The Irish Pub

I don't drink alcohol often but am fascinated by the appeal of the Irish pub. Even when it's not St. Patrick's day it's not hard to find an Irish pub....most places in the world, not just in Ireland. So I wonder why the Irish have set the world standard for what we call the local tavern. Hmmm,  Dublin, Ireland itself has 666 licensed pubs. I did some research about this, meaning you better get a stiff pint of Guinness to help you endure the reading of what I am going to write below Irish pubs. How did the Irish pub get started on it's reign of popularity?

Many claim that it was because of an 1843 Irish law that required recently deceased bodies to be delivered to the most immediate barroom in order to be sequestered in the establishment's cold storage until burial.  They mandated the body be put on ice. This created the relationship between mourning and imbibing that is a tenant of the pub tradition. You know the stereotype. The Irish brood and philosophize about the tragic moments in their lives while sipping beer in their pubs

But the first pub predates that ,law by quite some time. It dates from roughly 900 AD. and it still exists, as does another of those early pubs that was established in roughly 1100 AD. Another impetus to the popularity of the irish pub is a chain of convenience stores in Ireland called Spirit groceries. In Ireland in the 19th to early 20th century it was the equivalent to the convenience stores of today, being the place where Irish locals bought kitchen staples, household hardware, candy and yes... a pint of beer. It kind of imprinted beer as a daily habit for the Irish, not as a substance people use "to get drunk:. What followed Spirit's beer v ending habit was the family friendly atmosphere of the Irish pub. In those days travelers could stable their horses, stay the night, and drink a pint or two added to the hospitable pub tradition.  Today anyone can enter any Irish pub and be greeted and accepted as well as any local. I have found fewer friendlier places for strangers than a pub in a city, town or village in Ireland.

In the early twentieth century the Irish pub morphed into the community meeting place. More barrooms sprung up, with luxurious woodwork, mirrors and small private rooms, called snugs. In a snug even a  priest or police officer could drink an afternoon beer out of the public eye. Eventually, women joined the pub ritual, meaning the combination of all of the above influences listed above, plus a few modern flourishes, gave us the beloved pubs we know today that have spread to just about every beer drinking city in the world.

No doubt, Americans are mostly responsible for the spread of pubs outside of Ireland.  The 19th-century Irish immigration, spread the Irish population across the world. Wherever the Irish settled, they put down pub roots, and in no place more than the United States. Though St. Patrick's Day was generally a non drinking holiday in Ireland, it became an alcohol infused celebration in America and elsewhere. This increased the need for Irish themed pubs everywhere in the world. Americans were pleased to be the primary agents of that spread.. By the 1980s, the brewers of Guinness Stout and other corporations began deliberately building Irish style pubs around the world to better dispense their beer.  Irish pubs can now be found with ease even in places like Nepal , Azerbaijan, Uganda, Argentina, Japan,  and Ghana.

Still the best Irish pubs are still found in Ireland. They are practically a sanctuaries for near non drinkers like me, for anyone who enters one can nurse a single pint of Guinness and engage in stimulating and fun conversation with a myriad of characters, all with an Irish pub band rhapsodizing in the background. Even I will drink to that!