Pub Perfection

Our selection of world-beating public houses for the town’s signature day of carousing.

- Alex Oliveira

ON THE MORNING AFTER, the streets of South Boston are paper-machéd in slips of green, white and orange confetti, and green plastic beads festoon the sidewalks of Boylston Street. Spring-loaded shamrock headbands, fake orange beards trodden brown, and crushed cans of Guinness lie abandoned throughout the city.

The Irish say St. Patrick’s Day is their holiday. Americans will argue that as we know it, it’s essentially an American holiday. Bostonians, however, know that it is Boston’s day. Irish identity is as synonymous with Boston as green walls are to Fenway Park. When March 17 rolls around, St. Patrick’s Day is more than a commemoration of the patron saint of Ireland, it’s a celebration of one of the most integral pieces of Boston’s character. When it comes to pubs in Boston, there are few misses, but when you don the beads this St. Patrick’s Day, these watering holes pack a ton of added value.

MURPHY’S LAW

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade marches straight through Boston’s Irish artery, Southie. There’s a smattering of corner pubs throughout the neighborhood, each of which is worth its own visit, but one of the most authentic is Murphy’s Law (837 Summer St., 617.269.6667, murphyslawbar. com). Sitting on a corner where industry, residential and office space meet, Murphy’s Law is the quintessential South Boston Irish pub. It’s so authentic that Ben Affleck selected it as a location in his Boston-based thriller, “Gone Baby Gone.”

EMMET’S