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The export and installation of pre-made Irish bars
- freehunter 10y ago> assiduous: showing great care, attention, and effort Just thought I would define the word since I think the OP went out of his way to use a 10-dollar word buried deep in the text that wasn't in the original title. On the subject of the article, though: next you're going to tell me the Mexican cantina I visited in Milwaukee isn't actually as authentic as the name implies! At least I know Little Bangkok in Philadelphia is the genuine thing. Right?
- snogglethorpe 10y agoThe notable thing about "Irish" bars, I think, is that there are so many of them in non-Irish places, compared to other types of "nation-branded drinking establishment."
- Malic 10y agoNow you got me wondering if there is place in the world for "Wisconsin-style Taverns", complete with shorty-beer chasers for Bloody Marys, beer brewer branding signage styled from the 50s, and dollar bills stuck to the ceiling by darts...
- arethuza 10y agoOr authentic flat roof Scottish pubs?
- maxerickson 10y agoIsn't that just a dive bar?
- ben1040 10y agoMost dives I've been to have two of the three, and in lieu of the bloody mary beer chaser they've got a 2 for one special on a shot of cheap whisky and a PBR.
- wcummings 10y ago>dollar bills stuck to the ceiling by darts... This sounds terrifying I don't want a dart to fall on my head!
- CalRobert 10y agoLiving in Dublin, I would be thrilled to find a southern California dive bar with hoppy IPA's, shuffleboard, and an outdoor seating area. For those who've been, something like Hamilton's in San Diego. Some of them have the first and last (Beer Market near Christchurch comes to mind), but none have quite managed the shuffleboard.
- dpeck 10y agoAfter reading your first sentence I was going to mention Beer Market. I was in Ireland for the college football game at Avia last September and my hoppy beer loving friends took up residence there for the couple of days that we were in Dublin. Great place.
- strictnein 10y agoProblem is that New Glarus is only available in Wisconsin. So the best Wisconsin beer option wouldn't be available elsewhere. Another thing I've seen in a number of Wisconsin taverns and dive bars: small beer glasses that hold ~10oz (300ml) max that they give you with your bottle of beer.
- TorKlingberg 10y agoI have definitely seen American-style bars in Europe and Japan. You get New York-themed, Californian, Hawaiian and generic American. Often with '50s decorations.
- kohanz 10y agoThanks for that definition. I didn't know the word, but it for some reason carried a negative connotation for me. Perhaps because I linked it with "insidious"?
- sixo 10y agoI think it's the way it's used - the headline seems to suggest that these prefab bars are cheap imitations of real culture, but assiduous doesn't actually participate in that connotation.
- dang 10y agoI think it's the exporting that was being described as assiduous. However, since the word is needless we've omitted it above.
- freehunter 10y agoI also thought negatively of the word before I looked it up. I honestly do feel the HN headline was chosen specifically to drive emotions like that, there's no other reason for it to differ so wildly from the article headline.
- arjie 10y agoI mean, it's interesting that it's been packaged up so well.
- bluedino 10y ago>> the Mexican cantina I visited in Milwaukee Every 'Mexican' restaurant around here has the same furniture, menus, plates. It all has the exact same hand-painted looking Mexican caricatures and scenes on it it. So tacky.
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- owenversteeg 10y agoI've got to say, compared to a lot of other prefabricated faux-cultural establishments these pubs seem pretty nice. Handmade wooden stuff, things made in Ireland, made by Irish people... doesn't seem half bad. Sure, in an ideal world the bar would have its own completely genuine charm, and would be handmade, and the carvings would be whittled by the owner's son... but this strikes me as a pretty good compromise given the harsh realities of starting a new pub/restaurant.
- gech 10y agoPretty sad though, the loss of authenticity. And the resignation of a comment like this. Also the part about how customers should accept it because of the considerations capital has in starting it up.
- CPLX 10y agoI'm not convinced it's particularly inauthentic. It's an Irish bar made by Irish people in Ireland purporting to be exactly what it is.
