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Great new destination for fans of Irish pubs

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Also by Molly Webb:

Spending most our lives living in hipster paradise (September 10, 2004)
Madison's brewery battle (September 24, 2004)
Natt Spil top choice for great drink deals (December 3, 2004)
Best bars to warm up winter (December 10, 2004)
Madison's unlikely watering spots (October 22, 2004)

by Molly Webb

Friday, October 8, 2004

I’m Irish — red hair, freckles, green eyes, a relative named Patrick O’Brien, the whole shebang. I’ve always felt the Irish were underrepresented in the otherwise-thriving downtown drinking scene — the closest “Irish pub” is in Middleton, and the mainstream equivalent on State Street falls quite a bit short of the old country.

Imagine my enthusiasm, then, when I found that Brocach, an authentic Irish pub, was opening on the Square! Located at 7 W. Main St., Brocach is a refreshing change from the usual downtown watering holes.

According to co-owner Cliff McDonald, he got the idea for Brocach after coming to Madison for a Badger football game. “I’m from Boston, where there’s a large Irish population, and my wife is from Wisconsin and went to graduate school here,” he said. “After the game, we wanted to go out, so I asked where the Irish pub was. She said there wasn’t really one.”

After deciding that Madison “looked good on paper, demographically,” McDonald and his two business partners began scouting possible locations, finally deciding to capture the Capitol Square crowd.

In Gaelic, “brocach” has two meanings — “badger den” or “grizzly-faced man.” How appropriate for Madison! As I stepped in on a recent chilly Tuesday night, I was immediately struck by the crowd. Bars around here aren’t exactly known for their tendency to be nicely crowded at 8:15 on Tuesday nights, but this one certainly was.

I took a seat at the bar, figuring myself not hungry enough to order what I could see were the massive proportions offered with entrees, and my order was taken promptly — a Smithwick’s Irish Ale and a cup of Potato Leek Soup. As I settled in and took in the dí

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Anonymous (January 30, 2005 @ 9:23am):

Brocach is a fun bar, i have had many a good night there, the drink and food are great and very reasonably priced, the staff are friendly especially the cheeky irish bartender, he was totally awesome! The music could be better though.

Anonymous (February 10, 2005 @ 6:35pm):

This bar is a flamin' rip off built by some Irish wanna be's. I know for a fact that the "charming owner-bartenders" cheat on their wives and are not at all the Irishmen they make themselves out to be. One of them actually told me that they were part of the IRA. Watch out for this place and stay away from the bartenders if you know what's good for you. I speak from experience.

Mary Knoll (February 17, 2005 @ 1:18pm):

I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Webb. Having been in the exstablishment a few times for drinks, I thought it worthy of trying the lunch today. I ordered a cup of the cream of artichoke soup with a cold dollop of creamy cumcumber drizzled on top. Along with that I tried the Apple, Walnut, Bleu Cheese spinach salad that not only won me over but most definitely filled me up. Hopefully more people will allow themselves to get past the drink prices and savor the food. As for my drink, it was a Kaliber NA made by Guinness that leaves an aftertaste of a hint of a prune on the pallate.

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