The Horseshoe Bar

The Horseshoe Bar at The Shelbourne Hotel has been at the centre of Dublin's political and cultural life since the hotel opened in 1824. The Irish Constitution was drafted in a room upstairs. The bar itself saw the Treaty debates, the birth of the Irish state, and 200 years of the city's most consequential conversations. It would carry that history even if the room were mediocre. It is not mediocre.

The horseshoe-shaped mahogany counter that gives the bar its name runs the length of the room. Mirrored shelving behind holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Irish whiskey you will find anywhere, including a substantial selection of single pot still whiskeys from smaller Irish producers that rarely reach back bars outside specialist shops. The cocktail programme is executed with the competence you expect from a hotel of this calibre, but the whiskey is the real reason to be here.

The room has a quality that becomes apparent after twenty minutes of sitting at the bar: the sightlines are perfect, the acoustics allow conversation at a normal volume, and the lighting is warm enough to make everyone look better than they arrived. This is what great bar design achieves and it is rarer than it should be. The Dublin cocktail bar guide covers the full range of what the city offers, and the hidden gem bars of Dublin provide a counterpoint to this more formal option. For whiskey specifically, Kehoe's on South Anne Street is the classic pub alternative, and Doheny & Nesbitt on Baggot Street is the after-work institution that makes a natural companion to an evening that starts here.