Bottoms up: Columbia’s Irish Pubs celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

As a child on St. Patrick’s Day, you looked forward to watching parades, wearing green to avoid getting pinched, consuming large amounts of dyed-green food until you were literally green in the face … and mouth, and hands.

As an adult, not much changes, except you add downing a few rounds at a local Irish pub to your list. Here in the Columbia area, offerings include four prominent – and very different – Irish pubs. Each will offer up its own take on St. Patrick’s Day through drink specials, live entertainment and even having a cab in place in case your Irish luck runs out.

The Tilted Kilt

Where: 380 Columbiana Drive, (803) 732-5458, http://tiltedkilt.com/columbia

On tap for St. Pat’s: “We plan to be slammed all day,” said Josh Samuel, general manager. “We’re going to have live music. Our girls will be dressed up in all kinds of green. Guinness is our beer of the month, and all week, we’ll be featuring $3 Jameson shots, $4 Irish car bomb shots and of course your Jameson and Ginger, your black IPAs – Guinness layered on top of an IPA. It’s a version of a black and tan. And our green beer and green tea, which is Jameson, peach schnapps and fresh lemon juice. It’ll be perfect on St. Paddy’s Day. The Lucky Kiss is our green shot, or you can make it into a drink. It’s Jameson, Malibu, Midori and pineapple. The Midori and pineapple really make it that green.”

Delaney’s Music Pub & Eatery

Where: 741 Saluda Ave., (803) 779-2345, www.facebook.com/DelaneysMusicPub

On tap for St. Pat’s: “We don’t do drink specials. We don’t do green drinks. That’s very Americanized and we are not that,” said Megan Yelton, assistant manager and bartender at Delaney’s.

But that shouldn’t deter you. Located smack in the center of Five Points and its St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Delaney’s expects to see and seat somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people. For entertainment, The Ancient Order of the Hibernians will bring in Irish dancers, bagpipers and drummers. JJ Smith – “a Scottish guy singing Irish music from Florida” – also will perform for his loyal “JJ Followers.”

“This is a little different than a lot of places,” said Joe “House” Wilson, owner of both Delaney’s Music Pub and Eatery and Delaney’s Speakeasy. “Being a pub, we’re not somewhere that people jet in to grab a beer and jet out. People are coming in eating and listening to the bands. This is not an ‘in and out place’ on Paddy’s Day or on the festival day.”

Kelly’s Deli & Pub

Where: 1001 Washington St., (803) 254-4464, www.facebook.com/kellyspubcolumbiasc

On tap for St. Pat’s: “We get the drunken aftermath of Five Points,” joked Kelly Whitlock, owner of Kelly’s pub, a fixture in Columbia for 14 years. “We get a good stream of people. Like a trickle effect, but definitely late-nighters. People who got hammered earlier in the day, went home, took a nap, then go back out and come here. So we have to call a lot of cabs. We keep them en route.”

Jokes aside, Whitlock said she and her staff always have a good time celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with whomever stops in.

“We always do a couple drink specials. I let my bartenders pick,” she said. “We usually do a Guinness special, Jameson special and sometimes a Bushnell special. A lot of times, we have car bomb specials, too. We always have an Irish playlist, and we always have hats, necklaces and swag to give out. We dress you up if you aren’t already dressed up.”

The Publick House

Where: 2307 Devine St., (803) 256-2625, www.publick-house.com

On tap for St. Pat’s: “Our prices are going to be the same. We’re an Irish pub, so we sell a lot of Guinness and car bombs,” said bartender Branson Stafford. “We won’t have entertainment; we won’t have room for it. We get the overflow from whatever’s happening in Five Points. All throughout the day, people start here and make it down there. All day long is going to be a filtration of people coming and going out. With food and lots of drinks of course.”

“It’s the only day we open for breakfast,” said Drew Kalagher, co-owner of The Publick House. “The finish line of the road is outside our door. By 7 in the morning, there are 1,000 people outside. We open our doors then, serve breakfast, and it’s an all-day event until 2 a.m.”