Mickey Finn's wins Irish Pub Award for best food
Janet Miley from Musgrave Marketplace, Pat Crotty, President of the VFI, Leigh Williams and Ashley Williams from Mickey Finn’s Pub and Ruth Gilligan from Musgrave Marketplace at last week’s awards ceremony
Mickey Finn's Pub in Redcross has won a prestigious award for serving the best pub food in the land.
The Irish Pub Awards recognise the best pubs nationally, with eight category winners awarded across seven counties in Ireland.
The Awards were presented by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin T.D., at the Gala Ceremony in the RDS Concert Hall .
The winners were selected from over 500 applications in this joint national awards programme which is presented by the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) and the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA).
The food offering at Mickey Finn's Pub is unusual in that beer is either used in the recipe or staff will recommend a compatible beer with each dish.
It also does tours of the brewery next door, the Wicklow Brewery, including the marrying of each beer sample with a 'Celtic Tapas' and finishing with a 'Beeramisu Desert' which is made with vanilla stout.
With chef's from around the world, Mickey Finn sources local ingredients where possible and produces most of the menu on site.
Its brewery malt bread is made using the spent grain from the beer and it serves its own bespoke 'Derek Dunne' sausages which are infused with the Wicklow Brewery's St. Kevin's Red Ale.
Finger food includes Helles Beer-battered fish and chip cones.
Co-owner Leigh Williams said: 'over the past ten years, we have developed into a destination offering a visitor experience that opens up all of the senses.
'Tasting beer with fool evolved as part of the tour since we opened the brewery in 2014.'
Events have become a very important aspect of Mickey Finn's approach.
It hosted the Red Cross Beer Festival in October for the second time, including five local breweries, live music and a barbecue.
It also recently held its sixth annual Father Ted Fest where staff dress up in all sorts of characters.
'We put a big focus on theme nights such as Spanish tapas with Spanish guitarists and flamenco dancers,' said Leigh.
The pub and its friendly staff are a magnet for both the locals and tourists alike with Traditional Irish Music and Irish Dancing sessions, acoustic evenings and story-telling nights.
Wicklow Brewery is at the forefront of the craft-beer explosion and was established in 2014 after tourists visiting Mickey Finn's kept constantly looking for local beer.
