Cork City Pub: An Afternoon Buzz

With a hint of warm weather in the air last week, my thoughts turned to my ultimate favorite springtime activity. No, I’m not talking about playing Frisbee in the park, flying kites or eating ice cream. That’s stupid. I am talking about the time-honored tradition (I am assuming) of our forefathers: day-drinking.

With the sun shining bright on our fair city, I headed to Cork City Pub around 3 p.m. with a friend. Earlier this year, the bar formerly known as , a neighborhood stand-by famous for their free cheeseballs, changed hands and re-opened as Cork City. Luckily, not too much has changed. The cheeseballs are still around, as are the dartboards and ginormous craft beer selection. Thankfully, the only things different are a fancier bar surface and a nice floor.

For a Saturday afternoon, there was a healthy crowd of beer drinkers, mostly guys, playing a few rousing games of darts. Well, as rousing as throwing pointy bits at a wall can be.

“It was slow most of January, but today is good,” said bartender Josh, who came on board with the new owners earlier this year. He said most of Duffy’s regulars still come by to drink.

My companion enjoyed the great Midwestern ale Pabst (it has won awards! Blue Ribbon awards!). While I have been abstaining from beer for a little while (I’m on a diet, what?), I decided to splurge on a Delirium,  a 8.5 percent alcohol by volume beverage. 

“Are you sure?” asked Josh with a laugh.

“I’m looking to get drunk before sunset,” was what I would have said if I had less decorum. Instead I smiled and nodded.

I really must celebrate Cork City’s beer selection for a minute. Their menu boasts Abita, Anchor Steam, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas, Magic Hat, Riverhorse and Victory, just to name a few. They have a big selection of winter beers, like brown ales and oatmeal stouts, which you can probably still catch before spring creeps up. 

“We kind of have to push (craft beer) a bit more; it’s more expensive than the Bud Light, and most of them have weird names,” Josh said. 

On the chilly day, the bar’s fireplace was a rare treat. It was like drinking in a ski lodge. A couple of dudes were playing Don’t Break The Ice (yes, the board game and yes, they brought it themselves), which at the same time made it feel like a sleepover I went to in the fourth grade. For some reason these are two things that I totally look for in a bar.

“We have Jenga, too,” said Josh. “That was pretty popular for a week."

Fearing my Jenga abilities would be handicapped by my mid-day buzz, I decided to see how the other afternoon bar patrons were faring.

“You know, after a long week, you can gather your friends around and share a common bond,” said Bob, a Hoboken resident who lives “around the corner.” Of course, the common bond he is talking about is the art of the afternoon blackout.

“(Day-drinking) isn’t something I can do as often anymore, so I enjoy it when I can,” said Sam, who also lives nearby. Their last names have been withheld for very obvious reasons. The two of them, with a few other friends, had been at the bar since it opened that day.

For Cork City Pub, we will bestow eight out of ten frosty mugs. Two points are deducted because one guy was wearing an Ed Hardy shirt. But really, it is a friendly bar with an awesome beer selection, and a good location just off of Washington. As for the art of day-drinking itself, we will bestow zillions of frosty mugs and endless kisses.