For a brief time be not of this place, but let your spirit take flight across the gray sea and verdant ground. To the land of Carolan and Joyce. A domain where words, voice and song become one in celebration of God’s grand design!
How I spent my Saint Patrick’s Day
Saint Patrick’s Day is certainly a fun day for me, but is also a very busy one. I make my living as a musician, and I have been known to sing more than a few Irish folk tunes in my day. So St. Patty’s Day, while certainly a fun celebration, is a big business day for me as well. This year, like the last few years, I spent it playing at an exemplary Irish pub in Cranford, NJ called the Kilkenny House.
St. Pattys Day crowd at the Kilkenny House spills out into the streets
First, let me just say I simply love this place. It is a true Irish pub, run by great people and frequented by regulars who love Irish music, good drink, and a great pub. On Saint Patrick’s Day it seems all the regulars come to celebrate at their favorite place and they each bring a dozen of their best friends with them! Needless to say the place was predictably packed, so much so that the crowd spilled out onto the the streets, soaking in the wonderful weather and the perfect pints.
Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale
Speaking of perfect pints, the Kilkenny House had a pleasantly welcome surprise for me on this most joyous of holidays. It seems the week before they received a few barrels of my favorite Irish beer, Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale. Like I said a couple of weeks ago on this blog, if you were able to find this brew at your Irish Pub of choice on Saint Patrick’s Day you should consider yourself luck. Well, thankfully that luck found me!
By Dave McBride
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
The day has arrived. It’s time to sing Irish songs, lift a good pint and wear the green. The pages of the American Public House Review are filled with great places to enjoy the holiday, and for that I suggest you check out the “Celtic Pubs” section of the Backbar. But to celebrate the season, this week we bring you new articles from two top Irish pubs.
McGovern's in Newark, NJ
The first is the story of Newark’s legendary Irish institution, McGovern’s. The second comes from the Finger Lakes and Maloney’s pub in Hammondsport, NY.
from inside Maloney's in Hammondsport, NY
So from all of us here at Pub Talk and the American Public House Review, we wish you safe and fun Saint Patrick’s Day. Slainte!
By Dave McBride
Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; the Palm Trees of Ireland
In today’s installment of Pub Talk’s Countdown to St. Patty’s Day, we take you to County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland to show you some of the Emerald Isle’s more tropical scenery.
palm trees in Ireland
I loved this photograph from the moment I took it. Believe it or not, I was trying just to photograph the Guinness Bar sign. It wasn’t until after looking at the photo on the screen did I realize there were palm trees! I had to look up and ask the folks around me if they really were palm trees. After looking at me a bit strange they said yes, and these are not the only palm trees I would find in Ireland.
Kilorglin, County Kerry
The photo was taken outside the Red Fox Inn, which is part of the Kerry Bog Village. Located just outside the town of Kilorglin along the Ring of Kerry, a breathtaking road winding along the southwest coast, the Village is a historical site which recreates rural Ireland of the 18th century. But like any good tourist destination in Ireland, and any worthy stop along a well travelled thoroughfare, it also has watering hole. (And palm trees!)
by Dave McBride
Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; Our Annual Pilgrimage to Jim Thorpe, PA
Today we find ourselves only one week from Saint Patrick’s Day. And since the upcoming weekend is one normally filled with holiday celebrations, I thought I might take this opportunity to suggest a place to get your Irish on, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
It seems every Saint Patrick’s Day, we here at Pub Talk and the American Public House Review make some mention of the St. Patty’s Day Parade in Jim Thorpe. That’s because all of us have a true affection for the event and the people we have met there over the years. For us, it is trip we look forward to for most of the year, and one the never seems to disappoint. Let me just say this without getting in to too much detail, the folks of Jim Thorpe know how to honor the holiday properly.
So if you plan on heading out to Jim Thorpe this weekend, be ready for something near an Irish-American Mardi Gras. And if you know where to go and who to ask, you may just find most of the staff of the American Public House Review taking in the festivities. We will either be tending bar, hanging precariously out of windows, singing Irish songs, or trading shots of whiskey for musket-fire. It’s just all in a day’s work here at the Review!
by Dave McBride
Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; Michael Collins, the man and the whiskey
What would be a St. Patty’s Day Countdown without a suggestion or two for the perfect Irish Whiskey to toast in the holiday? My personal favorite for just the right drop of the “water of life” is Michael Collins. (Well, let me clarify that and say “one” of my favorites! There is a reasonable chance this not the only whiskey to feature in our countdown.)
This fantastic whiskey comes from the “last independent distillery in Ireland”, the Cooley Distillery in County Louth on the northeast coast of the Republic of Ireland. Besides being very, very drinkable, Michael Collins is best known because it bares the name of one of Ireland’s greatest heroes and someone who should be remembered by all who celebrate during the Saint Patrick’s Day season.
Collins was born in West Cork in 1890 to a family of 8 children. He was the youngest of three sons and his father’s namesake. The young Michael was only six years old when his father died. On his deathbed, the elder Collins was said to have told his family the boy would one day do great things for Ireland, certainly a prophetic statement.
