Limerick is a student city — the University of Limerick on the north-east edge of town brings 18,000 students into the bars — and a rugby city; the combination keeps the pubs busy from Wednesday onwards.
Nancy Blake's — a Denmark Street institution, dark and atmospheric, with traditional Irish music sessions most nights of the week; the back yard is one of the best beer gardens in the country in summer.
The Locke Bar — on George's Quay opposite the river, a long-established pub with a good food menu, river views, and live music from about 9 each evening.
The South's Pub — a 19th-century pub on Quinlan Street with a particularly fine Victorian interior — etched glass, mahogany, snugs — and the closest thing in town to a quiet drink in a museum.
Fox's — on Howley's Quay, near the Hunt Museum; a small pub with a serious whiskey list and the kind of staff who remember what you ordered last time.
For coffee, Hook & Ladder on Sarsfield Street is the local standard, with a few branches around town.