Tap Handle #864: McGuire's Irish Pub

12/25/2025 02:40:00 PM

Tap Handle #864: McGuire's Irish Pub - Porter

Tap size: just over 8.5"

Rarity: 10 or less seen, hand-made

Mounting: 3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

Here's a tap that is rarely seen. McGuire's features a leprechaun dressed in green with black shoes, a dark green hat, and a pipe, sitting on a tree stump. It has the infamous shrinking resin/cracking paint issue common to taps from this time period. I believe it was first manufactured around 2006, when Mike Helf took over brewing operations and modernized the brewery. A slot in the top of the sign that the leprechaun is holding allows a card to be inserted to indicate the beer variety. The resin version was discontinued in favor of a urethane version of the same tap, where the leprechaun has a black hat (instead of a green one) and no paint issues (see photo inset). The urethane version is still in use today. Both versions are almost impossible to find - only a couple of the resin versions have made it to the secondary market, where they have sold for just over $100, but the last one was listed back in 2020 and the only one currently for sale (at the time of this writing) is listed at a whopping $700!

McGuire's Irish Pub first opened in 1977 as a small neighborhood pub in a shopping center in Pensacola, Florida. Founded by husband-and-wife team McGuire and Molly Martin, the modest operation initially featured McGuire tending bar and cooking while Molly waited tables and greeted customers. When Molly received her first dollar tip, she tacked it to the back bar for good luck, unknowingly starting what would become one of the pub's most famous traditions. Friends of the pub began adding to the collection, and it soon became a longstanding custom. Today, more than one million signed dollar bills hang from the ceilings and walls of McGuire's locations, with the Pensacola location alone featuring over 750,000 bills representing an estimated two million dollars in cash.

In 1982, McGuire's moved to its current location at 600 East Gregory Street, occupying Pensacola's original 1927 Old Firehouse building. The 20,000 square foot space was transformed into a 615-seat restaurant featuring a turn-of-the-century New York Irish Saloon theme with various themed rooms including the Pipers Den, Notre Dame Room, The Irish Links Room, and the Ruprecht O'Tolf Wine Cellar. The Martin family's vision for creating a complete Irish food and beverage experience led them to travel to Ireland and Great Britain, where they observed that many pubs operated their own breweries. Inspired by this tradition, and coinciding with the Florida Legislature's passage of a bill allowing brewing operations, the Martins decided to open their own brewery.

McGuire's Craft Brewery opened in 1988, making it the oldest craft brewery in Florida. Much of the brewing equipment came from the long-defunct Bartel's Winery that had also operated in Pensacola. The original strain of house yeast was developed by Rush Cummings, formerly of Abita Brewing, and Carl Strauss, the former vice president and brew master of Pabst. After experimenting with home brewing kits that produced unsuccessful results, the Martins hired Steve Freed, who developed most of McGuire's famous beers and handled the brewing schedule. McGuire's gained national recognition for both its food and beverages. The restaurant was named Steak House of the Year by the National Beef Council in 1998 and was repeatedly honored with Florida Trend Magazine's Golden Spoon Award, designating it as one of Florida's top ten restaurants. The pub also received multiple Wine Spectator Magazine Awards of Excellence for its extensive wine cellar, which houses one of the largest restaurant wine collections in the world. McGuire's became famous for its steaks, advertised as "Certified Angus corn-fed beef, never frozen and hand cut daily," as well as for unique menu items like the Senate Bean Soup, priced at 18 cents to match what the same soup cost in the U.S. Senate cafeteria when the restaurant opened in 1977. The menu also featured more than 20 hamburgers, including the $100 "Grand Burger" made with filet mignon and served with caviar and champagne.

In 1996, McGuire's opened its second location in Destin, Florida, situated on beautiful Destin Harbor. Comedian and actor Bob Hope signed the first dollar bill at the Destin location, carrying on the tradition from the original Pensacola pub. The Destin restaurant, managed by Billy Martin (son of founders McGuire and Molly), featured 500 seats on the main floor with the same turn-of-the-century New York Irish Saloon atmosphere, plus an additional 150 seats on The Deck upstairs, offering harbor views and live entertainment. The Destin location operated its own brewery on-site, serving the same beers brewed in the traditional McGuire's style. In 2006, Freed retired and was succeeded by Mike Helf, a home brewer and former employee of Mad Anthony Brewery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Helf brought modernization to the brewery, introducing occasional seasonal selections like Coffee Porter.

McGuire's had sponsored the McGuire's Pipe Band since 1988, and each year hosts the McGuire's St. Patrick's Day 5K Run, billed as the largest prediction run in America. The pub has maintained several beloved traditions beyond the dollar bills, including encouraging first-time visitors and special guests to kiss a large stuffed moose head mounted near the music stage. Another long-running tradition involves playfully misleading restroom signage, where the sign on the women's restroom door states "Men's Room" with small text reading "This way to" above it, along with a hand pointing toward the adjacent men's restroom, and vice versa. In 2007, this signage became controversial when the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation ordered both locations to remove the confusing signs following a complaint. More than 3,000 patrons of the Destin location signed a petition requesting the return of the old signage. McGuire's eventually reached an agreement with the DBPR that allowed them to keep the famous signs by installing a second set of swinging doors after the signs but before the restroom areas.

The brewery currently produces 6 regular beers and rotating seasonal varieties, along with root beer and specialty mixed drinks such as Irish Coffee, Irish Wake and a large martini selection, all made or brewed on-premise where customers can watch the brewing process from the restaurant. McGuire's Irish Red Ale was the first beer brewed and remains the most popular, having earned praise from beer gurus Michael Jackson and Fred Eckhardt for its smooth and malty character. McGuire's beers can be found at other restaurants, bars, and tap houses in the Pensacola and Destin areas. The red ale is also available for purchase in bottles and kegs at local grocers, convenience stores, and spirits retailers.

McGuire's Porter is ruby chestnut in color and not as heavy as the pub's stout. The full-bodied ale features chocolate malt balanced with Willamette Hops, giving it a smooth, distinct flavor with a distinctive full hop character. At 6% alcohol by volume, the porter pairs well with McGuire's black Angus steaks and was designed to "help what ales ya after a hard days work."