Author Archive for Ryan

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Something a little bit different…

Published on April 11, 2006 in Announcements. 0 Comments

A new bit of content I’ve been meaning to slowly introduce for the longest time is the notion of posting hotel reviews. Given that now, more than ever, I’m staying in lots of hotels all around Ireland it’s time to give it a shot. Thank God we’ve got no kind of restrictive guidelines on the type of content we deal with! Although there are possibly many ways one could accurately review and rate a hotel, I’m going to try and confine myself to a short, sharp discussion on any or all of the below headings;

Greeting & Check-in
Appearance & Location
Staff & Service
Food
Internet Access*
Price

*Decided to include internet access in the list as I personally find it quite important to have functional access included as part of your stay in any hotel.

Irish Blog Awards; Voting open

Published on February 6, 2006 in Announcements. 0 Comments

Yep, the voting is now open over at the Irish Blog Awards. We are nominated under the “Best Group Blog” category so get voting! (well, only if you think we deserve it of course…)

And, as I’m pimping all over the shop today, vote for my photoblog Rymus {dot} Net in the categories of best photo blog and best blog post. (but again, only if you think I deserve it.. I’d hate to have anyone think I was trying to force votes out of people)

Irish Blog Awards; Nominate us!

Published on January 9, 2006 in Announcements. 0 Comments

The time for awards is almost upon us and nominations are being taken. So, the next logical step is to nominate this blog if you like it!

All the details are on the blog awards website. Simply send an email to irishawards [at] gmail [dot] com indicating you wish to nominate this site. It’s that easy! (now get to it)

Tom Barry’s

Published on January 8, 2006 in Cork. 18 Comments

If you hike your way up Barrack Street you’ll eventually find your way to Tom Barry’s, near The Tower Inn and directly across the road from Nancy Spains. It’s not a huge pub but it is quite comfortable and has (rather unexpectedly) a nice sized beer garden to the rear.

A few of us visited there on an impromptu pub review session recently. We ordered our drinks and made the usual small-talk at the bar when, after already taking the order, the barmaid turned and said “not tonight lads” or something to similar effect. Apparently we had already had our fill of drink, despite the fact that we had all (with the exception of our designated driver) only had one drink in the previous pub. It’s something you may expect if you’re in a very large group, maybe being a bit rowdy, probably not dressed in an acceptable way or being rude to the staff. We were none of the above. After standing there for several seconds in a mixture of stunned silence and absolute disbelief, three members of our group decided to leave and not bother contesting the fact whilst the last stayed on to try and get some sense out of the barmaid.

Apparently, and personally I find this to be the most idiotic excuse I’ve ever heard, the reason we were refused is because it appeared one of our group was too drunk to stay there. Who you may ask? Who is this alcohol infused gent who ruined our admittedly short night out? None other than our designated driver! Yes, the very person who was sipping on Coca-Cola products all night and driving us all home was obviously too drunk to sit in a bar, sipping on a 7up. Not vodka and 7up, not even 7up and crisps! Plain ol’ fizzy lemon & lime 7up.

Needless to say, the whole experience was highly embarrassing and quite infuriating and even if she had backed down and served our order, none of us would have stayed. The same member of our group who challenged her returned the next day to find out exactly what the issue was, only to be fed a completely different story than the previous night. It was now completely certain that there was no valid reason for her to refuse our service. Perhaps the tills were full for that night and they couldn’t possibly fit our money in no matter how much they tried. Couldn’t even shoehorn it in. It certainly wasn’t because we were drunk, rowdy, noisy or dressed incorrectly. Neither were we abusive or anyway interested in any kind of conflict after we were refused.

All this from one of the friendliest pubs in the city… supposedly anyway. I could use several words to describe the welcome you get in this pub, but they would all lack the required impact when read. Instead they should be shouted from the rooftops; perhaps of Nancy Spains. I sincerely doubt any of us will be in a rush to get back to Tom Barry’s. I’m certain I won’t be back there anyway. The friendliest pub around? I’m not too sure, I think I could find a friendlier pub in Loyalist Belfast. That’s a stretch, coming from a Catholic and all…

The Speckled Door

Published on December 23, 2005 in Cork. 0 Comments

And so it came to pass that I attended another karaoke evening; albeit this time an entirely organised, professional affair in this pub on the way out to the Old Head of Kinsale. It’s an isolated spot, populated by (I can only presume) mostly regulars and locals. The pub itself is far larger than I had imagined, so I suppose that set it off on the right foot. The staff are very pleasant and accomodating, possibly no different than you’d expect from a rural establishment.

The building itself houses a small diagonal bar, running parallel to the door as you walk in. Through some curtains there is a slightly larger conservatory area with an adjoining pool room. That’s pool table, not swimming pool. I don’t want anyone getting their hopes up too much.

Both the service and the pints are of the highly recommendable type, in fact I’d go as far as saying if you were passing or nearby you should make it your business to call in. Apparently they also do a mean Sunday lunch. Something I just may have to test out on one carefree weekend early next year.

As I was waffling on about, I was brought by karaoke and on arriving, wondered who was going to sing. There were, with no exaggeration, about 5 people present. No sooner had I make a sarcastic remark than the door flew open and in poured a bus load of drunk bloody teenagers. Students too! I can’t fault the pub for this, it really is an interesting find and one to explore more in the very near future.

Back to Normal?

Published on November 14, 2005 in Announcements. 0 Comments

After some shenanigans with an overly problematic server move, Munster Pubs seems (as far as I can currently tell anyway) to be back to normal. Apologies for the outage, and for any subsequent outage(s) that may occur as a direct result of whoever has their finger on the button.

