Colm Dalton from County Kerry, Ireland has embarked on an extraordinary mission to visit every Irish pub in the world. The quest to visit Irish pubs was ignited after Mr Dalton visited Bilbao in Spain, which he has described as a "beautiful, beautiful city". He went to the Wicklow Arms pub where he made several friends and even met a man who knew his father from back in the day.
"I just said, 'This is great. I'll continue it, and I'll just try to go a different place every time,'" Mr Dalton told CNN. "I love to see how someone has interpreted the Irish pub, and (if it's) a faithful interpretation."
Mr Dalton has already explored 97 pubs across 47 countries but remains some distance away from completing the task as there are at least 6,500 Irish pubs globally, as per estimates by the Irish Pubs Global Federation.
Mr Dalton, who documents his travels on his Publican Enemy blog, said his upbringing in Ireland prepared him well for the travel abroad and despite being well-versed with the Irish pub culture, wanted to see what lay beyond.
"When you live in Kerry, you live by the sea, so there is an element of wanting to travel and go out a little bit because you're facing across to America."
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Quizzed about what was the worst pub he had visited on his travels so far, Mr Dalton recounted the Loch Ness pub on the French island of Corsica with the name being an ode to the mythical monster, found in an entirely different country of Scotland.
The London-based university lecturer said if a pub is named after an Irish surname, that's a good sign as it suggests it was named after an owner or family.
While he may not be able to visit every Irish pub in the world, Mr Dalton has his eyes set on travelling to the highest Irish pubs in the world. Mr Dalton says he'd be happy to visit either Paddy's Irish Pub in Cusco, Peru or the Namche Bazaar in the foothills of the Himalayas.
