Totally Dublin 1
WORDS Martina Murray BLOOMSDAY BASH AT THE OARSMA
N SPIRITED CONTENDERS Dublin’s BAR 1661 has once again been named among the Top 10 Cocktail Menus in the World at the prestigious Spirited Awards. For the second year running, the tiny bar on Dublin’s northside has earned the nod for its ambitious 28-drink We Call This Power menu, lining up alongside heavyweight bars from New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore ahead of the July ceremony in New Orleans. Dave Mulligan’s unique deep-dive into poitín, craft spirits and homegrown producers helped push BAR 1661 into the global cocktail conversation last year when it made the world Top 4, a first for Ireland. Tardy Dubliners who haven’t yet checked it out are now being invited to come along and experience the menu properly for one last time before they unveil something completely new later this autumn. Expect drinks built around producers like Bán, Micil, Glendalough and Valentia Island Vermouth, with more than half the menu centred on poitín in all its forms. Choose from two experiences… The ‘Distilled’ which offers 14 drinks in 90 minutes, or the full ‘Immersive’, delivering all 28 serves across three gloriously boozy hours. BAR 1661’s guided tasting experiences run until August before the menu disappears for good. The clock is ticking - grab a seat on the terrace before it fades into distant memory like summer in the city. @bar1661dublin “A good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without passing a pub”. So wrote James Joyce in his 1904 novel Ulysses, which is celebrated once again this month with an eclectic day-long series of events in hostelries across the city. In honour of the occasion, The Oarsman, formerly known as Tunney’s Bar, is showing off its Joycean credentials and throwing itself headfirst into the literary craic with a gloriously old-school Bloomsday bash on Tuesday June 16th. The Ringsend pub, which dates back to 1816 and was namechecked twice in Ulysses, will be serving an all-day traditional Bloomsday breakfast featuring mutton kidneys, gorgonzola sandwiches and a glass of burgundy. There’ll also be readings, pints, general revelry and a Best Dressed competition encouraging guests to dust off the boaters, waistcoats and Edwardian finery. First prize bags a €100 food and drinks voucher, second place gets €50, while a runner-up will leave with two consolation drinks, which we suspect the man himself would think was more than fair enough. Early bird tickets are €22, while walk-ins by anyone planning a more spontaneous literary pilgrimage are also welcome. If you’ve ever wanted to honour Irish literature while eating kidneys in a historic pub beside the Liffey, this is your moment. bloomsday.ie