- schwap 10y agoI don't think 'authenticity' is that simple. I'm a Canadian, I love hockey and have a pretty good understanding of it. I could make a 'hockey stick' shape out of plywood and paint it up to look good, and you could even in theory use it to smack a puck around, but its still not an authentic hockey stick.
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- CalRobert 10y agoAnd yet I never found an Irish pub in the US that understood music shouldn't be so loud it makes your ears bleed. Or that we have a number of great beers, not just Guinness (Galway Hooker, White Gypsy, and Porterhouse come to mind... though I think the last is available in NY)
- afarrell 10y agoI wish there was a better way to get craft beer/cider from other areas of the world. I suspect the biggest obstacle is regulation, but I wish it was at least possible to get from airports.
- ashark 10y agoI'd guess the biggest obstacle is competition, actually. There's excellent local craft beer in even smallish midwestern cities, plus a substantial selection of top-notch beers from the region and the rest of the country. It's different for, say, wine, because the economics are weird (the economics of grape growing and terroir in particular) and even with an ~2x markup from import and shipping you can grab a random $12 bottle of (say) Spanish wine and there's a very good chance it'll be a hell of a lot better than a random Californian at the same price point, plus, ignoring questions of quality, there's going to be significant demand for (especially) French wine for reputation and signaling reasons. European protection/assurance of production processes probably aids consumer confidence in European versus new-world wine, too, especially on the lower end. Beer? I can get some damn good $10 US-made 4-packs. I've had some really wonderful $5 bombers. Good luck competing with that after the cost of importing, unless you've got something incredibly special.
- Retric 10y agoIn terms of taste testing and actual preference California has plenty of great wines. The real difference is why get's exported from Spain not what the average Spanish wine is like.
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- csixty4 10y agoReminds me of An Irish Pub Song by The Rumjacks. "There's a county map to go on the wall, A hurling stick & a shinty ball, The bric, the brac, the craic & all, Lets call it an Irish pub, Caffreys, Harp, Kilkenny on tap, The Guinness pie & that cabbage crap, The ideal wannabee Paddy trap, We'll call it an Irish pub"
- dingaling 10y agoThe corned beef and cabbage was a surprise the first time I visited an Irish-themed bar. The house gave me it complimentary ( for being Irish, I didn't emphasise the northern aspect ) and it was the first time I had ever eaten it... Even more surprising was that many of them had a cocktail called a 'Carbomb' which they thought I'd find amusing. Pity I didn't have one called 'Wheelbarrow' in response. Eventually we found a pub in Chicago called Celtic Crossing without adornments and with a Belfast barman who sold Club Orange fizzy-juice and Tayto crisps. Bliss.
- reneherse 10y agoThanks for the cultural insight. I always wondered if the so-called "black and tan" beer cocktail was something that would be considered offensive to Irish people, although it's widely served in Irish-themed pubs here in the US.
- fudged71 10y agoIn Kilkenny I had to teach the bartender how to make a Black and Tan (with a spoon). She had never heard of it, people gathered around to watch. They thought we were so strange.
- CalRobert 10y agoMany of my acquaintances consider it to be named in poor taste. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tans "... In the summer of 1920, the Black and Tans burned and sacked many small towns and villages in Ireland, beginning with Tuam in County Galway in July 1920 and also including Trim, Balbriggan, Knockcroghery, Thurles and Templemore amongst many others. In November 1920, the Tans "besieged" Tralee in revenge for the IRA abduction and killing of two local RIC men. They closed all the businesses in the town, let no food in for a week and shot dead three local civilians. ..."
- waistland01 10y agoJust the other day I was talking with friends about how we all perceived the high quantity of cheap-to-medium-priced Irish bars in virtually every American city we know, especially compared to how much the average person could give a shit if his bar is Irish. It's almost like those bars aren't even Irish themed, but rather that Irish culture is themed as cheap bars.
- ben1040 10y agoOn a family trip to Disney World we wound up in an Irish themed restaurant that claimed to have been built in Ireland and shipped over. The idea seemed weird, I had no idea one could build a whole business around prefab Irish pubs.
- madcaptenor 10y agoI had suspected this existed, because it's pretty obvious from just being in the US that "generic Irish bar that could be anywhere in the US" is a thing. Low-end American-Chinese restaurants are the same way.
