Morten Andersen has little patience for wine lists that read like a lecture, and Loose Canon avoids the trap by letting the cheese argue back. It holds a corner of Drury Street, pours natural wine by the glass, and builds a toastie that earns its reputation across Dublin 2.
The room sits at 29 Drury Street, a few doors from the George's Street Arcade, with a smattering of high stools, plenty of standing room around marble-topped counters and a couple of street-side benches for the dry months. There are no bookings. You arrive, you find a perch, you order at the counter (DublinTown).
Co-owners Brian O'Caoimh and Kevin Powell run the list toward natural, biodynamic and organic bottles, with European farmhouse cheese sourced to match (Star Wine List). The by-the-glass selection turns over often, so the board is the menu rather than a printed sheet.
Three things to order. Start with a glass of whatever skin-contact or low-intervention white the counter is steering people toward that week, since the rotation rewards trusting the staff. Build a cheeseboard from the European farmhouse selection. Then take the toastie, the dish that made the place, a molten thing best eaten standing with a second glass already poured.
The cheese is the tell. Loose Canon treats the board with the same care as the list, which is rare in a city where wine bars often bolt on a snack as an afterthought (Loose Canon official site). The pairing is the point, and the staff will walk a newcomer through it without theatre.
The setting does a lot of the work. Drury Street is one of Dublin 2's finest people-watching corners, and the street-side benches put drinkers in the middle of it on a fine evening. Inside, the marble and the standing room keep the turnover quick and the conversation loose, which suits a glass-and-a-board visit better than a long sit-down.
The cheese counter doubles as a shop, which marks Loose Canon out from a wine bar that merely serves a board. Drinkers can buy a wedge to take home alongside a bottle, and the same care that picks the wines picks the cheese, much of it from small European and Irish farmhouse makers. That retail side keeps the staff fluent in what they pour, since they handle it twice over. It also means a quiet afternoon visit can turn into provisions for dinner, a glass on the bench while the order is wrapped. Few rooms in Dublin 2 manage to be a bar, a shop and a meeting point at once.
Who it is for is the drinker who wants a serious glass without a tasting-menu price, the cheese obsessive, and anyone meeting one or two friends rather than a crowd. It is wrong for a large group after seats, or for a quiet booth. For the wider field, our guide to the best wine bars in Dublin sets out the alternatives.
Best time to go is a weekday early evening, before the after-work crowd fills the standing room and the corner benches go. Loose Canon opens late morning daily, closing 22:30 at the start of the week and 23:30 from Wednesday to Saturday, so a quiet glass before dinner is the smart play.
Treat it as the opening move of a Drury Street and South William crawl. For the broader plan, start with our Dublin bar guide, and for a contrast with table service and a full kitchen try Fallon & Byrne, the Exchequer Street wine room above the food hall.
Sources: Loose Canon official site; DublinTown; Star Wine List; Yelp.
