As we push toward celebrating Long Beach Last Call 2025—a 10-day, multi-event celebration of our city’s rich bar culture and the people who make it happen—we will offer a series of features that highlight everything from our most stellar cocktail programs at restaurants to to the very events occurring (like this feature on The Auld Dubliner in DTLB)… All in order to lift a glass to a social and economic driver that rarely receives the love its deserves: our bar industry. For more information on Long Beach Last Call, tap here.
Despite having been here for 20 years, the vast majority of visitors to Long Beach’s Auld Dubliner don’t know just how properly Irish the space is. Which is precisely why we are hosting an Irish coffee class at the DTLB pub for Long Beach Last Call.
Wait—what makes Auld Dubliner so “properly Irish”?
Led by Limerick native David Copley, The Auld Dubliner isn’t a space in which cheap Irish decorations were thrown up onto a space that could have otherwise been any bar. The entirety of the space was designed in Ireland by John Heverin of Òl Irish Pubs. And when I mean the entirety, I mean each piece was designed and fabricated for the space and imported from Ireland for the build out. The result? A simultaneously hyper-traditional and thoroughly Long Beach pub.
The Dub is not only a space where there is a perpetual play between American and Irish cultures. It is also a direct reflection of when the beauty of immigration is met with the opportunity America has. (Or, at least, has for some.) And how that can make a local environment flourish. The realness of that opportunity is something Copley is not remiss to directly address continually, despite having arrived decades ago.
So what is this Irish coffee class all about?
Many poor souls believe an Irish coffee is simply coffee and Irish cream liqueur—and they couldn’t be further from the source material. There’s a rich history behind the drink that eventually became famous Stateside thanks to the Buena Vista in San Francisco, where heavy cream, dark as can be coffee, and Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey are combined to create a drink that is as special as it is downable.
The patrons of The Auld Dubliner are one of the largest consumers of Tullamore D.E.W. outside of those at the Buena Vista (where thousands of proper Irish coffees are made per day). And that’s why, like last year, we are bringing back the Irish coffee class. The event takes place Sunday, Mar. 2, from noon to 2PM.
Following, we will have a “Split the G” competition, where drinkers can win prizes for taking a single gulp of Guinness from a Guinness glass and do their best to assure the top line of the beer matches with the center of the “G” on the glass.
Tickets to this event are $30 and there is a limited capacity. To purchase your ticket, click here.
Wait–you mention Long Beach Last Call 2025. What is it?
Long Beach Food Scene: Last Call—or Long Beach Last Call 2025 if you wanna keep it simple—returns March 1 and run through March 10 with a series of events on each day that celebrates the city’s rich bar culture, community, and its workers. From industry-only and unlimited tastings events to cocktail contests and proper Irish coffee lessons, Long Beach Last Call will continue to be the premiere event celebrating Long Beach’s bar and cocktail culture.
After the success of my restaurant in 2023, Long Beach Food Scene Week, bar owners and tenders rightfully asked: “What about a week for us?” So I decided to oblige and present Long Beach Last Call last year, a ten-day long celebration of Long Beach’s amazing bar culture, it’s even more amazing workers, and the industry that often goes without recognition as one of our city’s largest economic and social drivers. And thousands of people proudly showed up. With the alcohol industry going through a roller-coaster of layoffs and rearrangements—from brands leaving distribution companies to brand representation shrinking nationwide—now is the time more than ever to support these incredible people.
Hence, Long Beach Last Call 2025. And The Auld Dubliner is a part of that—so go order a drink.
The Auld Dubliner is located at 71 S. Pine Ave. The Long Beach Last Call Irish coffee class will be on Sunday, Mar. 2, from noon to 2PM. For tickets, click here.