The Comet

Published on November 2, 2005 in Dublin and Outside Munster. 0 Comments

Up there in Santry on Dublins northside, along a rather unassuming road is The Comet; a quite sizeable and comfortable pub. Once you wade through the now obligatory huddle of smokers outside the front door and get into the bar you’re greeted with a long room, bar on the left, the majority of seating on the right and toward the back. I was there recently for a wild night out with several wannabe pioneers. It isn’t an entirely uncomfortable place, it could be any one of hundreds of similar bars all over the country.

Anyone from anywhere in the land could happily walk in, have a few pints and think they’re back in their own home town. Every reasonable sized town in Ireland has a bar like this one. I couldn’t recommend it for any special reason, nor could I advise you stay out of there for any reason. If I were to rate any pub on a 1 to 10 scale, it’d be a 5. It’s the centre of the universe as far as your average drinker is concerned. Now the Guinness still takes like muck* to me, but perhaps my tastebuds are too used to finer things in life

If ever again I was to find myself in Santry and in need of a pint, I’d probably go back here; if only because I know where it is. I spoke to one barman, who thankfully quickly learned of my liking for the ‘new’ Guinness. A quick wink and a nod was all it took to get a fresh pint. I’d have to say that’s the only thing that stood out about this pub. Well, that and the interesting wall art in the bathroom. I don’t want to get into rating bathrooms however; that’d just be sad!

*with the exception of Brew 39; that stuff is magic!

RubyJones

Published on October 30, 2005 in Cork. 2 Comments

This pub has been closed for a long time. September ’09

At least I think that’s how they want it spelled… Towards the end of our stay in this new Douglas “cafe bar” (almost seems like a buzzword), a woman walking in made a comment about the majority of the downstairs seating being somewhat like McDonalds. I would agree; or rather say it’s like McDonalds on acid. Those that were familiar with this building when it was “Ryans” will see that it hasn’t changed much. The entire rear section has been converted into what I can only presume is a kitchen and the previously very rarely used upstairs is now a restaurant. The great circular bar that lived in the middle of the floorspace is now gone and has been replaced by a smaller operation.

That’s probably not a huge problem because at ?4.20 for a half litre of Murphys or any other beer, I doubt anyone will want to stay in there drinking. Oh yes, I said half litre. Pints are so last season dahling! Anyway, onto the food. As a fan of ceasar salad, I naturally went for a garlic chicken ceasar salad. The presentation & service were flawless, however I have to say I’ve had a nicer ceasar salad in KFC. Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Down there in Little Island. Thats the one…

The whole RubyJones experience seems overpriced to me but that’s to be expected for a brand new, super sophisticated eatery. It seems like a wise move to run a cafe bar in this location rather than another pub because as happened with Ryans, Barrys across the road would eat it alive. It could well last, if only for somewhere to meet friends and have a bite to eat before going out on the town for the evening. As I’ve already said, you aren’t going to be in here all night. You might as well be in Barrys or the East Village saving some money on each half litre. Sorry, I mean pint.

Food’s not too bad, price is a bit steep, the staff are friendly, the service is quick, the decor may leave you hoping you run into someone from “About the House” to do a bit of a makeover. What more can I say? Go in there for a bite with a few friends and check it out yourself.

More Changes

Published on October 29, 2005 in Announcements. 0 Comments

I’ve finally got around to moving the site to WordPress after much procrastination. The layout is still a little raw at the moment but we’ll get there eventually.

Two significant changes with the upgrade are;

Category pages are now (finally) sorted alphabetically. No more searching around aimlessly to find out what we’ve been saying about your local.
We are now accepting reviews from anyone with the ability to express an opinion. Register an account and write a review. It’s as simple as that. Guidelines/instructions are available.

More changes to come, including a bit of design on the theme side of things.

On new Guinness

Published on October 26, 2005 in Announcements. 5 Comments

Where to stick a topic with such potential for wildly varying opinions.. Announcements will have to do for now.

While in Dublin last weekend I chanced upon sampling a variation on the well worn Guinness theme. In a Santry pub I first managed to drink the entire contents of a pint of regular Guinness, much to the protesting of my taste buds, before I pondered on which direction I should take my evening of mild alcohol abuse. To the safe option and with the likes of Smithwicks or Carlsberg? Perhaps something a little more risque; like drinking Beamish outside the Cork border? No, instead to more Guinness!

The Brewhouse Series; something I’d heard in passing on national radio in the few days before visiting Dublin but now stuck out in my mind. If the reverse of the beermat is to be believed:

The Guinness Brewhouse Series is a range of new and different stouts from the Master Brewers at St. James’s Gate, each available for six months only in selected bars. Inspired by other stout recipes of Arthur’s time, and brewed to an exceptionally high standard, each stout in the series looks just like Guinness – but tastes just a little different.

First in the series is Guinness Brew 39 – a naturally smooth stout with a distinctive finish from the later addition of hops. We trust you’ll agree it’s a taste worth acquiring.

I, for one, agree! The stout as smooth Dean Martin wrapped in velvet has arrived. I could almost defect away from Murphys and consume Brew 39 for the rest of my days. It’s that nice. Surprised? I almost thought I was drinking God’s own private stash. I equally cursed and blessed those wonderful fools at St. James’s Gate for creating this liquid, if only to taunt us by destroying it in a few short months time.

What will replace it however? Brew 40? I’m intrigued. I may even drive to Dublin to taste the next one. It’ll be the ribwich to my Homer Simpson. But with the Guinness Jazz Festival coming up this weekend, how far will I have to travel for my next 39? The suspense will, in all likelyhood, drive me to drink.