Inside The Oldest Irish Tavern In NYC | Legendary Eats

[Music] when you walk into mcsorley's old l house you are walking into a time capsule you feel how old it is but in a good way [Music] mcsorley's is the oldest irish bar in america it's probably the most famous bar in the world hands down it's the most storied bar in new york city and the most authentic place here in manhattan if you ask me [Music] mcsorley's old ale house has passed through a few different owners over its 165 years in operation but they've all shared one common goal to preserve mcsorley's history and keep its traditions alive we opened in 1854 by an irish immigrant by the name of john mcsorley and he was a devout catholic he didn't believe in alcohol and that's why we only serve ale a light ill or a dark el and he believed that if he left a man alone with the good mug of el he would cause no trouble and in all the years i've been here we don't have any trouble whatsoever it's quite amazing to this day the only two drinks on the menu are mcsorley's signature light and dark ales which are cheap reliable and sold two at a time six dollars you get two beers at once which is how i like to roll great beer it's great beer but the beer isn't the only thing they've held on to over the years with old photos and artifacts covering its walls mcsorley's isn't just a bar it's a living museum there isn't an inch of wall space open i mean it's just covered with history it's just a collection of new york history irish history you know family history the turkey wishbones are probably the most famous thing that people talk about you know guys before they went off to war they put the wishbone up for good luck this here is the original bell from the original madison square garden it's quite impressive up on top here's an original wanted poster for the murder of abe lincoln this is peter cooper's chair this is the chair that lincoln sat in when he was here in 1860 so we have the original ice box right here we electrified it back in the 50s that's when the iceman no longer cometh john mcsorley's motto be good or be gone it means if you act like an idiot you're gonna get thrown out like an idiot we have a pair of harry houdini's handcuffs hanging up on the ceiling so he was here quite often and you know one day he performed a trick and then he disappeared on his bill too we never buy anything and we don't just take anything customers have to have a real connection with the bar or of course if you're a veteran we're honored that you're here and that you fought for our country or that you served in our military and we'll take something from you tons of caps firemen policemen world war one doughboys 19th century fireman helmets all the way to 9 11. so these are just some of the badges purple hearts that soldiers and law enforcement officers they retired here again because the place meant so much to them we have the ashes of a few of our customers this here drinking flask belonged to an artist who lived upstairs his name was bobby bowles and his last request was that his ashes be put in his drinking flask and the flask left behind the bar so that's bobby in there we have a photo of him right there that one there he was a real character real gypsy that's bobby well it's one of the sole survivors of the old east village it's part of the feel of old new york yeah yeah we have families that have been coming to mcsorley's for three four five six generations firemen cops every time a kid turns 21 who's bringing him here his father or his grandfather because this place has such a profound meaning and a place in their hearts and they want to carry on that tradition and in a day and age where everybody's just on their cell phones and modern technology it's nice it's a nice respite to come into a place where you can feel the history and tell stories of of your family being here because it really does mean a lot to a lot of people i think this place is going to outlast all of us and there's a joke among the staff that who's going to be here for the 200th anniversary are we going to need one of the big tables or one of the small tables but everybody feels mixolys will keep continuing [Music] the stranger we must be irish [Music] you

Channel: Insider Food

Views: 564,816

Keywords: INSIDER, FOOD INSIDER, mcsorley's, ale, beer, nyc, new york city, drink, beverage, alcohol, bar

Id: ljdx4320tOA

Length: 5min 56sec (356 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 29 2019