These sham-rock stars are raising the bar.<\/p>\n
On March 17, St. Patrick\u2019s Day partiers from the world over will gussy up in green and descend on NYC for the world\u2019s oldest and largest parade of its kind, drawing approximately 150,000 marchers, around 2 million spectators, and nearly as many bagpipes.<\/p>\n
For the hardy army of bartenders working the front lines on Tuesday, the annual scrum will be the ultimate test of a malt-pourer\u2019s mettle \u2014\u00a0think \u201cBraveheart\u201d meets \u201cCocktail.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roll out the barrels! Bernie Reilly (left) Sean Reilly show off their stores of Guinness, brought in for the coming St. Patrick\u2019s Day festivities \u2014\u00a0the father-son duo are co-owners of some of the most popular Midtown Manhattan watering holes near the parade route. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cSt. Pat\u2019s is like our Super Bowl,\u201d laughed Sean Reilly, owner of Sean\u2019s Bar and Kitchen near Times Square. \u201cBy 8 a.m., the bars start filling up. You really have to be able to handle the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rush, the publican told The Post, comes in two waves \u2014 the morning, before the start time of the 265th annual procession down Fifth Avenue, and then post-parade, when things wind down around 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an all-day, all-night affair, during which enough Guinness will be consumed to lay the population of the five boroughs low. (\u201dYou\u2019ve got to wear your most comfortable shoes that you possibly could own,\u201d Reilly admitted.)<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time the parade lets out, all those people that are out there watching it, they got to go somewhere,\u201d said Reilly, who has worked the green-letter day in family-owned bars since age 11, starting by picking up empty glasses and carrying ice buckets.<\/p>\n
For the leprechaun\u2019s share of revelers, that \u201csomewhere\u201d winds up being Midtown watering holes like Sean\u2019s on West 48th Street, a shillelagh\u2019s throw from the route.<\/p>\n
Sean Reilly began learning the trade at age 11, he told The Post \u2014\u00a0his first job was clearing empty glasses in pubs owned by his father. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Keeping the hordes well-watered will wind up being a marathon-level event for Katie Reilly (no relation) of Paddy Reilly\u2019s Music Bar \u2014 the Dubliner recalls working the taps at the Second Avenue spot for \u201c16 hours\u201d straight last year, and expects a repeat next week, her fourth St. Pat\u2019s shift in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started at 9 a.m., I think, and then maybe it was 1 or 2 [a.m.] by the time I finished,\u201d the beer pourer sighed. \u201cThat was a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secret to success, she said, is avoiding \u201cdisaster\u201d by laying on enough Guinness \u2014\u00a0and having one tap jockey dedicated to pulling pints until the bar resembles a beer-pong table.<\/p>\n
The bartenders at Paddy Reilly\u2019s on Second Ave. \u2014\u00a0Karina Mendez among them \u2014\u00a0have a system for surviving the big green holiday, which involves pre-pouring enough pints of Guinness until the bar starts looking like a beer pong table. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
John McCorry, who owns the Tailor Public House on Eighth Avenue, told The Post that his crew must have poured up to 200 pints of obsidian-hued brew before noon last year, and will likely do so again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Guinness doesn\u2019t stop. It just keeps going on all weekend,\u201d McCorry said. <\/p>\n
Meeting the insatiable demand requires taverns to stock up as if prepping for Prohibition 2.0. <\/p>\n
Bartenders at Tailor Public House will typically will pour hundreds of pints before the parade even starts, said John McCorry, who co-owns the Times Square-adjacent spot with Cathal O\u2019Brien (pictured). stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
As owner of nine Gotham watering holes, including Connolly\u2019s in Times Square, Bernie Reilly told The Post that he stocks the famed drinkery with 2,000 kegs for the big day.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 20 times what they have for a normal week.<\/p>\n
In fact, nearly a third of their yearly Guinness stores are imbibed on that one infamous day in March alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sell 7,000 kegs at Guinness a year \u2014 we sell 2,000 kegs on St. Patrick\u2019s Day,\u201d said Bernie, father of Sean but no relation to Katie. At Connelly\u2019s, the party goes for nearly 24 hours \u2014\u00a0from 6 a.m. until closing time at 4 a.m. the next day.<\/p>\n
Besides staying well supplied, a successful St. Paddy\u2019s hinges on proper staffing. At Connolly\u2019s, that means upping the number of bartenders from six to 24 across four floors \u2014 and tightening security to prevent any booze-fueled hootenannies from breaking out.<\/p>\n