Last April, Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. performed at a sold out concert at the Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum.
The group performed hits from their latest studio album, Romance, which earned two nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. A year earlier, in 2024, Hozier’s song “Too Sweet” topped the Billboard Top 100, making him the first Irish singer-songwriter to have a No. 1 song since Sinéad O’Connor in 1990.
The Irish hot streak hasn’t just been confined to the music industry either. Irish actors like Paul Mescal and Cillian Murphy have won awards and landed films smashing box office debuts. In 2023, the Los Angeles Times coined the term “Green Wave” in an article referring to the fact that a single Irish-led film, Banshees of Inisherin, earned nine Oscar nods at the 95th Academy Awards.
American tourism to Ireland has surged over the last decade and despite some leveling out since the start of the Trump Administration, remains strong.
Back in Texas, the so-called Green Wave hasn’t missed Dallas, as evidenced by the Fontaines D.C. show last spring.
Peter Kenny, owner of Lochland’s Irish Pub in Lake Highlands and the Dubliner on Lower Greenville, says he’s been glad to see his native land enjoying so much popularity in his adopted home.
“I do love to see it. I love seeing the Fontaines D.C. being the great band they are. They keep breathing it out,” Kenny says. “I’m sorry I missed them in Dallas.”
Kenny is originally from Dublin and moved stateside in the ’80s. After a few years working in bars around town, he opened the Dubliner in 1994. Peter and his wife, Cheryl, now run it and Lochland’s as part of a family enterprise, having previously operated Capitol Pub in Uptown for over a decade.
He’s been in the pub business for over 40 years and says it’s the people who keep bringing him back.
“I just love to see everybody enjoying themselves and having a good time. I like the vibe of it. Kind of grew up in it,” he says. “Whether it’s people enjoying just hanging out and talking and different people meeting each other. Over the years, even at the Dubliner, we’ve had a lot of people even get married there. People who’ve got engaged there.”
The craze for all things Irish has been good for pub owners. The owners of The Old Monk, The Skellig and Spider Murphy’s have opened up two additional pubs in Oak Cliff in as many years. Younger crowds seem to be seeking out darker, wooden-filled watering holes over conventional sports bars and clubs, which Kenny attributes to a sense of belonging.
“It’s like a community thing,” Kenny says. “Even when the young people come in, groups of them, we were seeing it a lot at the Dubliner on weekend nights, and now they’re familiar with it, and they feel comfortable there.”
And there’s another aspect of the Green Wave driving people to places like the Dubliner. Dark, frothy and slow to drink, Guinness, a ubiquitous symbol of the Emerald Isle, has seen record sales in the U.S. Propelled by cleverly marketed gimmicks like “Splitting the G,” the growth has been driven in large part by an increased interest from Gen Z drinkers.
Kenny, who estimates his Guinness sales have increased by around 30% since the Green Wave began in earnest around 2023, says it’s not just an older man’s drink anymore.
“It’s everybody, and the Dubliner gets a lot of young crowds on the weekends,” he says. “I can’t believe the amount of Guinness we sell, they’re all drinking Guinness. So I guess maybe it’s some of them trying it out, and others just loving it.”
Aside from well-executed marketing campaigns, Kenny also attributes Guinness’s newfound popularity to more developed palates.
“I think, because of all the brew pubs and everything else, people drink good beers these days, whether it’s hazy IPAs or stouts or bourbon barrel stouts,” Kenny says. “And they realize Guinness is not this big high alcohol by volume beer. It’s like 4.2%.”
“It’s a good beer. It tastes well, and it’s not super alcoholic. You know, look at these IPAs, and they’re 7-8%.”
While it may be the poster child, Guinness isn’t the only Irish beer on taps in Dallas. Smithwick’s (the W is silent), a red ale, regularly comes in behind Guinness sales at the Dubliner and Lochland’s.
Sales of Irish whiskey, long second fiddle to Bourbon and Scotch in the States, have seen an increase in sales in the last few years, he says. Jameson has done well, as always, but Kenny says neighbors are expanding their tastes.
“There’s a lot of good Irish whiskeys, whether it’s Teeling and Red Breast and Midleton and they go on and on,” Kenny says. “It’s exploding, the Irish whiskey market.”
However, pubs aren’t just for those imbibing, Cheryl says.
“We have a lot of people that actually don’t drink at all, they just like that camaraderie,” she says. “And I think that you hear of people traveling all over the world, and they always seek out an Irish pub wherever they go.”
The Kennys will hope for the trend to continue as they gear up to host St. Patrick’s Day events at both pubs this month. Preparations begin a year out, and Peter laughingly admits his staff probably “get tired of listening to Irish music.”
Dallas, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be escaping the Green Wave anytime soon.
