There are people claiming Irish heritage in every single county of the United States, more than 31.5 million people altogether, so it only makes sense that they’d want somewhere to drink. Consequently, with so many Irish Americans in every corner of the country, Irish pubs and bars have become quite commonplace. While all of the Irish watering holes have their own elements that make them unique, there are some things that you’ll almost always spot at an Irish tavern in the USA.
In Ireland, it became law to have the owner’s name over the pub’s door and that’s a tradition that has carried over to the USA. While it’s not a legal requirement to have the Irish bar or pub say the owner’s name, Irish drinking dens will almost always be named with an Irish first or last name, even if it’s far from the owner’s real name.
At any Irish inn you’re bound to find Irish music, Irish drinks and of course, an Irish flag – often referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' – hanging above the bar. And just in case you get swept up in the setting and forget for a moment which country you’re actually in, the Irish flag will be accompanied by the red, white and blue of the Stars and Stripes.
No matter where in the world it’s located, any good Irish bar – or even any bad Irish bar – is going to have Guinness on tap. Basically, if an Irish bar doesn’t have Guinness, it’s not an Irish bar. In addition to having Guinness on tap, the bars will likely also have lots of Guinness signage and accompanying pub paraphernalia.
What Irish bar experience is complete without music? While a bar in Galway might have a traditional, Celtic band playing, in the USA you’re more likely to find a group of highly intoxicated people screaming the lyrics to 'I’m Shipping Up to Boston.'
Let’s be real, you’re going to see sports on a large TV in almost any bar you walk into in the USA, but Irish bars, long known for their communal spirit, have become the perfect spot to grab a pint and watch the big game, whatever game that may be. If you're an expat living in the US, this is where you should come to watch the Six Nations.
Lots of pubs in Ireland date back over a century or more, so it’s not hard to imagine James Joyce or Oscar Wilde sitting in a weathered booth pondering their next written work. Irish taverns in the USA typically tend to be less historic, but they still try to keep up the image. Whether it’s a dirty mirror, an old bookshelf or a worn-down bar, there will always be some piece of decor to harken back to the old days.
If you’re hankering for some mutton or black pudding, it’s rare that you’re going to find it at an Irish bar, or in fact anywhere in the USA. That doesn’t mean you won’t find some version of Irish food, it’ll just be, well, Americanized; something along the lines of the self-explanatory Guinness beer cheese dip, or Irish nachos, made with fried potatoes instead of tortilla chips.
Minimalism might be on trend, but Irish bars have never been the place for trend-setting, they’ve always been places of comfort. It's safe to say you can expect to see massive menus and Ireland-inspired decor filling every nook and cranny available.
Sure, Irish bars in the USA will have celebrations for plenty of holidays (Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc.), but the granddaddy of them all is St. Patrick’s Day — a day perfectly crafted to be celebrated in an Irish pub. Every Ireland-themed drinking den in the USA is guaranteed to have a fun St. Patrick’s Day party in store for its patrons year after year.
No Irish watering hole in the USA is going to be an entirely authentic experience, you’re not in Dublin after all, but the proprietors of these establishments try their best. While they can’t always serve authentic Irish cuisine or authentic Irish imported beverages, they’ll make it authentic to their own experience, serving up local delicacies and regional craft brews.