Michael Collins was among those who took part in the Easter Rising of 1916, the event that set in motion a pathway to Irish independence. In the years following the Rising, Collins rose to became a leader in the Republican movement. He led a successful underground guerilla war against the Crown, essentially crushing the British Intelligence forces in Ireland, and grew into a mythic figure in the process. He subsequently took part in the negotiations with the United Kingdom for Ireland’s independence. The treaty he signed, however, caused a split in the republican movement and a brutal civil war followed. Collins was shot and killed in the town of Beal na mBlath in his native County Cork in 1922.
Michael Collins may only have lived barely more than thirty years, but in that time he accomplished things most men could only dream to accomplish in a full lifetime. There is so much more about the “Big Fellow” I could say, but many authors have done a far better and more thorough job of telling his story than I ever possibly could. So instead I ask that this Saint Patrick’s Day you raise a glass with me, perhaps of Michael Collins Whiskey, and toast to one of Ireland’s great patriots.
By Dave McBride
Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; Apparently Now Everybody’s Irish
In yesterday’s post we learned a bit about President Barack Obama’s Celtic roots, thanks in no small part to the musical genius and handiwork of the Corrigan Brothers. This talented trio from County Tipperary, now living and taking their libations in Limerick, have once again reminded us of that all of humanity is bound by a common thread and a divine spark. We are all Irish–Especially on St. Patrick’s Day!
So let us raise a pint and join Gerald, Brian and Donncha Corrigan as they perform what will most likely become Erin’s next great anthem!
Click on the You Tube link to hear “Saint Patrick’s Day (everybody’s Irish)”
Posted by: Chris Poh
Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; The Guinness Storehouse
Let’s be honest, when people on this side of the pond think of Ireland, many of them conjure up images in their mind of green rolling hills, ancient castles, and pint glasses slowly filling with that delicious black nectar we call Guinness. So while we anxiously look forward to the holiday season of St. Patrick’s Day, it’s hard not to pine a bit for a toast of that legendary stout.
Take my word for it, for whatever reason the Guinness is better in Ireland. I have heard many many theories as to why this is, but all I know for certain is that it is true. And it is even better yet at the Guinness Storehouse itself, which is not surprisingly Ireland’s number one tourist attraction.
If you have never been to the Guinness Storehouse, prepare yourself to read an article on the American Public House Review that is certain to fill you with not only a longing to head to this epicenter of brewing history and culture, but also a little jealousy and maybe the spirit of the holiday as well. A couple of years ago, Madeleine Best Henn sent APHR a story from her pilgrimage to Dublin and for everyone who dreams of going there, it provides all the motivation you will need to hop the pond.
by Dave McBride
Countdown to St. Pattys Day; a tribute to Luke Kelly
Today’s stop on Pub Talk’s Countdown to St. Patty’s Day takes us to the enchanting world of Irish music as we pay tribute to one of it’s iconic singers, Luke Kelly.
a portrait of Luke Kelly by Brendan Higgins
Luke Kelly was born in Dublin in 1940 and grew up in a working class family. He spent some of his early years as a musician in England, but returned to Dublin where he met the men who would soon become the Dubliners. The band made its start at the now famous O’Donoghue’s Pub sessions. I was told Kelly himself suggested the band name the group “The Dubliners” after the James Joyce book, but I don’t know that for certain. (Makes a great story though, if true)
Kelly had that combination of frustration and tenderness in his voice that somehow defines the very spirit of Dublin before the Celtic Tiger years. His delivery was no doubt one of passion and strength. But there was a palpable sincerity to him that few singers in any genre have ever repeated.
O'Donoghues Pub in Dublin
The Dubliners are a group that have been somewhat lost to the american Irish-folk scene, but perhaps that was not entirely an accident. I once heard the band’s fiddler John Sheahan explain how when they came to United States to play the Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan refused to allow them to play their hit “Seven Drunken Nights”, a playful song with a lyric not befitting Sullivan’s famously stringent moral standards. The band played something else instead, but the experience convinced them that the States were just too stuffy for their brand of raucous pub music and they never really tried to break into the market again. In hindsight, it was probably the best decision they ever made because the Dubliners and Luke Kelly certainly didn’t need any restraints.
Rather than present a song from Luke Kelly himself or the Dubliners, I would like to present you with a wonderful tribute to Kelly by a great singer named Billy Mulligan. We presented Mulligan’s “Song for Luke Kelly” some time back on the APHR Jukebox. Click here and enjoy!
by Dave McBride
Pub Talk’s Countdown to St. Patty’s Day; the Rock of Cashel
The Pub Talk Countdown continues, and as we get closer to Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought a few photos from Ireland may help to put you in the holiday spirit. Today’s photo is from the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, perhaps Ireland’s most iconic building.
The Rock of Cashel
Once the home of the High Kings of Munster, no one knows exactly when the Rock of Cashel was built, but we do know it was around for hundreds of years before the Norman invasion of Ireland in 12th century. It is a sacred and well as historic site, as legend has it Saint Patrick himself converted the High King to catholicism on this spot sometime during the 5th century. The Rock of Cashel was handed over to the church in 1101 and it served for centuries as the seat of one of Ireland’s archbishops. That is until Oliver Cromwell came around…
by Dave McBride
