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
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