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