Every city in every country I visit has one bar that sticks with me; not sure if it's nostalgia (or a slight drinking problem) but the good spots end up defining the city for me, ingraining what the culture and locals are like forever into my (sometimes drunk) psyche . Is it always accurate? No. Do I sometimes aggrandize a city to such a degree, that it will never again meet my expectations? Yes absolutely; some places are never again as amazing (and yet some are; I'll have a drink on Rue Saint-Denis in Paris any day). My personal experience is this; you can tell a lot about a city from the bar-stool of a local pub, and Galway is no exception.
Bunch of Grapes was the perfect litmus test of Galway, the spot in this city that was the truest measure of what it meant to be there. Walking in, we found a Pub that was not overly crowed, and yet everyone who was there seemed to know one another (always a good sign); we grabbed a seat at the cozy bar that looked like it had been around for a long time (yet another good sign). The bartender was quick to notice us, and before we knew it we had a couple of pints and guy who was happy to fill us in on the inner workings of not just Galway, but of Ireland as a whole. We happened be in town during the Hurling final (if you don't know hurling, look into it - amazing sport) and he was happy to explain all the rules to two clueless Americans, before we knew it we were rooting and cheering along with the locals at the bar - good stuff.
They had a great selection of local and imported beer on tap; I had a Peroni to start which was nice as you don't normally see it as a draught choice. Aside from the Italian beer, I was able to get a Beamish, and a few pints of Guinness in before it was time to go back to the hotel and grab some food (no food here mind you, or we would have stayed). After eating we went to a few other pubs, which were all OK (some better than others, but we will get to them in a later review), but could not hit a spot a sweet as Bunch of Grapes - lo and behold we found ourselves here again to close out their night. They are not a late night club (what the Irish call a bar open past 11), and so when we showed back up around 10:30 we were pushing the end. They had a great gin special on (two of the house special for 11 euro), so we had a few rounds of them. At around 10:45 we were told that it was closing time.....but as it turns out it wasn't really, they simply closed one of the double doors of the main entrance and didn't let any new customers in. All the while we continued to chat with our bartending friend and order more rounds of the gin special. The place didn't close until everyone was ready to go; MAJOR cool factor, and one of the most enjoyable "closing out the bar' experiences I've had anywhere I have had the pleasure to visit.
This is the kind of place everyone should be looking for when abroad, a place where you find out what a city is truly like and a place you will yearn to get back to as soon as possible. read more