Discover our Pub of the Month for November
Situated at the inner southside end of the city in Rathmines, Blackbird is a beer-centric pub with an outdoor beer garden, a huge interior with an integrated old mans bar and an array of little snugs. It has a trendy, yet warm and lively atmosphere, where you can chill on a leather sofa under dim lighting or get toe-tapping to some banging tunes. It is contemporary and has style, but is also old school at heart!
The decor is as eccentric as the customers, with a mix of reclaimed and repurposed items. You could be sitting on an floral tiger-claw-distressed couch one minute or a primary school chair the next. Once your eyesight adjusts and the lens widens, everywhere you look is a visual feast! With candles, mad tables, duck wallpaper, arcade games tucked away, paintings of Luke Kelly and the likes, as well as religious memorabilia. We are told this harks back to when people went on holidays to top 80’s + 90’s destinations – Lourdes and Knock, bringing back gifts to their local pubs. You could walk around for days looking for new stuff and we love the ‘in for a penny in for a pound’ attitude the interior design. 
Blackbird is the brainchild of Paul Mc Nulty – AKA P’Mac and is managed by Dave, Phil and Rory. We chatted with Dave to get the inside scoop on the pub. He tells us that anyone is likely to walk in the door, from priests, bikers, artists, musicians, 18 year olds, 60 year olds… encapsulating everything great about Dublin’s creative, community-based culture! A diverse clientele is a great thing and they pull them in with their equally diverse range of beers, with 32 Taps serving predominantly craft! They are great supporters of quality Irish craft beer, all great value for money.
Why Rascals? They have backed Rascals since day one! Dave remembers (with a tear in his eye) the day we launched our first two beers ‘Ginger Porter’ and ‘Wit Woo’ all those years ago – we have come a long way since then! They find that our beer does well, is enjoyable and big on quality and we are delighted with their support. We are big supporters of Blackbird too, with founders Cathal & Emma literally living 10 doors away, they can often be seen tucked away, tucking into tasty beers! Shane the brewer is another local who tipples away in here – they always have something new & interesting to try.
Big shout out to the staff in here too. Staff are integral to the character of this bar, and when speaking with Dave he oozes passion for the bar and beers he is selling. The staff have a great personality and that’s the first thing they look for when hiring someone – from the bar staff, cleaners to the managers, they are like one big happy family!
If you haven’t already checked it out we are having a massive beer launch on Thursday 9th from 7 – 10pm. We will have 5 beers on tap, including our new Milkshake Stout, OK New England IPA, our OTHERKIN collaboration beer and our barrel aged Flanders Red Ale. We will bring our Spinning wheel to win prizes such as tickets to see OTHERKIN in the Button Factory, a signed album, t-shirts and beers beers beers!
Call in and tell them we sent ya!
