Our shared benchmark: Guinness Draught, one standard pint (568 ml). Dated observations from menus, receipts and the people who were there.
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Preserved directory details. Recorded information can change.
Reviewed pub lore
Established
McCarthy's was established in the 1850s by Richard McCarthy as a 'spirit merchant, restaurant, hotel, undertaker, draper, grocer, baker, hackney service, glass, delph and china shop' — a single Main Street operation answering to most of Fethard's daily needs.
Family
Five generations of the same family. The present proprietor, Vincent Murphy — known to all as Jasper — is the fifth generation running pub, restaurant and undertaker side-by-side.
Earlier uses
The undertaker's hearses are parked in the former livery stables out the back. The ground-floor rooms have served, at various times, as bar, restaurant, grocer's, hotel reception, and funeral arranger's office.
Rituals
Tradition holds that the same bar tab can — has, on occasion — covered the wake.
Signature drink
'We wine you, dine you, and bury you.' McCarthy's catchphrase, and a literal description of the premises.
Reputation
Beloved across Tipperary as a true rural Irish institution. When urban journalists need to make a point about pubs as community, this is the pub they profile.
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