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pub/beer recommendations on the north coast

Started by CC, August 23, 2017, 05:10:07 PM

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CC

well lads...
a shout here for members up near the north coast-

heading on a break to visit the north coast of antrim- giant's causeway, portrush, portstewart and on over to Donegal for a few days.
any recomendations for good pubs for a beer/bite to eat in that neck of the woods??

irish_goat


CC

no set plans at this stage- kind of a ' sure lets head north and see how we go' type of trip.... we'll be in the vicinity alright so might well end up taking a night in derry

irish_goat

Few good spots in Derry;

Walled City Brewery is just over the Peace Bridge and has mainly their own stuff plus a few other nordie beers. It's primarily a restaurant so you have to eat and then it's not really a place for hanging around. Food is very nice though and they've a good cocktail selection too if you're bringing someone who's not mad into beer. You can see the brewery but it's only a 200L braumeister, nothing too exciting to see really.

Guildhall Taphouse is right in town and has a big beer selection but only a few craft normally a Kinnegar, Northbound, BrewDog and I think there's a Sullivans tap there at the minute. They sometimes have their own beer, Dopey Dick. Ask for a sample before you commit to buying a pint is all I'll say about that. Food is served during the daytime and is quite good for the price. Their sister pub, The Grand Central, also has a Kinnegar tap and a few different bottles but it suffered in the flooding last night and is closed for a few days at least, until they get floors redone.

Blackbird, nice bar with live music, decent cocktails and Kinnegar, Northbound and BrewDog on tap, plus a few bottles.

There's not much else of note. You'll find Northbound bottles in most bars and the odd Farmageddon too. Both wetherspoons will be closed by Sunday so there'll be no more £1.70 pints of cask and £3 craft beers unfortunately.

Ceedee

QuoteBoth wetherspoons will be closed by Sunday

Closed for good? I wasn't a regular but they had a good selection

irish_goat

Quote from: Ceedee on August 23, 2017, 07:48:02 PM
QuoteBoth wetherspoons will be closed by Sunday

Closed for good? I wasn't a regular but they had a good selection

Yep, a Belfast based pub chain called "Granny Annie's" has bought them(and 3 other spoons' in the north). They've taken out all the craft, replaced it with basically every draught lager on the market and are now claiming to have Derry's biggest beer selection (literally 14 lagers, Roundstone ale and Diageo stout). Ironic that a British chain pub sold more Irish products than an Irish one does. The 2nd spoons finishes this Sunday but I'm hoping they come back soon.


onesoma

If you make it over past Letterkenny, the Tap Room in Rathmullan house is well worth a visit. Great pizzas, all the Kinnegar regulars on tap, and usually a good selection of the Kinnegar specials in bottle too.

You could visit the Kinnegar brewery in Letterkenny too if your timing works out, they do tours on certain days.

http://www.rathmullanhouse.com/the-tap-room.html

JDC

Unfortunately, Portrush's best craft beer pub (Brew Note) was short lived and is no more.  Kiwi's (as Ciaran said above) is the next best thing.  Owned by Chris from New Zealand, surprise surprise, he does actually have some nice beers on offer.  If you don't see anything on draught, have a look at the bottle selection – it was impressive when I was there last summer as he gets some nice ones not normally available from NZ.  If Chris is willing to show you around, it's actually an impressive old building – Northern Ireland's only licensed Cinema I believe.

Portrush also has a brewery now in the form of Lacada.  They are not set up for tours and keep a low profile in the town, but I gave them a shout and they happily showed me around.  We also went to Walled City Brewery in Derry, but as irish_goat says, it is more of a restaurant than a pub, so you can't really drop in for just a drink.

Enjoy the trip!
Garden County Brewers

https://gcbrewers.wordpress.com/

Give a man a beer, waste an hour. Teach a man to brew, and waste a lifetime!

CC