I was up 'home' in Donegal recently and was pleased to note that Nancy's Bar in Ardara is now stocking a rather impressive range of bottled Irish craft beers: Galway Hooker, 8 Degrees, Dungarvan, Stonewell Cider (at least, think it was Stonewell...). I can't quite describe how pleased this made.
Nancy's is a fairly well-regarded pub in Donegal that is known for its seafood and sprawling snug-filled layout. It has a fairly large tourist footfall due to being present in a lot of the guidebooks.
At any rate, it seems the manager/owner has taken an interest in Irish craft beers and even despatched some of his bar staff to the recent festival in the RDS. Good to see it.
While I was up in that neck of the woods I also called into Harry's Bar in Bridgend. Quite a range of bottled beers on offer, as above but additionally I think Carlow and Trouble Brewing. They had a Dungarvan handpump but I'm not sure if the Helvic Gold was actually on.
Contacted the Inis Owen brewery while I was up there to see if they had stock anywhere. They told me that they envisage having product out and about some time after Christmas.
