photo courtesy the Auld Dubliner Auld Dubliner

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, kick up your heels and throw back a pint at some of the Valley’s best Irish pubs.

The Auld Dubliner
9780 W. Northern Ave., Peoria
623-877-1918, aulddubliner.com
Even with 19 beers on tap, Guinness remains a pub favorite here, and bartenders take the extra time to pour a perfect pint, no matter how busy the bar gets. Families spend both afternoons and evenings playing board games and Nintendo Wii, and enjoying authentic Irish meals such as Bangers and Champ (grilled Irish sausage over mashed potatoes), or Irish beef stew. The Auld Dubliner opened in February 2009 and celebrated its first St. Patrick’s Day a month later with live music, beer gardens and more than 1,000 people in attendance. The pub is planning a similar celebration for this St. Patrick’s Day.  
   
D’Arcy McGee’s Pub & Restaurant
2000 E. Rio Salado Pkwy., Tempe
480-557-9087, darcymcgees.com
There’s plenty of beer, wine and quirky cocktails at D’Arcy McGee’s, but ordering anything but a whiskey should really get you kicked in the kilt. With a dozen single-malt and five blended Scotch whiskies to choose from, plus nearly a dozen choices of Irish whiskey, your cheeks should be blushing and your belly warm in no time. Its Tempe Marketplace digs draw younger crowds, and the narrow space can make for crowded quarters, but this just adds to the rollicking good time on busy nights, especially most Thursdays and Saturdays when live Irish music overwhelms.

O'Connor's Pub

O’Connor’s Pub
2601 W. Dunlap Ave., Phoenix
602-997-7714, oconnorspub.com
This down-home homage to pub life along Ireland’s west coast was founded in June 1990 by Jimmy O’Connor. The County Galway transplant made it his life’s dream to open a pub, and 20 years later, it’s still going strong with 15 beers on draft (eight of which are from Ireland and other nearby countries) and 13 different whiskies. The authentically decorated bar offers live Irish music almost every weekend. In Gaelic terms, the place has “good craic” (pronounced “crack”). That must be why one of their top-selling T-shirts reads “Craic Addict.”

Rula Bula
401 S. Mill Ave., Tempe
480-929-9500, rulabula.com
This Tempe favorite is named after the Gaelic term meaning “uproar and commotion,” which, for the Irish, translates into “the best time you’ve ever had.” As with true Irish pubs, St. Patrick’s Day at Rula Bula is a big event, with live music, whiskey, and plenty of pints of beer to suit your fancy. Best of all, pouring a Guinness is an art form here – one that bartenders have down to a science.
It involves a precise two-part pour, allowing a break in between pours to let the nitrous in the beer settle. A large patio in back, live music most nights and authentic Irish grub make nearby Arizona State University students – as well as the locals – gravitate toward this popular pub.

Murphy's Law Irish Pub & Restaurant

Murphy’s Law Irish Pub & Restaurant
58 S. San Marcos Place, Chandler
480-812-1588, irishpubchandler.com
Likeably over-the-top is how this downtown Chandler pub registers from the moment you pass the moose head near the door. Every inch of the skinny space is chockablock with bric-a-brac. The walls are crammed with scribbled-on greenbacks, old photos, Guinness ads and wry aphorisms (“Don’t play leapfrog with a unicorn”). But it feels authentic and approachable rather than hokey.
With 26 beers on tap, it makes sense to feature brews in the food, like Three Beers Stroganoff or Smithwick’s au jus. Seven large-screen TVs make it a great place to watch Sunday football, but there’s also live music Tuesday through Saturday, half-off wine bottles on Tuesday, and happy hour every day from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight.