Gin and craft beer in Dublin
Dublin: gin masterclass with welcome drink & tasting flight
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Where can I try craft gin and beer in Dublin?
The Roe & Co Distillery bar is Dublin's best destination for Irish craft cocktails and gin. For craft beer, Against the Grain on Wexford St. and The Black Bird in Rathmines are the strongest independent options. The gin masterclass at Roe & Co or a standalone gin tasting session gives you the production context as well as the drink.
Ireland’s gin and craft beer renaissance
The whiskey revival gets the headlines, but Ireland has simultaneously developed a significant craft gin and independent beer scene that has transformed what you can drink in Dublin beyond the standard Guinness-and-Jameson offering. Irish craft gin is now a serious international category — several Irish gins have won global competition awards — and the Dublin craft beer scene, while smaller than London’s or Copenhagen’s, has some genuinely excellent producers.
This guide covers where to understand, taste, and enjoy both categories in Dublin.
| Best gin bar | Roe & Co Distillery bar, Thomas St. |
| Best craft beer bar | Against the Grain, Wexford St. |
| Gin masterclass cost | around €35 for a 1-hour tasting flight |
| Beer tasting tour cost | around €35 pub-based tour |
| Where the scene clusters | The Liberties and south city centre |
| Booking | walk-in fine for bars; book tastings/masterclasses ahead on weekends |
Irish craft gin: the category explained
Irish gin differs from London Dry Gin primarily in its use of locally foraged and Irish-grown botanicals alongside the standard juniper base. The Irish Atlantic climate produces botanicals — sea herbs, coastal plants, heather, bog myrtle, elderflower — that appear in flavour profiles you will not find in Continental or British gins.
Key Irish gin producers:
Dingle Distillery (County Kerry): the first craft distillery in Ireland to produce gin, and still one of the best. Dingle Original Gin uses local botanicals including rowan berry, bog myrtle, and hawthorn. Widely available in Dublin bars; the distillery is accessible as a day trip (see Dingle).
Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin (County Leitrim): one of Ireland’s most commercially successful craft gins internationally — the Gunpowder tea botanical creates a distinctive vegetal, slightly smoky character. Widely available.
Glendalough Wild Botanical Gin (County Wicklow): foragers gather seasonal botanicals from around Glendalough — the gin changes character with the season. The spring and summer releases are the most interesting.
Dublin Liberties Distillery has produced gin alongside their whiskey; their Copper Alley Gin uses Dublin city botanicals.
Gin experiences in Dublin
The most structured way to understand Irish craft gin is the Dublin gin masterclass with welcome drink and tasting flight (~€35). This 1-hour session covers the production process, the role of botanicals, and a guided tasting of multiple Irish gins alongside cocktail applications.
For afternoon tea with a gin component, the afternoon tea and gin masterclass (~€50) pairs the tasting session with the full tea service format.
The best standalone gin bar in Dublin is the Roe & Co Distillery bar on Thomas St. — see the Roe & Co guide for the full picture. The cocktail menu uses Roe & Co expressions in both classic and original formats, and the bar team is one of the most technically skilled in the city. The Roe & Co distillery experience combines the tour with a tasting if you want the production story alongside the drinks.
If you are coming from the whiskey side of the trail, several of the same distilleries producing whiskey also bottle gin as a faster-turnaround product while their whiskey stock matures in barrels for years — it is worth asking bar staff which gins are distillery-owned, since the connection to the Dublin whiskey trail producers is not always obvious from the label.
Dublin craft beer: where the independent scene lives
Dublin’s craft beer scene is concentrated in a handful of bars and a smaller number of brewery taprooms. Unlike the whiskey and gin sectors, most Dublin craft breweries are not city-centre operations — but their products are available at independent bars.
Rascals Brewing Company (Inchicore, west Dublin): one of Ireland’s most inventive craft breweries, with a rotating seasonal range that takes real risks with ingredients. The brewery taproom (Kilmainham Lane) is open on weekends. Their Lemon Sherbet sour and the various stout variants are particularly good.
