Tuesday, August 10th, 2010—Bar 212
Day 212—Monday, August 9th, 2010
Swift Hibernian Lounge
First off, I want to wish DJ, 365 commentator and blogger, Gidget the happiest birthday ever! Today is actually the second birthday of the year for Gidget and you can read all about that at her blog: Gidget Bates Crap She Spews. Gidget is THE coolest DJ in the world and hosts a great rado show on Woody Radio, check out the schedules and listen when you can right here: Woody Radio. She's hosting her birthday show today from 1pm to 5pm, so tune in and send her your birthday wishes. Happy birthday, Gidget!
Check down at the end of this post after the review for some special bonus photos. Our Australian mate and 365 commentator Fitzy sent in some photos of the Koala hospital where he works in Australia. There’s some great shots and commentary by Fitzy himself. A little Oz treat down under the post from down under itself. Thanks for sending these in Fitzy mate! Looking forward to the 365 Oz summit!
Okay, yesterday in the comments section we had a couple complaints about TV sets in bars. I agree, but to the Whiskey Trader’s defense, they do bill themselves as a “Sports Bar and Lounge,” so it kind of comes with the territory and you should realize before you step a foot in there that there’s going to be big TV’s with sports on them. Anyway, I did a Google search on bars with no TV’s in New York City and found this article from 2009: “The Few, the Proud: Pubs That Still Resist the Pull of the Television Screen.” They forgot to mention the Mars Bar, but we’ve been there already, and the only bar they mention in Manhattan that has no TV sets is the Swift Hibernian Lounge (the other two are in Brooklyn and I’ll try and get there sometime). The article is a year old, let’s go see if this place is still sans TV.
Here we are at the Swift Hibernian Lounge.
Now there's a good idea on this hotter than fuck-all evening.
Check out the large cathedral, wooden doors.
And they open up to a nice dark, candlelit bar and not a TV in sight. The cathedral of the good drinker.
Bartender Shane expertly mixes me up a margarita. Shane is one of the best and most friendly bartenders I've met on the bar crawl, a great guy and he mixes a mean margarita.
Delicious!
There's a wooden lounge area opposite the bar.
Here's Chris and Steve who are fire fighters from Ladder 9. To the right of them hangs a memorial plaque to their fallen brothers from September 11th. Thanks for your good work, Chris and Steve!
There's a nice candlelit nook up front to enjoy the view outside of the bar.
Shane at work behind the bar.
The well-stocked bar at Swift Hibernian Lounge.
The draft beer list.
And the bottled beers that are available. An impressive list.
The mural that runs along the entire wall was painted by local artist, Carey Rothman.
Rob, Corey and Jennie were enjoying some drinks at the bar and agreed to post for the 365 camera.
Then Rob took the camera and turned the tables on me and had me pose with Corey, Jennie and their friend Matthew in the back.
A long, candlelit wooden bank runs the length opposite the bar where you can rest a drink or an elbow.
There's tables and booths in the large back room of the bar.
In between Margaritas Shane poured me a perfect Guinness. The bar is known as the go-to place for a perfectly poured pint of Guinness.
Here's Shane with his girlfriend, Erin on his left and her mom, Nadine on his right. Erin and Nadine are from New Orleans. Erin lives here now and her mom is visiting. Cheers to you all!
Rob and Chris in conversation at the front of the bar.
And here I am with a margarita and the ultimate traditional wearin' of the Guinness on the noggin'. Good night, everybody!
Review
They bill themselves as a lounge, but theSwift Hibernian Lounge could also be called an Irish alehouse. A large Irish alehouse. The front room houses a long and winding wooden bar with a wooden lounge area opposite. Up front are two nice window viewing nooks and there’s a large back room with a communal table and oversize wooden booths. The bartenders are friendly and the cliental are mainly neighborhood regulars, but first-timers are treated as friendly as the long-time customers. The Swift Hibernian Lounge has been in business for 15 years and has grown to be a neighborhood favorite.
There’s a huge selection of beer available here. There’s 54 bottled beers and 23 beers on tap to choose from. The selection changes daily, but there’s real time viewing on what’s availble at their website. They feature a decent wine list and specialty cocktails including: The Captain Gulliver, which mixes Jameson whiskey, ginger beer and lemon; Esther, which is a combination of Beefeater 24, mint and fresh limede and they also have raspberry or lemon sorbet sangria. The spirit list is impressive with copious varieties of Irish whiskey, single malt scotch, tequila and American bourbon.
