Skip to content
Liverpool city centre pub offers ‘best selection’ in country
Dave Hardman believes his pub has a certain collection that no other in the country can compete with.
Landlord Dave, 63, has run the Lion Tavern on Moorfields in the city centre since November 2016. Previously a civil servant, he had worked behind the bar since 2005, partly to supplement his income.
Dave, from Allerton, then became the landlord after he took redundancy in his full-time job. The pub had closed down, but a friend told him about an open day for people interested in taking it over.
READ MORE: ‘Troubled’ building famous in the 90s that could make a comeback
He went to view the pub and 20 minutes later he had signed the lease to become landlord. In his six and a half years of running the Grade II listed pub, Dave has retained its character but has worked to put his own stamp on it – with a focus on one drink in particular – Irish whiskey.
Dave told the ECHO: “Since I’ve worked here, the pub has always had the best selection of whisky in Liverpool. I must admit, I like Irish whiskey more than Scotch whisky.
“I was going over to Dublin and picking bottles up. We realised we were selling more Irish than Scottish.”
He added: “Mike Girling, who is the MD of the company, was in Dublin Airport and he sent me a menu of what was on offer in the airport. We had a lot of them at one point or another, but we thought ‘let’s go mad’.
There are around 50 bottles of Irish whiskey behind the bar, complemented by plenty of Scotch. Ranging from familiar favourites like Jameson to lesser-spotted spirits like The Friend At Hand, you are spoiled for choice.
Dave said: “We’ve got around 60 – there are some more upstairs. There’s one bottle I had to take upstairs because I found out it’s not available anywhere anymore.
I bought it for £103 and I looked online the other day and the cheapest one was £287. It’s hiding away now. When we do a special event, I might bring it down, but until then it’s not coming anywhere near the place.
“If you went back about 30 years ago, if you went to the pub for Irish whiskey, all you would get is Jameson, Bushmills, possibly Powers, and that was it. Now we’ve got whiskey from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Donegal.
“The Friend At Hand is one you just won’t find anywhere else. That comes from a bottle shop on Hill Street in Belfast – that’s the only place you can buy it.
“I get friends over from the Cliftonville Whiskey Society who bring bottles over every time they come. You might see four or five in a bar in Belfast but you won’t find them in this country unless someone specifically knows how to get them.
“But part of the problem is accessibility. I haven’t been to Ireland for at least three months now.
“The trips are always for whiskey and sometimes I might have to bring some back. Some you can get quite easily – a lot of them come from Lidl and M&S. You walk in there sometimes and you can get a bottle of Bushmills for £16, which is cheaper than wholesale.”
Dave is very proud of his whiskey offering. So much so that he is happy to make quite the claim about it.
He said: “I’m willing to claim this is the best-stocked pub for Irish whiskey outside of Ireland. If someone else wants to prove me wrong, I’ll just buy more whiskey.
“I got to Dublin quite a wee bit and there are a lot of pubs in Dublin that won’t be like this. There are a few specialist whiskey bars in Ireland that I go to, which would obviously beat me – Garavan’s in Galway, The Shelbourne Bar in Cork, The Palace in Dublin.”
The taste test
After chatting about whiskey with Dave, it felt right to try some. The ECHO put three of them to the test.
Bowing to Dave’s knowledge, I let him pick. He said I had to try three different types – a blended, a single malt and what he calls a ‘quintessential’ Irish whiskey – made from a mix of malted and unmalted barley.
First up is the blended – a Tullamore Dew. Before we begin, Dave brings over a pint of water so I can cleanse my palate.
It is good – an initial sweetness, almost a creaminess, arrives quickly. It’s then followed by a nice hint of spice, leaving a fiery aftertaste.
“That’s just to say ‘hi’, to let you know it’s here”, says Dave. As blended whiskeys go, it’s very good.
After another glug of water to clean the palate once more, it’s onto the single malt. This time it’s Tyrconnell – a historic brand that reportedly dates back to 1762.
It’s smoother than the Tullamore Dew, with a cleaner taste. A vanilla hint arrives and becomes a caramel flavour, before the welcome fiery spiciness arrives quickly. It’s well-rounded and easy to drink. Everything that Tullamore Dew did well, Tyrconnell did better.
More water to get the palate clean once again and it’s onto what Dave calls the ‘pièce de résistance’ – Green Spot. I’ve never tasted a whiskey like it.
It feels soft at first, allowing you to ease into it. Then the sweet and spicy tastes arrive in abundance, complementing each other and creating a perfectly balanced drink.
The contrasting tastes arrive exactly when you want them. Whereas Tullamore Dew had a delayed aftertaste, here it combines, giving you sweetness and spiciness at the same time. It’s amazing, you could drink a lot of it, it feels quite dangerous.
Emboldened by my three drinks in quite quick succession, I enquire about the incredibly expensive whiskey that Dave keeps upstairs. Unfortunately that – a bottle of Gold Spot – remains off the table.
“Gold Spot isn’t moving. That’s a work of art”, says Dave.
Maybe another time.
Join the Liverpool ECHO’s breaking news and top headlines WhatsApp community
READ NEXT
Teenager found bleeding in house after being shot in busy park
Dad of five, 37, mauled to death by ‘XL Bully’ dog as tributes pour in
Iconic show tune that’s still a Liverpool FC anthem 60 years on
Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and Tesco warning as products pulled from shelves
M&S shoppers wowed by £25 ‘non-iron’ bedding that ‘brightens up the bedroom’
