#101. Slainte House. Georgetown, KY

320 East Main Street

Guinness Tag: $6.50 | Overall Rating: 9.60

Today's Dedicated Pint: Christa Lehosky

Fancy seeing you here. It feels like it's been months since the last Pub rating (Butch McGuire's), but it's only been a week! For those of you who are coming here immediately after reading my book, Stepping Foot Inside Every Irish Pub in America, welcome back to the show. Our feet our wet, but now it's time to dive in and really make a splash on this thing. It's taken a couple of years to get to my 101st Pub of all time, but something tells me it's going to take much less time to get to the 201st. Our eyes are set on getting to our 1,000th Pub, and I hope you join me throughout it all. If you haven't read my book, then you gotta find someone who owns one and force them to lend it to you. Or better yet, be a badass and buy one!

I'm not going to get all deep with these articles moving forward. As I said somewhere in the last few pages of my book, the Drunken Mallard is all about Irish Pubs, and I'll never drift away from that. The Irish Pub scene is the main focus, but I'll discretely and lightly find ways to fill you in on the book's overhang. With all of that being said (I'm sorry for any of you who haven't read my book and are totally clueless right now), let's stumble into the Slainte House.

I wasn't expecting the Slainte House of Georgetown, KY to be anything special. I picked it because it's the closest Irish Pub south of downtown Cincinnati that I haven't been to. I'm currently driving to Charlotte, NC to help my parents with a few things as they sell our family home of 30+ years for a nice retirement in Florida. I figured I'd stop in a bunch of Pubs on the way down. I have this one, a few in Lexington, a couple in Knoxville, TN, and a new one in Charlotte on the docket. I'm so flippin' glad I stopped in the Slainte House, and I'm especially glad it was my first one since publishing my book!

It turns out that the Slainte House is the first bar in all of Georgetown to sell alcohol since the prohibition. Not only that: they only opened up 9 years ago! It took this long since the bootleggers of the prohibition days for this county to become a "wet" one. I also happened to accidentally bend my elbows here on their 9th year anniversary. I mean, call it a coincidence (because it is), but what way to kick off these next 900 Pubs on this daunting journey ahead. Leave it to the Irish to keep ending the prohibition in the United States! I couldn't be prouder.

The place is literally a house. As you walk through the front door, you can choose to hang out in the family room, the (what used to be) kitchen, the bedrooms upstairs, or the main bar to the left of the stairwell. You can even hang out in the backyard where you'll find beautiful greenery, another bar, event space, and the fountain from Money Pit where the child is peeing into the water butt naked. I walked inside every room and they all have their own styles and vibes. You'll even find a couple of steel tip dart boards upstairs (yes, of course I threw a few).

As I snagged a barstool at the main bar, I heard a few of the regulars asking the bartender why she was tending bar today. Apparently, she only works behind the bar once a month, so I guess whenever she does tend bar it's a treat for everyone. She was a treat, by the way, as she talked to me about Cincinnati and some other fun things. She poured the black stuff in a 16oz glass which was disappointing. Is it too much to ask for a traditional pint of Guinness inside the first place to sell one since the prohibition? I'm going to gripe really quick if you don't mind, but America's average price per Guinness keeps rising while more and more bars choose to pour it in a smaller glass. We're paying more and receiving less. It's a travesty that most of society doesn't even notice, but I'm here to point it out. Every Irish Pub should pour their Guinness in a traditional, 20oz glass. Leave it to Applebee's and places like that to under deliver on authenticity.

Anyway, as you sit at the bar, your eyes will never be bored as the walls are packed to the gills with decor and photographs. You'll probably find horse racing on one TV (we are in Kentucky) and either the news or sports on the other. Everyone here, including the guests and staff, were all chatty Cathies. You can tell the locals continue to support this place for many good reasons, with the Craic certainly being one of them. It's obvious that the owners put an immense amount of time and effort into making this place one of a kind. They did a phenomenal job with the countless furnishings, crown moulding, selective tap handles, and patio. The patio has a small hint of Pat O'Brien's from New Orleans attached to it (in my opinion).

At the end of the day, the Slainte House covers all of the basics and a pinch more. It's located perfectly near the quaint downtown area of Georgetown, as you have many shops and little restaurants to explore nearby. It offers food if you're hungry, live music if you're feeling dull, and plenty of chatter if you're lonely. You're not going to find many Pubs like this one. It's definitely unique. If you're driving through Kentucky then take it from me; stumble into the Slainte House, you'll be glad you did!

Thanks for a fun pit stop, Slainte House! I miss you already. Slainte.