A Manchester publican who reportedly serves the 'best pint of Guinness outside of Ireland' has revealed the secret behind the perfect pour.
According to Pádraig Brady, 52, from Mulligans in Manchester, being "consistently consistent", is the key to his quality pints, which have attracted stout aficionados from across the country. The pub landlord says people have have travelled from as far away as London and Dublin to the Irish pub just off Deansgate to try their pint of Guinness - with one person known as the Guinness Guru, dubbing it the best outside Ireland.
While many often ask the Dublin-born publican the secret behind his perfect pint of Guinness, he claims there's a number of ingredients and factors at play. "There isn’t one. You just have to be consistently consistent", says Pádraig.
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"There’s five or six things you have to do to keep it consistent. We are also fortunate to have a great team of staff led by Peter and Matt who are very aware that you can lose your reputation over a bad pint.
"Our pints are good not just 99% of the time, but 101% of the time. And it’s got to be consistent from the keg to the customer.
“We are not reinventing the wheel. But I do serve the pints in a tulip glass, and I bring them over from Ireland. It’s about a clean glass and clean lines as well."
Located in the heart of Manchester city centre, Mulligans, with its standout red exterior, not dissimilar to bar's in Dublin's Temple Bar district, is the oldest Irish pub in Manchester. Inside, punters are given an authentic taste of the Emerald Isle with walls and ceiling adorned with GAA flags, jerseys and Guinness memorabilia.
Above all else, what keeps punters coming back though is Mulligan's famous pints of the Dublin-brewed stout, which Pádraig is passionately proud of. The team at the bar are also known for taking great care in making sure it is looked after in the barrel and is poured to perfection.
Pádraig adds: “The irony of it all is we all get the same Guinness, but not everybody does the same thing with it.
"It used to be brewed under licence in the UK and people would say it wasn’t the same because of the water, but now it all comes from St James Gate in Dublin so that’s a myth. We’re an independent pub, we’re publicans, we run pubs to make profits for ourselves so we’re invested and we have to get it right as it’s what we have built our reputation on."
Historically, while Guinness has perhaps been regarded as older gentleman's drink, the rise of social media pages dedicated to finding and ranking the perfect pint has brought Ireland's national drink to a younger audience - one that is willing to travel miles to seek out the best.
Mulligans has consistently found itself high up in the rankings, with people flocking all over the country to sample its stout. "Over the last year or so it’s gone huge," says Pádraig.
"There’s always been a big market for really good Guinness, but I never realised how big the market was for exceptional Guinness. We have people travelling from all over, we’ve had people come from London.
"We’re actually putting in a bar upstairs now because we were having to turn people away at the weekend. If the customer is happy and the customer is going to come back, that’s the greatest accolade.
"It's not rocket science what we're doing. If you serve great Guinness, have great service and have great music on, it creates a great atmosphere."
Luke Almond, 34, from Manchester who visits the pub off Deansgate, had his first Guinness at Mulligans after being taken by his dad. "We have a family-run pub business ourselves, so it said a lot that we would come here. I now work in hospitality, and I still come back," he said.
While Guinness lover Martin Finnegan, 39, said of his pint: "It's a cracker. It's better than some pints I've had in Ireland. This is every bit as good as my favourite pub in my nan's village in County Down."
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