For millennia, Irish folklore associated the river Shannon with sea monsters<\/a> and the goddess of wisdom<\/a>. But since the year 900, pilgrims pivoted to the river\u2019s banks in search of different kinds of spirits.<\/p>\n Situated along the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland, is Sean\u2019s Bar<\/a>, which has welcomed kings, clan leaders, tourists, and small-town regulars over the course of its 1,125-year history. But it didn\u2019t gain global recognition until 2004 when the Guinness Book of World Records named it the oldest pub in Ireland. Because no older bar has been discovered, it lays claim as the oldest bar in the world.<\/p>\n Timmy Donovan, manager at Sean\u2019s Bar, says worldwide tourists and local regulars alike come in to drink a cold pint and observe a moment in history. But its early proprietors and patrons were most likely unaware of how lasting an impact their bar would have on Ireland\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDon’t Miss A Drop<\/span> The origin of Sean\u2019s Bar<\/a> dates back to 900 when Luain Mac Luighdeach founded an inn at a shallow point along the Shannon. Travelers would cross the river at that low point, so Luighdeach saw fertile ground there for business. The inn maintained enough traffic that the surrounding area eventually grew into the settlement \u00c1th Luain, or the ford of Luian, which gradually became Athlone. For the following 200 years, kings and clan leaders were among the lodgers at Luighdeach\u2019s inn.<\/p>\n Operation continued during the 1,100-year gap between the founding and colloquial recognition as the oldest bar, but the historic magnitude was only discovered through a routine renovation. When Sean Fitzsimons, who took ownership of the bar in 1970 and renamed the pub, decided to rip down old walls, the team discovered wattle-and-wicker walls, interwoven hazel sticks bound by horsehair and clay, that modern-day visitors can still see. They also unearthed coins from the mid-1600s \u2014 now on display at the National Museum of Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you\u2019re walking through the bar from front door to back door, you notice the floor slopes the whole way through the bar,\u201d says Donovan. \u201cGoing back to 900 when the pub was built, that was the original drainage system. Water would come in the front door, it\u2019d go straight down that slope, and go out back and into the river Shannon.\u201d<\/p>\n Discovering these artifacts \u2014 along with a book of all past owners allegedly beginning with Luighdeach \u2014 led Sean\u2019s Bar to invite Guinness World Records to examine and date the bar.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go to the Guiness Book of World Records, you do not give them a date,\u201d says Donovan. \u201cYou give them all your information, everything you have dealing with the pub.\u201d<\/p>\n After a few years of research, the Guinness Book of World Records named Sean\u2019s Bar the oldest pub in Ireland with an official founding date of 900, which the National Museum of Ireland corroborated, according to Donovan.<\/p>\n Beyond pulling pint after pint, the staff at Sean\u2019s draws visitors with frequent tours and nightly traditional Irish music sets. But maintaining a high volume of customers and public appeal requires blending the ancient with the contemporary, Donovan says.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to keep it in its own traditional way, yet you have to move with modern times,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, behind the scenes, it could be very modern, with your coolers, equipment, and everything, but the whole main bar is as it was built right back in 900.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean\u2019s Bar extends that commitment to history in its house line of whiskey. Donovan says he researched the ways Irish monks distilled some of the earliest versions of whiskey and then worked alongside distillers in Cork to imitate the early monks\u2019 process, harkening back to the spirit\u2019s roots as much as he could.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went back to the original monks to see what was available to [them] at the time to flavor the whiskey,\u201d says Donovan. \u201cBut some of their flavors tasted bad. The master distillers were able to tell us, \u2018Yes, you could use that.\u2019 \u2018You could use that.\u2019 \u2018That\u2019s no good.\u2019 That is how we formulate our whiskey. We took it right back to its origin.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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![Chris55\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDiscovering these artifacts \u2014 along with a book of all past owners allegedly beginning with Luighdeach \u2014 led Sean\u2019s Bar to invite Guinness World Records to examine and date the bar.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you go to the Guiness Book of World Records, you do not give them a date,\u201d says Donovan. \u201cYou give them all your information, everything you have dealing with the pub.\u201d<\/p>\nAfter a few years of research, the Guinness Book of World Records named Sean\u2019s Bar the oldest pub in Ireland with an official founding date of 900, which the National Museum of Ireland corroborated, according to Donovan.<\/p>\nBeyond pulling pint after pint, the staff at Sean\u2019s draws visitors with frequent tours and nightly traditional Irish music sets. But maintaining a high volume of customers and public appeal requires blending the ancient with the contemporary, Donovan says.<\/p>\n\u201cYou want to keep it in its own traditional way, yet you have to move with modern times,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, behind the scenes, it could be very modern, with your coolers, equipment, and everything, but the whole main bar is as it was built right back in 900.\u201d<\/p>\nSean\u2019s Bar extends that commitment to history in its house line of whiskey. Donovan says he researched the ways Irish monks distilled some of the earliest versions of whiskey and then worked alongside distillers in Cork to imitate the early monks\u2019 process, harkening back to the spirit\u2019s roots as much as he could.<\/p>\n\u201cWe went back to the original monks to see what was available to [them] at the time to flavor the whiskey,\u201d says Donovan. \u201cBut some of their flavors tasted bad. The master distillers were able to tell us, \u2018Yes, you could use that.\u2019 \u2018You could use that.\u2019 \u2018That\u2019s no good.\u2019 That is how we formulate our whiskey. We took it right back to its origin.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Sean%27s_bar.jpg\"){kind=link}