On this episode of "My Favo(u)rite Irish..." I got to spend some time recently with Gillian Fitzgerald, co-owner of the famed Casements Bar, in the Mission District of San Francisco. I first met Gillian back in the spring of 2023 when I visited Casements ahead of an event to fill my belly with some of their delicious Fish ‘n Chips.  And ahead of another event in San Francisco we sat down in the outdoor snug at Casements with a dram in hand and had a grand ole chin wag. 

We talked about Gillian’s journey to Casements, growing up in Co. Meath, her first dram, the Irish Whiskey renaissance, San Francisco, her trials and tribulations with the Great Recession and more recently the COVID pandemic. We chatted about their focus on Irish hospitality at Casements and how she spent a number of weeks this past summer with her team traveling Ireland doing pop up collabs with other great cocktail bars.  

And of course no chat about Casements would be complete without the full story of Roger Casement himself and all of his achievements. And we did all of this talking while sipping on Gillian’s current favourite which is the Single Malt Double Barrel from the lads at Two Stacks.

Links for more info…
Casements Bar Website
Casements on Instagram
PSBS - Palm Springs Bottle Shop
PSBS on Instagram
Two Stacks Single Malt Double Barrel

The Bars in Ireland where Gillian and her team did those pop-up collabs;
Jackal, Navan
BAR 1661, Dublin
Dick Macks Pub, Dingle

Image credit of Gillian - StoriedSF/Michelle Kilfeather