff, but we also know that’s highly unlikely. It’s also possible a buyer will swoop in and continue running BrewDog’s portfolio as-is (for good and ill), but as of this writing, it’s all guesswork.
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 
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 
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.
And beyond a great day out, with some really lovely beers, what was our biggest takeaway?
Although Dublin has no shortage of pubs 
We’ll start 
There’s a folk club upstairs at 
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,