A Compendium of Irish Pints: The Culture, Customs and Craic

by Ali Dunworth

In Ireland, a pint – having one, going for one, buying one – is a cultural institution. It’s about so much more than 568ml of beer in a glass. But how did a simple pint become such a phenomenon?

In A Compendium of Irish Pints, Ali Dunworth delves into the culture, customs and craic surrounding pints in Ireland, from airport pints to unplanned pints, pints for celebrations and pints for commiserations, festival pints, quiet pints, crisps and pints and everything in between.

With illustrations by Stephen Heffernan, aka Hephee, that perfectly capture the culture of pints in his iconic style, you’ll find yourself working up a thirst and sending that text we all love to get: ‘Pint?’

Genres: Food, Irish Literature

232 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Sian Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this because I'm a fan of the illustrator but it was actually a very interesting read. Light hearted but very well researched!

[Anthony McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

does its job well, good book but not really a sit down and read book yknow

[Vincent Coole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear notch above the novelty stocking-filler this an informative, light-hearted and well presented guide on a subject close to this Dublin-based reviewer. The alphabetical layout means it is forced to cover anything and everything. Sometimes this feels a little forced (Pints in the movies) other times niche but very interesting. Dunworth genuinely seems good ‘craic’ and the fact a woman has written this sits nicely with the factoid that women were the first brewers of pints.

[Ed Camus · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Guinness, Ireland or everything in between, this book is made for you. A very nice history of pints, from its origins to social media trends, beautifully illustrated. Time for a pint!

[Darragh Howley]

a fun book that also contains some nice pub/pints trivia