The popularity of Irish pubs in America isn’t just a matter of luck: Between 1820 and 1860, more than a third of all immigrants came from Ireland, and they settled in urban areas, where bars became essential community centers. Today, there are thousands of Irish pubs from coast to coast, beloved for their well-pulled pints of Guinness and friendly craic. For our first-ever Irish Pub Awards, we searched the country for the standouts. Cheers to these winners!

All text by Audrey Morgan for Food Network Magazine.

NYC has more Irish bars than any other city in America, and McSorley’s was the first: The pub opened in 1854! Original paintings and tchotchkes still hang on the walls, and the drink menu hasn’t changed much either. Options include only light and dark ale, and an order will get you two half-pints.

mcsorleysoldalehouse.nyc

This bar typically throws an annual Green Beer Sunday festival in February, serving 12,000 gallons of green beer to revelers. We’d expect nothing less from a pub in Syracuse’s Tipperary Hill, a neighborhood with so much Irish pride that it has a traffic light where the green light sits above the red!

colemansirishpub.com

Grab a seat, and maybe bring a book: Authors and poets including Philip Roth and Seamus Heaney once frequented this historic pub and music venue. The founders of the Boston literary journal Ploughshares also used it as a meeting place.

ploughandstars.com