Mass market blended Scotch is not the drink of choice for many in Ireland, as it stands. I'm neither that young nor that old to be able to state that it never was; or able to remember a time when it was; but for whatever reason, Black & White is the brand that D.E. Williams Ltd chose to use when launching a pub awards in 1977. Possibly the first national pub awards of any note, these lasted until 2004
Black & White was a brand they distributed in Ireland; itself owned by Distillers Ltd which Guinness had yet to buy; but as D. E. Williams had sold Tullamore Dew a decade earlier and were soon to exit the supermarket business (Five Star, sold to the Quinnsworth operators in 1979); and their remaining assets probably matched even less with a pub awards - Irish Mist, regional Coca Cola bottling and barley malting - it must have been the best fit.
The awards significantly outlasted D. E. Williams Limited. By 1988, it was being awarded by B Daly (Ireland) Limited; a spirits distributor later bought by Edward Dillon & Co Limited, and in which D. E. Williams had a shareholding
Edward Dillon are still extant, and are a sponsor of the current Irish Pub Awards, and continued to distribute Black & White until a share deal with Diageo in 2004. This is, clearly not coincidentally, the last year of these awards. Edward Dillon did (and do) have a huge range of brands that would be perfect replacement sponsors - Hennessy, Jack Daniels, etc - but may have had their own reason for finishing up.
Categories and Ceremony
There were a variety of categories, varying year on year - pub, superpub (>250 capacity, in 1983; >350 by 1997), hotel bar, newcomer (to the competition, not new builds) and heritage pub all turning up.
There was a county winner and a national winner in each category awarded; but in many year a provincial winner too - Dublin acting as a fifth province; and not being included in Leinster. In some years, Dublin appears to have had separate City and County winners; with one of these two being the overall Dublin City & County winner.
These boundaries are extremely blurry - the 1989 and 1994 Dublin City winners were in Dublin County geographically and politically, for instance. In some years, the county winners were announced significantly in advance of the main awards, as a shortlist - this format still exists with the current Irish Pub Awards regional winners.
Awards ceremonies were substantial affairs, held in hotels, the National Concert Hall, racecourse pavilions and so on, and were usually reported by the media. The physical award plaques would often feature in pubs for some time after - there are still extant examples around. Entries were limited to the Island of Ireland, which may explain why the (3 county) Ulster awards were frequently won by one specific pub - having the least competition of any category.
Judging was performed by a panel of celebrity judges - Hugh Leonard being one of the original judges, who quit as he claimed he was too identifiable and caused any pub he entered to assume he was judging.
Winners
As I only write about non-Dublin pubs when I'm travelling, I'm just going to list Dublin winners here - but note that as these are scavenged from archives and the occasional pub website, it is possible that a claimed "Pub of the Year" without specification may only have been in a category (possibly not even the main Pub category) and not the overall winner! As often newspapers only report the national winners, this list is unfortunately quite incomplete:
1979
The Club, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year
1980
The Club, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year,
1983
O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin Pub of the Year
1984
Joxer Dalys, Dorset Street - Dublin Pub of the Year
O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin Superpub of the Year
1985
Joxer Dalys, Dorset Street - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year
Dropping Well, Milltown - Dublin Superpub of the Year
1986
The Deerpark, Clonskeagh - Dublin Pub of the Year
1987
Harcourt Hotel, Harcourt Street - Dublin Pub of the Year
The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
(yes, it is odd that a hotel won both categories! This may be a misreporting)
1988
Jack O'Rourkes, Blackrock - Dublin County Pub of the Year
O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year
1989
Duffys, Malahide - Dublin County Pub of the Year
Penny Black, Tymon - Dublin City Pub of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year
The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year
1990
Ryans, Parkgate Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year
Duffys, Malahde - Dublin County Pub of the Year (reported as City & County winner at the final ceremony)
The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year
1991
Queens, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year
Mount Merrion House, Dublin Newcomer of the Year
The Penny Black, Tymon - Dublin Superpub of the Year
1992
Queens, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year
Burlington Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
1993
Poitin Stil, Rathcoole - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year, National Pub of the Year
Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin Pub of the Year
1994
The Glenside, Churchtown - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year, National Pub of the Year
The Lord Mayors, Swords - Dublin County Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year
Harry Byrnes, Clontarf - Dublin City Pub of the Year
1995
Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin City Pub of the Year
Dropping Well, Milltown - Dublin County Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year
McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin City Newcomer of the Year
Step Inn, Stepaside - Dublin County Newcomer of the Year
The Playwright, Blackrock - Dublin Superpub of the Year
1996
Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year
1997
The Barge, Charlemont Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year
Leopardstown Inn - Dublin County Pub of the Year
McGowans, Phibsboro - Dublin Newcomer of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year
Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
1998
McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin Pub of the Year
Berkeley Court Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year
The Playwright, Blackrock - Dublin Superpub of the Year
1999
Bakers Corner - Dublin Pub of the Year
The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year
The Playwright - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year
2000
McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin Pub of the Year
The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
An Poitin Stil - Dublin Superpub of the Year
2001
Bradys, Shankill - Dublin Pub of the Year
Dollymount House - Dublin Superpub of the Year
Berkeley Court Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
2002
Fillies Cafe Bar, Leopardstown - Dublin Pub of the Year
Dollymount House - Dublin Superpub of the Year
Terenure Inn, Terenure - Dublin Newcomer of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year
Radisson SAS St Helens - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
2003
S0172 The Waterloo - Dublin Pub of the Year
N0246 Penny Hill, Lucan - Dublin Superpub of the Year
Stillorgan Park Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year
2004
Wrights, Swords - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year
Other Awards:
There have been a few other pub awards, either operating at the same time or since:
Soon to overtake the Black & White Awards in longevity are those awarded by the Georgina Campbell Guide, which cover the Island of Ireland and have a single national winner announced. These have been running since 1999 and continued throughout the pandemic.
There have only been two Dublin winners
1999 - The Porterhouse, Parliament Street
2003 - Cafe En Seine, Dawson Street
The belated replacement for the Black & White awards, in some ways, are the current Irish Pub Awards, awarded 2017-2019, and with 2022 scheduled. These awards are open to LVA or VFI members and have a number of sub-categories, each with regional winners and a national winner.
There was also the Irish Pubs of Distinction awards from 1998 to 2003, which appears to have mainly existed to provide content for a tourist publication of this name. As these are available in the National Library, there is future article fodder for me in them hopefully.
From my own travels I know that N0238 Cumiskeys was awarded best newcomer in 1992 and N0307 The Pound was awarded the same in 1994. Terribly hard to research this given there's no official database so fair play for collating this much so far.
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