S0235 Blackbird

The first suburban outpost of the Cassidys/PMacs group, Blackbird opened in 2014 in the former Rathmines Inn (and its many other names past names). I believe there had been a relatively quick turnover of tenants here before, but Blackbird is there for a fairly long time now.

If you've been to any of their other pubs, you know what you're going to get - a dark interior, drippy red candles on every table as the decor; their house beer - Trouble Vietnow on tap, and Refresher bars on the bar. I didn't see any Monster Munch, but it may have been a little early in the day for that, but the pizza ovens that most of their pubs have are present should you want to buy something more substantial.

There's TVs and a small set of Diageo taps, which both seem a little out of place in an otherwise craft beer bar, but are probably a concession to the suburban location more than anything else. The original PMacs on Stephen Street also has the Diageo products, but it is the bar of a hotel where there may be tourists fully expecting to be able to drink Guinness.

It's quite a big pub, with a few different areas within and a large smoking area to the side. Its a nice pub to enjoy a few pints (from the large menu) in and has convenient bus stops for your trip back, should you not be rich enough to live in Rathmines.