The menu is small and strictly pub fare featuring such items as: chicken salad sandwich, reuben sandwich, beef and Guinness pie, mini cheddar burgers and tomato and mozzarella pizza. Food is served till four in the morning and they are open 365 days a year. On the weekends DJ’s spin tunes and on Tuesday nights they have a traditional Irish seisuin. I’m not exactly sure what a “traditional Irish seisuin” is and I’m running late for work. I think it’s live music, but Google it to be sure. I gotta go! Sneeze ya, tomorrow.
Swift Hibernian Lounge
34 E. 4th St. (Near The Bowery)
212-260-3600
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Bonus Photos!
Here’s the photos and comments that Fitzy sent in from the land of Oz and the Koala hospital where he works, enjoy! Thanks for sending them in Fitzy, mate!
Koala Crossing sign—Had to get you a pick of this Marty after you hit me up to check out how authentic "The Creek Bar # 207" was, so you can see their Koala Crossing sign was an authentic replica not far off the mark. This is about 50m from the entrance to Macquarie Nature Reserve, home to Roto House and the Koala Hospital.
Here is Barry—Barry is me best mate. He is the oldest koala we have, he is the grumpiest and has the worst attitude going which is why i love the little bastard! The girls gave me Barry to feed the 1st day i started as an initiation thing, and yes the fucker bit me a beauty. But since then we've become mates, i let him keep his milk moe after feeding (they hate having their mouths wiped) and he lets me check him for ticks without inflicting injuries on me they may require stitches...good bloke Bazza!
This is Danny—Danny is sorta a cross between Fabio and Steve McQueen ("The Great Escape"). He has escaped twice in the last month due to it being mating season. He was bought in with conjunctivitis and Chlamydia, yep the sexually transmitted disease, they are horny littl' critters i kid you not! Danny is the definition of "young dumb and full of cum." So Danny is in our Max Security Wing for time being.
Another shot of Danny—He was found just round the corner from me after we got a call from a local saying a koala was at the base of a tree in their backyard. F.Y.I. people, if you see a koala lurking at or toward the base of a tree, not going up, call the Dept of Wildlife, its a tell-tale sign the koala is crook and in distress, plus at the base or low they are vulnerable to attack. The healthier the koala, the higher you will find them in the tree. Danny, "the little slave to erotica" will be released in a month or so, in plenty of time for the rest of the mating season!
And finally, here's to Erin's mom, Nadine who's visiting from New Orleans and is named after my favorite Chuck Berry song. Have fun in New York, Nadine!
43 Comments
Reader Comments (43)
What an amazingly cool bar that it I absolutely LOVE it!! The decor is awesome the beer list is fantastic and the people there look friendlyy and fun! Great choice Marty and you look so cute in front of that amazing mural.
Happy Birthday, Gidget!
Thank you to Fitzy for sending in the photos of his job at the Koala hospital. What wonderful photos and I am envious as I would quite like to pet a koala bear. They are adorable. Thank you Fitzy for your hard word in taking care of those amazing and beautiful animals. Danny is adorable.
@Jason : HAHA !! good one, but don't say "firemen" aloud or "Jean Jacques" will appears with a big helicoptere ready to save the world!!!!
AB bar is closed for 15 days, and to tell the truth... That's a good thing because I'm getting tired of the fake "fireman/super hero" stories of Jean Jacques (the AB Bar boss who never been a fireman but still want to make us believe in it with his mega exceptional big fish!) NONE Bar is perfect!!!!!! ;)
Nice work Fitzy - doing a great job looking after our native animals. Koala's need all the help they can get - especially with that cancer that they get.
Oh yeah - and great work again Marty. Bloody freezing in Australia at the moment - would trade you for the hot weather in NY anytime.
@Fitzy: Does Bazza ever pinch those Winnie Blue rollies you've got stashed in your pocket? After all it is a Maximum security wing. Judging buy his character he'd like lunging a few of them back.
Do you only nurse Koalas at the hospital? Because the Mid -North coast is home to heaps of species of Aussie wildlife. The last time I was up that way there were animal crossing bridges every 100 metres or so along the Pacific HWY for possums and other tree dwelling animals. Have they been effective?
Nice bar this one Marty. That's by far the best 'wearin' of the Guinness' of the crawl.
Cheers to the hero's of Ladder 9 and 9/11. For me, being on the other side of the world, I still find it hard to fathom the magnitude of that day....and that was watching on a small t.v!
For these guys who were there, and the survivors, to try and put it behind them must be an ongoing and difficult challenge.
To the Heros! To New York!
+ I think the guy's have got the candles covered.
Chuck Berry: Guitar Hero.
@Tim Clack: Chuck Berry rules! Best lyrics in rock 'n' roll!
where do one start?....gee i have no idea...
hey now gidget...happy anniversity....many more all healthy an' happy...hang in there...would like to stream your show but the powers to be don't allow that kind of stuff...hope it was a great one...all the best...
