Harkin’s Harbour Bar in Dublin was famously highlighted by McGregor for stocking his Forged Irish Stout as it is located directly across from the Guinness brewery, whose owners Diageo he had vowed to take on.
McGregor reposted a video last week of himself jumping out of a chauffeur driven car at Christmas last year to greet a homeless charity worker, and boast that he had just had a “few pints of Forged Irish Stout in Harkin’s” and was “on the way to Buskers” for more.
Harkin’s bar
Before McGregor left Harkin’s during last year’s festive season he posed behind the counter pulling pints and left a tip of nearly €1,000 to share among the staff.
When the Sunday World visited Harkin’s in recent days the Forged Irish Stout tap was still on display and we were served a pint in a branded glass from the McGregor-owned brewery.
But the disgraced MMA star’s booze is priced at €6.30 a pint, which is 60c more than a pint of Guinness in the same pub. It also outprices a pint of Heineken, which sells there for €6.20.
The well-kept pub in Echlin Street in Dublin is frequented by locals and tourists and has an impressive food menu.
“We are very non-political in there,” stressed Stephen Harkin, one of the owners of Harkin’s Harbour Bar.
McGregor behind the Harkin’s bar
“Forged Stout is actually Porterhouse and it was rebranded. There were people drinking Porterhouse before it was called Forged. There’s a lot of old men in there that actually drank it before it was rebranded.”
Porterhouse brewery in Glasnevin, which had €7m invested by its previous owners, was bought by McGregor two years ago for an undisclosed sum. The Porterhouse chain of pubs is still owned by the original business people, although part of a separate company.
“It sells, it’s a product,” Stephen points out. “We’re a business and we employ 21 people. We don’t promote certain brands, if it doesn’t sell it gets thrown out. There’s enough problems going on in the world. If you take that down you’d be taking everything down.
“We have taken out two products this year because they weren’t selling, one was Madri and the other was Budweiser, believe it or not.”
Nikita Hand (right) won her case against McGregor
When asked why Forged was 60c more expensive than Guinness in his pub, he replied: “It’s a craft beer.”
We then enquired about the recent rape case controversy, where McGregor was found guilty by a jury of assaulting Nikita Hand, which awarded her nearly €250,000 in damages.
“Two things that you don’t bring into a pub is politics and religion,” argues Stephen. “At the end of the day it’s a product.”
Several major supermarket chains and shops removed Forged Irish Stout and Proper 12 Whiskey from their shelves
Stephen said Proper 12 Whiskey, which was co-founded by McGregor who subsequently sold his share for more than €100m in 2021, was pulled from the shelves because it “didn’t sell and we don’t do that anymore”.
“There is no bias between anyone. If it doesn’t move, it doesn’t move. At the minute it moves,” he said of Forged Irish Stout.
“It actually moves surprisingly well. Where we are located it’s a tourist base as well.”
Stephen said he met McGregor when he visited his pub last Christmas.
“He came in and he wasn’t only pulling his own drink,” he insists.
Eugene with a pint of Forged
“He bought a round for the pub and it didn’t have to be Forged. If someone was drinking lager, he got them lager.
“He was actually quieter than I thought he’d be and was quite respectable that night.”
Our reporter also visited Buskers bar in Temple Bar. When we asked if they stocked Forged Irish Stout, an employee replied: “We used to but we took it out after what happened [the rape case].”
Tesco, Supervalu, O’Briens, Carry Out off licences and Circle K are among the outlets which have removed both the stout and Proper 12 from its shelves.
Wetherspoons later joined the boycott, by removing Forged taps from its seven Republic of Ireland pubs.
