The Dubliner. Louisville, KY

3937 Taylorsville Road

Guinness Tag: $3.00 | Overall Rating: 0.90

Today's Dedicated Pint: Peter Wright

You can't have nice things unless you have bad things. None of us would know what a good Irish Pub was unless we stumbled into a few bad ones from time to time. The bad eggs of society certainly help you appreciate the good ones. The Dubliner of Louisville has one good thing going for it; how much it makes me appreciate the good Pubs in America such as The Erin Rose, The Dead Rabbit, and The Kerryman.

If you've ever read any of my stuff before, then you'll know I take a lot of things into effect when rating an Irish Pub. It's not all about the looks, hell, I gave "Pete's out in the Cold" an extremely great rating during my trip to New Orleans, and that place's curb appeal makes you think you're about to walk into a crack house. Slapping a good rating on an Irish Pub here in the States is about the craftsmanship, yes, as well as the Craic, the value, the area, the frequenters, the authenticity, its history, patina, the coziness, the lighting, the hours: everything goes into it. To be honest, it takes a special someone to receive a rating under a 1.00 from me. The Dubliner has that going for them, and any press is good press, so I don't think I'm going to feel bad about publishing this article. This Pub just made history that's going to take a long time to beat.

Let's start with my favorite thing about the place: the hours of operation. They used to be open 22 hours a day, catering to every type of demographic under the middle class. After a few decades of closing at 4am and reopening the door at 6am, they reduced their hours to 20 a day, to now 18 hours a day. You have to appreciate Pub owners who open early in the morning for all of those who work graveyard shifts and odd jobs. One of my favorite things about New Orleans (I know, we're in Louisville, KY and I've brought up New Orleans twice now), was waking up at 7am, taking a stroll to the coffee shop, and grabbing a barstool at 8am for a Guinness. The Dubliner gives Louisvillians that opportunity, which I love.

The place used to be owned by a guy named Leonard, and went by the name, The Highpoint Lounge. A different guy and his daughter acquired the place a couple of years ago, changed the name to an Irish one, and kept all of the divey, unfinished assets. Aside from the signage outside, it's probably safe to say the place hasn't gotten a deep cleaning since covid. It looks like someone spraypainted the booths with $2.00 gold paint from Dollar General. The floor, ceiling, and countertop are covered in filth as you consume your reasonably priced beverage inside a plastic cup. Trust me, I've been to grungy dives and I frequent at a few in Cincinnati, but there's a difference between a good cheap dive and a filthy, run-down dump. I know there's probably someone at The Dubliner that works really hard every day to keep it going, but whoever that person has on their team is dropping the ball in every possible way.

The Pub's bones sit inside a strip mall, which immediately hurts your chances of getting patrons through the door off the rip. Most people who see Pubs in strip malls just drive past it without a thought, because strip malls are typically only good for pizza shops, Chinese takeout, and cheap bodegas. I've been to a handful of Pubs who live in strip malls and I'm still waiting to find the one that blows past the low expectations. The Dubliner's curb appeal isn't too appealing on the eyes, especially when the first thing you see is the busted chair by the door for the bouncer to sit on during nightfall. Personally, I think it's a turnoff when you have to go through a bouncer to enter an establishment, especially an establishment that smells like pee and leaves a sticky residue on the bottom of your shoes.

My bartender here at The Dubliner was a really sweet lady who's clearly been through the wringer. She had old timey movies on the TV without sound and didn't feel like playing any music. The entire visit was dead silent aside from the small chatter between her and I as well as a few comments from the guy at the other end of the bar. They offer slot machines which is a nice touch, and I was able to witness a guy win about $11.00 throughout my visit. There's a sign over the slots that showcases all of the ways people pronounce "Louisville." When I moved to the midwest, I noticed that most people around here call it "loo-ville," which is wrong in my opinion. Why's that? Well, aside from the fact that it annoys locals when I call it "loo-E-ville," nobody has ever had a good argument to my question of, "Do you pronounce the state of Louisiana "Loo-siana," or "Loo-E-siana?" Literally nobody in America pronounces Louisiana as "Loo-siana," so why the hell are we pronouncing Louisville that way? My case rests.

If you're a Craic Addict and you're looking for the Craic in Louisville, then please, go to Pat O'Shea's or Molly Malone's. Sorry Dubliner, but you just don't scratch the itch. You don't even have fingernails to scratch the itch, if anything, you just made me crave a genuine Irish Pub even harder, which I thank you for!

Slainte.