Morten Andersen holds that the shortest distance between brewer and glass is the only metric a taproom cannot cheat. Rascals Brewing Company scores better on it than anywhere else in Dublin, because the beer pours a few steps from the tanks that made it, in a working brewery on a Goldenbridge industrial estate.
The address is Unit 5 Goldenbridge Estate on Tyrconnell Road in Inchicore, Dublin 8, a short walk from the Blackhorse Luas stop on the red line. Nobody stumbles across it. You make the trip on purpose, which filters the room down to people who care about what is in the glass.
Emma Devlin and Cathal O'Donoghue founded Rascals in 2014 after catching the craft bug while living in New Zealand, and moved the operation to this purpose built HQ with its taproom and pizzeria (Love Irish Food). The Irish Times covered the opening under the only headline it needed: beer and pizza.
Start with the year round core. Happy Days Session Pale Ale is the low strength order that keeps an afternoon honest, and Yankee White IPA is the flagship with more push. The specials board is where the brewery shows off, with past runs including a barrel aged Chardonnay saison and a granola stout called Cereal Killer.
The pizza is not a concession to soakage. A custom built pizzeria turns out wood fired rounds with vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options, and the kitchen holds its own against the beer (Rascals official site). Wine, spirits and cocktails cover anyone dragged along under protest.
The room reads as what it is, a brewery first and a bar second. Expect long tables, tank metal behind glass, and the faint sweetness of a mash in progress on brew days. There is also an off licence fridge by the door, so the beers that impressed you leave with you.
The geography carries some history. Dublin 8 has brewed at scale since Arthur Guinness signed his 9,000 year lease at St James's Gate in 1759, and the Liberties next door once held more than a dozen breweries. Rascals setting up two kilometres further west reads as the independent sector reclaiming a corner of the city's oldest brewing ground.
The taproom model also changes the economics in the drinker's favour. With no middle step between tank and tap, the rotating specials appear here weeks before bottle shops see them, and some never leave the building at all. That exclusivity is the real argument for the trip, beyond freshness alone.
Hours are the catch, and they reward planning. The taproom closes Monday and Tuesday, runs 4pm to 10pm Wednesday through Friday, and opens noon to 10pm on weekends. Saturday afternoon is the full experience, when brewery tours run and the ovens hit stride. Booking a table for a weekend evening spares the wait, since the long tables fill fast once the pizzas start landing.
Who it is for: beer drinkers who want the freshest possible pint of an Irish independent, groups that treat pizza and a flight as a full evening, and anyone ticking through the best craft beer bars in Dublin beyond the city centre. Who it is not for: anyone after a quick pint near Grafton Street, since this is a 25 minute Luas ride west.
Pair the trip with the city's other brewing addresses. The Dublin bar guide maps the full field, and JW Sweetman on Burgh Quay covers the brewpub format in the centre if Inchicore is a stretch.
Sources: Rascals Brewing official site; Love Irish Food; Visit Dublin; The Irish Times; Yelp.