Whiplash Beer (Dublin 11): a newer force in Irish craft beer, producing hazy IPAs and experimental fermentations that have attracted significant international attention. Available at specialist beer bars across the city.
Trouble Brewing (Kildare, but widely available in Dublin): solid, reliable craft beers with a focus on the core range. The Dark Arts porter is the standout.
Where to drink craft beer in Dublin
Against the Grain (Wexford St., Dublin 2): consistently the best-stocked independent craft beer bar in the city — 30+ taps covering Irish and international craft, with knowledgeable staff. A 10-minute walk from the city centre’s main tourist area.
The Black Bird (Rathmines): a well-regarded neighbourhood bar with a serious craft beer selection and a more local feel than the city-centre craft bars.
The Brew Dock (Amiens St.): near the airport bus stop, which makes it a convenient final or first stop; the craft beer selection is broader than the location suggests.
Beerhouse (Capel St.): good selection of Irish craft across multiple taps, bottle shop adjacent for taking home.
The Porterhouse (Parliament St., Temple Bar): the original Dublin craft brewery and pub, opened 1996. The brewing chain has expanded across Dublin and beyond, but the Parliament St. original is still the best location. Their Plain Porter and Oyster Stout are the standout house beers. This is the exception to the “avoid Temple Bar” rule — the Porterhouse was there before the tourist economy colonised the area.
When to go and what to expect on cost
Craft bars and gin bars in Dublin get busy from Thursday to Saturday evening, and the best tables at Roe & Co and Against the Grain fill up without reservations after about 19:00. A weekday visit, or arriving before 18:00 on a weekend, gets you a seat without a wait. Expect a single craft gin serve to cost around €10–€13, a craft beer pint around €7–€8.50, and a full tasting flight (three to five measures) around €18–€25 if bought outside a structured tour. Masterclasses and guided tastings bundle the education with the drinks, which is usually better value than ordering the same flight à la carte.
Beer tours and tasting experiences
The J.R. Mahon’s beer tasting tour with Irish storytelling (~€35) covers multiple beer styles — including stout, lager, and craft options — with a narrative about Irish brewing culture. The format is pub-based rather than brewery-based, which means you taste the beer in its natural habitat. This is particularly good if you want to understand the Guinness vs other stout question in a guided setting.
The relationship between gin, craft beer, and whiskey
Dublin’s artisan drinks scene is unified by geography — many of the distilleries, independent bars, and craft breweries are concentrated in the Liberties and the adjacent south Dublin residential areas. A day that starts with a Dublin whiskey trail visit in the morning can move through the Roe & Co bar in the afternoon and end at Against the Grain or the Porterhouse in the evening without requiring a taxi.
For the pubs rather than the craft bars, read best pubs in Dublin. For the full picture on how Dublin drinks are changing, the traditional music pubs guide covers the overlap between live music culture and the pub landscape.
Frequently asked questions about Gin and craft beer in Dublin
Do I need to book ahead for Dublin's craft beer and gin bars?
Walk-ins are fine at most craft bars on weekday evenings, but Against the Grain and the Roe & Co Distillery bar get busy from around 19:00 on Thursday to Saturday. Structured gin masterclasses and beer tasting tours should be booked a few days ahead, especially for weekend slots.Is Dublin's craft beer scene worth it compared to whiskey or Guinness?
Yes, as an addition rather than a replacement. Dublin's craft gin and beer scene is genuinely strong and gives a different, more independent flavour of Irish drinks culture than the big whiskey and stout brands, without requiring you to skip either — most evenings can easily include both.
Top experiences
Bookable activities with verified prices and instant confirmation on GetYourGuide.
Dublin: gin masterclass with welcome drink & tasting flight
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Dublin: Roe & Co Distillery powerhouse tour & tasting
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Dublin: afternoon tea & gin masterclass
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Dublin: J.R. Mahon's beer tasting tour with Irish storytelling
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