In a small city like Dublin, it’s relatively easy to rally local beer nerds with a little bit of novelty – news travels quickly amongst our cohort – and whether it’s a new pub or, in this case, a bit of a throwback experience, it will be thoroughly investigated within days.
Work and travel have kept us away until now, but once the Bat Beer Signal went up from Donal, via his excellent Public House History, a visit to Bill Aherne’s was a must.
What and why, you may ask?
Well, it’s simple – Bill Aherne’s is the newish name for what was most recently Fitzgerald’s Bar, but this location has been a pub known by a variety of monikers since it was built in the late 19th century. Now under the ownership of Willie Aherne – grandson of Bill, and yes, the same Ahernes who own The Palace Bar, there’s a similar commitment to whiskey and keeping the historic interior in tip-top shape. But what made the beer nerds descend was not a name-change…rather, it’s the opportunity to try ‘warm Guinness‘ – well, sort of. Let’s explain.
One of the major reasons there’s vanishingly little cask ale in Ireland is that Guinness moved to tap-dispensed kegs in the 1950s and 60s; as the major supplier to essentially every pub in the country, they also upgraded (or, if you prefer, changed) the infrastructure in those pubs to cold rooms and keg dispense – and kept the competition out, while they were at it. And yes, this is wildly oversimplifying, but it was essentially the end for cask in most places here; you need to know where to go (and hope it’s on) if you’re a fan.
And while there is no beer engine option here, there is a 1960s tap box on the bar, set up to dispense Guinness at something closer to room temperature. Naturally, we’ve all had to give it a go. So much of Guinness culture is the theatre around its presentation and serving – the two-part pour (don’t get us started on that, nor on Splitting the G, except as a parody concept), letting it settle, the branded glassware all play a part. And there’s a special glass involved here if you order a pint from the tap box – the extra gold on the lettering is a nice touch.
And does it taste markedly different from ‘cold’ Guinness? Well…perhaps a bit, though it’s also a similar experience if you’re slowly sipping, and the beer has warmed up while you’ve taken your time over it. But as a bit of a change from the standard Guinness pint (also, it should be noted, very much available here, along with Changing Times, though we’ve opined about that elsewhere – the Rye River tap looked to be getting some use as well on our visit), it’s good fun, and the pub has been nicely spruced up; though not hugely changed from its previous incarnation, it does seem a bit brighter and lighter. The back of the pub looks to be larger than it was before, with a small stage (there is regular live music). All told, it’s a very comfortable pub now, with some lovely snugs.
And there are (whiskey) casks as well…it would be delightful if the experiment with the ‘historic’ equipment also led to a cask option for at least one beer here.
We live in hope…
Where: 22 Aston Quay, Dublin 2, D02 FH28
Access from the city centre: In it – the Liffey is opposite the pub, Temple Bar is down the road, Trinity around the corner…
Food: Crisps
Sport: Nada
TVs: No
Music: Live trad and other gigs in evenings – check the socials
Family-friendliness: Spotted a few kids in snugs in the afternoon
Pub-crawl-ability: High – sister pub The Palace Bar, Cassidy’s, JR Mahon’s, O’Neill’s, Bowes, Tapped, Harty’s Bar, The Oval, Mulligans, The Flowing Tide, The Morris Bar & Piper’s Corner are all nearby
Local sites of note: National Wax Museum, Trinity College, Abbey Theatre, Irish Whiskey Museum, O’Connell Street
Haunted: No good ghost stories that we know of
Other notes: Basement toilets
Socials: Instagram
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