We’re staying on Aungier Street this week, but not for any specific ghost stories – rather, it was the pumpkin beer that brought us to Egan’s this month.
Pumpkin beer is a relative rarity in Ireland; there was a wonderful Canadian example from Garrison Brewing at the Dublin Beer Festival in September, but local versions are harder to track down. While there used to be two reliable options, one from The White Hag and one from Trouble, for the past few years, it’s been only Trouble. Nothing but Trouble? I’ll get me coat…ahem.
And this year’s Trouble Pumpkin Brew wasn’t without, er trouble (SORRY); the usual homegrown pumpkins that go into the mash didn’t grow this year, thanks to the ludicrously-hot summer. So the 2026 edition of the beer was made with all-imported pumpkins, not that one would necessarily notice a difference as a result (we did a vertical tasting of the 2022, 2024, 2025 and this year’s, for science – this is a research-led blog, after all). But it wasn’t just that Egan’s advertised having Trouble Pumpkin on tap. Rather, they were serving it with a cinnamon-spiced rim on the glass, which was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.
But a bit more about the pub: although it looks like your typical Old Man Pub (if a bit tidier), it’s by no means been a pub for very long – Egan’s opened in 2025, replacing Bow Lane Social Club (whose brunch it still hosts). And while this is an older building, built c. 1800, the ground floor was a shop rather than a pub until quite recently. Inside, again, we might call its style ‘elevated dive bar’ and on our visit it was very much full of Young People. Beer-wise, there was a nice selection beyond the Trouble Pumpkin from the likes of Wicklow Wolf and The White Hag, among others, along with the usual Guinness and Beamish.
At least of an evening, it was louder than most places middle-aged people like our little group tend to go – and we certainly don’t want to run into our Young Adult children out and about, that would be cringe-worthy for everyone involved – but it may well be worth a return visit for their tasty-looking brunch.
Where: 17 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, D02 XF38
Access from the city centre: Buses 13, 14, 15, 15A, 15B, 16, 27, 68, 77A, 122, 150, 151 or 18ish minute walk
Food: Saturday brunch, Sunday roast
Sport: Music >> sport
TVs: Didn’t notice any on our visit
Music: Loud of an evening, but live trad on Sundays; check the Insta for other live music of a more punk variety
Family-friendliness: Not one for the kids
Pub-crawl-ability: High – The Swan Bar, Thomas Moore Inn, The Long Hall, The Hairy Lemon, Caribou, Peter’s Pub, Grogan’s…and many more within a short walk
Local sites of note: Whitefriars Street Church, National Archives of Ireland, St Stephen’s Green, The Little Museum of Dublin, Archaeology Lidl
Haunted: Once again proposing a ghost story writing competition…
Other notes: Home to something of a rarity now – a pool table
Socials: Instagram
This week, we visit 
Ah, you have no doubt thought, this reminds me of Sheridan LeFanu’s classic short story, ‘
Inside, it has the typical dark wood, highly polished glass and comfortable snug common to pubs of the 
Despite having ‘The Capstan Bar‘ spelled out in large letters on the side of the building, this pub is more commonly knowns as 
Indeed, nothing in Fallon’s looks much older than the early 20th century, which makes sense – it was rebuilt in 1911 after a fire, and most records seem to indicate a firm 
But back to Fallon’s – it’s wonderfully quiet (or, at least, was on our afternoon visit), and the snug at the front might be a good addition to our 
We briefly name-checked Brogan’s in our roundup of the 
But this pub was also an important spot for more recent social history; before becoming Brogan’s, it was The Viking Inn, one of Dublin’s first reasonably 
And local craft beer nerds may not find much to get excited about here nowadays (though there is a well-used Ambush tap – it just looks a bit lonely amongst all the Guinness memorabilia, unless you count the Beamish tap as ‘other’), the basement was the original home to 
To very, very broadly paraphrase 
But having been reliably informed by 
Perhaps the real draw, though, is the Kinnegar tap – a reliable Scraggy Bay, and for a mere €7.20; this is an entire euro cheaper than you’ll find it at some nearby pubs, so certainly noteworthy. There’s also Galway Hooker, but we’ve never been fans of any of their beers (even before their rather confusing recent history of ownership and recipe changes), so no need to explore that option. And while we haven’t been in the pub much before this occasion, the attached off-license is quite a useful one, with a nice selection of beers from local stalwarts like Hope and Rascals. Again, it’s something of a time-warp with the need to be buzzed in the door, but for a small shop, it has a pleasantly surprising range of choices.
This week’s Dublin pub is another frequently-requested one that we’ve put off visiting for far too long, and we were quite wrong to delay. Although previously labouring under the misapprehension that 
As regular readers will know, we collect ghostlore of all stripes, and frequently complain that we simply don’t get enough of it around Dublin pubs, so finding 
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.
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 
In one of the longest-awaited (or, for the more cynical among you, most-doubted-to-ever-happen) Dublin pub re-openings, 
Originally slated to open ‘for Paddy’s Day’ about 2 years ago, it’s finally been close enough to done to start getting customers in – just in time for the All-Ireland Final which saw Mayo 
So what we do see now is by no means the finished product, but as a local resident, it was Important to go check out what was on offer, once it was possible to do so. Quinn’s is a very large building by local standards, and the new owners have divided up what was the ground-floor bar into a café – opening during the day for coffees, etc, and as a wine bar in the evenings – with the other side maintaining a more traditionally ‘pubby’ feel. This is probably a very sensible approach, especially for out-of-season operations, but it does make that ‘pub’ side seem a bit small (if comfortably furnished). The theme is, of course, GAA, and there will also be hotel rooms upstairs, all decorated in different county colours, so that continues throughout.
Perhaps most surprisingly – and this is a pleasant surprise – there’s even a local independent beer on offer. This is not a given at most of the more ‘sporty’ pubs in Dublin, so it was great to see a Whiplash tap, even if it wasn’t up and running yet on our visit. The Carlsberg, however, tasted just as fresh as it does in Copenhagen, so clearly, considerable work has gone into completely reworking the tap lines (and plumbing in general – no smells!). There is Beamish as well as Guinness, so if Cork are playing, their fans will be well-catered to.
A quick entry, this week – perhaps fitting, as it’s a tiny pub, but one that’s right in the centre of things. Indeed, it would be hard for Peter’s Pub to be much more central – just off Stephen’s Green, and steps from the Gaiety Theatre, it occupies a busy corner-ish spot.
And there are some much-needed 
We’ve been rather remiss in not getting to Kavanagh’s in 
We took a break from the partying to relax indoors with some pints – the sun was ‘too bright’ for the youngest in our party – and to have a general nosey around the pub. Inside it’s every inch the Victorian/Edwardian pub – there are public and lounge bars that have separate outdoor entrances, but that are also connected inside via the stained-glass-adorned doors that (also) lead to the toilets – you’ll just need confidence walking through that you know where you’re going.
But as imposing as it looks outside, it’s pleasantly warren-like inside – there’s a semi-snug near the front on one side, and a variety of cosy spots on the other, including a tiled inset that seems to have appeared from the 1930s, while the rest of the bar remained in about 1901 (the date on the façade outside does 
There aren’t any independent beer offerings (and no, Beavertown certainly doesn’t count nowadays), but it is possible to do the Big Three Stouts here for those who enjoy doing their blind Guinness/Murphy’s/Beamish tasting; we tend to prefer Beamish of the three, but all were in excellent shape. As an aside on the ‘comparing stouts’ point, this is a handy area for it –