- nerdponx 10y agoIn the US, there's a chain of Hibachi restaurants that are made of old traditional-style buildings that were shipped over from Japan. It's called Gasho [0]. [0]: http://www.gasho.com/about-us/ http://www.gasho.com/about-us/
- yunolisten 10y ago> "Meet the Companies Literally Dropping ‘Irish’ Pubs in Cities Across the World" They don't literally drop them.
- RugnirViking 10y agoIndeed, I was rather disappointed to find out this as well :( Would have loved to read about accidents with cranes and such things :P
- yunolisten 10y agoI'm more disappointed by misuse of the language
- arca_vorago 10y agoA good irish bar is about the only place I can get people to go to where we can have a conversation in a booth with high wooden walls and not have our ears bleeding from loud music. The few irish bars that don't even do that are bound to fail. I don't really care if the bar is a premade transplant, as long as it fills that role well. I have long wished the US would learn to have more pubs in that booth style, geared towards good alcohol and conversation, rather than music. English, Irish, Scottish, the structure is far too few between. In the college town I am in I have thought a really cool bar would be a library/bar, designed for study groups, where you could bring a good non-fiction book and get a free drink or discount on one, and have an attached sleep-pod structure to encourage people to not drive drunk. Less sports bars, more intellectual bars...
- Arizhel 10y ago>I have long wished the US would learn to have more pubs in that booth style, geared towards good alcohol and conversation, rather than music. >Less sports bars, more intellectual bars... You're in the wrong country for that kind of thing. Americans don't like intellectualism. Just look at our elections.
- arca_vorago 10y agoI understand the frustration of the current state of things, but please don't write off 324 million people as all lacking intellectual traits. They are there, just far too hidden, with fewer places to congregate and not nearly as loud. Making fun of everyone for being ignorant is easy, putting effort into fostering the antithesis is much harder, but a more worthy cause.
- stephancoral 10y agoFirst off - are you like sixteen years old? You're writing off hundreds of millions of people. Many of the best universities in the world are located in, funded by, and populated with Americans. Americans in college towns probably tolerate or perhaps, yes, even like 'intellectualism'. A bar like that could very well become a community institution and reputable business. Have some perspective.
- fudged71 10y agoPeople in this thread talking about "authenticity" remind me of this article about Chinese restaurants across Canada: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey-nation/article30539419/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chop-suey-... It's interesting how they came to be so widespread, helped their local communities, and starting creating regional dishes (like Ginger Beef)
- Animats 10y agoPrefab faux interiors are common, but they're usually chains. Hungry Hunter (bankrupt 2008) had many identical looking restaurants, including an identical fake stuffed bear. Hollister, the poser surfer brand, built many identical-looking stores. Each with a fake surfboard with the fake signature of a famous surfboard maker, who sued them and won.
- kelvin0 10y agoI'm personally waiting for the Nigerian-Internet-Cafe theme to start my own in Canada.
- logfromblammo 10y agoThe last "Irish pub" I visited was essentially just a regular bar and grill with a vaguely Irish-ish menu. After departing, the entire family said (paraphrasing), "WTF was that? That was about as Irish as a mariachi playing a didgeridoo." They didn't even get a "you tried" sticker. Mostly, we don't care about authenticity in restaurants. We just want thematic consistency. And the theme for an "Irish pub" is fish and chips, Guinness stew, and marginally classier decor than the rathole bar down the street. We know, deep down, that Outback Steakhouse is really only Australia-themed, rather than authentically Australian. But you'd better not break character when you're running one, buddy. You have to keep those stupid boomerangs nailed up on the walls. And that's all the phenomenon is. It's a brand identity. It says "inexpensive, but not cheap", and it says "comfort food", and it says "automatic seasonal business every March".
- Lio 10y agoWhenever I go on holiday I very much enjoy collecting beer mats from "Irish" bars[1]. The jackpot would be somewhere like an airport. On return I then give these to my Irish mother ...she not being a fan of the "authentic" "Irish" bar experience is what makes this funny. I am a bad son. [1] Not counting actual Irish pubs in actual Irland. ;)