@boris...you wrap it all up...where are you the ambassador to?
@fritzy...thanks for the pics...now if you can get barry an' danny into a place to share a cooper's or three now that would rock the 365 crawl... in fact those two fuckers seem to have ruled this 365 post...
@365...hope the folks and tom are back safe and sound...looking forward for the Christmas post...
well back on topic...too much blather...those doors remind me of too many churches...if i resided anywhere nearby it would be my church...hell it would be heaven...no tv...so much on tap an' in bottles an' on the shelf...
damn lest i forget...let's drink to ladder 9 and all first responders where ever they are...cheers...
as a side note which don't mean shit to a tree...the wife's name is nadine and we went to a chuck berry concert the evening we were married...yeah whoop de fuckin' do...KOC
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@rr: That's fucking great about your going to a Chuck Berry concert the night of your wedding! Nadine's one of my all time favorite songs, great lyrics!
i've asked a couple times over the years "honey is that you?"...they say puberty is hitting young females sooner...whatever puberty is ...an' alzheimer is hitting "older" males sooner...go figure...KOC
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@clacky haha, good pickin' mate, & ya right Bazza is always hitting me up to roll him a smoke with a bit of gum leaf sprinkled thru it (its a bit hard for him to roll his own he reckons with those dame claws getting in the way)...we are always fighting over that...but like i tell him, smoking is a disgusting habit & will only stunt his growth, stick to getting stoned on the gumleaf....
& yeah we are the only hospital dedicated to koalas alone...we basically cover the mid-north coast down to Taree & up to nearly Coffs Harbour.....we even have Dept of Wildlfe transport crook koalas from Gunnedah to us, they have some good colonies out there as well....we have a state of the art emergency room & 10x ICU rooms not counting all the outside yards...... i have to give a rap to John Williamson who donated the rights to his Blinky Bill album which added up well over $180,000 to build the ER & ICU some years ago....
& have the signs been effective? NAA!!!! people dont give a flying fuck, especially the locals who should know better....the sign Marty posted for me, is in a 50kph zone not 50m from the hospital yet everyday i see cars screaming thru there doing 70kph plus...they are just out & out DICKHEADS!!!!
@frizy...damn no worse then those that blow through pre school zones at 50mph...
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@raginrr, yep i hear ya mate!!!...DICKHEADS the lot of 'em!!!!
@raginrr...funny your comment on Danny & Bazza....would'nt it be cool to have a Koala Bar set up with Danny & Bazza hanging off the rafters, or in a feeder tree out in the beer garden....might have some interesting comments when the littl' smartarses piss & shit on the customers from a great height ...Barry would be right into that, he gets the shits with the tourists cameras clicking when i feed him, (& god help us if one of them forget to turn their flash off!!!)... soon as i finish his feed he normally turns round & chucks a dirty big "brown eye" at the tourist as he fucks off back up his tree....lol, gotta love his attitude!!!!
Happy Birthday Gidgey! Cheers to Ladder 9! The wood, oh my the wood! They had me at the sign, but the doors, I'm swooning at the doors! My kinda place. And some nice male eye candy to my liking. Love the twist on the wearing of the Guinness. And thanks for the pics of the koalas fitzy, awesome that you work there.
@ Fitzy: I forgot about John Williamson! I got dragged along to some of his shows when I was a kid. Back then when He played the Blinky Bill song all the kids in the audience would go around the venue collecting donations. At the end of the song we all got to go up on stage and meet John and give him the collections. Was all in good fun.
@ Anyone who's following the story...
John Williamson is Australian folk/country songwriter, environmental (and sometimes political) activist and icon of the Australian landscape. During the 80's he did a lot of work (probably still does) raising money and awareness to help the Koalas as they were facing an uncertain future. Blinky Bill is a cartoon Koala who's been around longer than Bazza'a Great Grandparents....he's been the star of heaps of kids books and tv shows. He'd be a hell of a lot more surly than Baz these days.
There was no wearing of the Guiness. I am disappointed.
@Guinness Wearin MoFo: I guess you didn't see the last picture.
fitzy's photos rule, too cute! and a great bar, your turly on a roll! butter yourself up! LOL!
Back off TV on bars...Bars are place to: drink, talking with friends, to know new peoples and dating (in my case with my wife, what is wonderful, still dating after married). This bar is top 10 of bar crawl, amazing, great vibe, great people, woods and bricks, a lot of beers and booze. good well, Marty, you rules. Cheers to Gidget, happy birthday! To Fitz.To Barry and Danny (you two last, only juice of eucaliptus for you).
Thanks Luc, I agree wholeheartedly!