The Irish Pub Guide

Whether it’s dry January, you don’t drink full stop, you’re a designated driver or you simply just don’t feel like drinking but have to head to a pub, nowadays you have plenty of other options.

While it once would have been seen as unusual to head to a pub for anything non-alcoholic, the world is a more health-focused place in modern times and bars across Ireland are now extremely well-stocked when it comes to alcohol-free options.

So if you’re heading to a pub anytime soon and are worried what to get, these are some of the options now regularly available.

Guinness 0.0%

Diageo confirmed in late 2023 that there were over 1,000 pubs across Ireland that now served Guinness 0.0 on tap, and the number has grown since with very few bars across the country not offering the non-alcoholic version of Ireland’s most famous drink.

A pint of this will taste extremely close to the real thing so if you’re a tourist just looking for a taste and a picture without any alcohol, this is the ideal drink.

One thing to be aware of, and it’s the case with most of these non-alcoholic pints, they don’t come any cheaper than their alcoholic counterparts, which is a bit of a downside.

Heineken 0.0%

Similar to Guinness, you’ll find it hard nowadays to find a pub that doesn’t serve this alcohol free option, with Heineken confirming that as many as 3,000 outlets nationwide are now stocking the product on draught.

Erdinger 0.0%

If the above drinks don’t quite tickle your fancy, one alcohol free beer that tastes a bit different and is now much more widely stocked than you’d realise is Erdinger. Both in bottles and sometimes on draught, like in Hogan’s on Dublin’s Dame Street for example, this offers a tasty beer option.

What else is there?

It will be very seldom nowadays that you’ll head into any pub and not find some variation of a wine/beer or the like that has no alcohol in it, but if you do, there are plenty of other options to fall back on.

Soft-drinks are the other obvious go to and will be stocked in pretty much every bar, while hot drinks too are often an option, even if they aren’t on the menu, you can always ask for a tea or a coffee and in most cases not be left disappointed.