A newbie eats and drinks through Downtown San Luis Obispo on St. Patrick's Day 

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At 5:32 a.m., my friends and I parked ourselves in a clover-green line at McCarthy's.

Sandwiched between a front-running group of old-timers and a gaggle of raucous Cal Poly boys, we made our debut at the annual San Luis Obispo St. Patrick's Day bar crawl on March 17. Are we too young or too old for this?

"I deleted two Natty Lights on my way here!" gloated a college student right behind me.

Chugging Natural Light beers isn't the only way some Cal Poly students prepared for a pre-noon bender. Fourth years Alex Jones and Jimmy Miller woke up 20 minutes before we got there but not before "downing some toast and four shots of tequila."

"McCarthy's is where to go if you're drinking in the morning," Jones said. "Our sleep schedule is going to be terrible, but we're trying to get drunk before sunrise."

A devil-may-care attitude tinges the popular downtown SLO boozy excursion. While revelers look forward to it every year, the St. Patrick's Day celebration has become infamous over time in some quarters. Residential neighborhoods often consider such shenanigans a public nuisance, with chaos peaking at the student-led "St. Fratty's Day" parties on March 18.

In 2015, a pre-St. Patrick Day's rooftop party in SLO culminated with a roof collapse that hospitalized 10 people. In 2022, now-former SLO City Councilmember Carlyn Christianson declared she didn't want St. Patrick's Day parties to return. This year, a group called Residents for Quality Neighborhoods SLO advocated to cancel St. Fratty's Day altogether. However, like past years, even though City Council balked at the event, they ultimately let it be.

Jennifer S., a SLO resident of two decades, who requested her last name be withheld, told New Times that the St. Patrick's Day crawl has mellowed throughout the years. Over her 20 years of partying at McCarthy's, Jennifer has seen celebrations at the bar grow and morph from its past location on Court Street to its current place on Marsh Street.

"We were there [Court Street] at 4 a.m. in the rain," she said decked in a fluffy Irish flag-colored top hat and roughly a dozen jewel-toned beaded necklaces. "I only go here in the morning and go out for breakfast at Big Sky Café later. I'm home by 10 a.m."

A seasoned St. Patrick's Day bar crawler, Jennifer has a tip for newcomers like me. She loves an Irish Car Bomb: a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream dunked into half a glass of Guinness.

"I don't drink it any other time of the year. But I have a secret: I bring my own shot glass," she said while pulling out a shot glass sealed in a Ziploc bag.

McCarthy's has been using plastic shot glasses, she explained, which are too light to fully submerge into the Guinness, resulting in a curdled concoction with cream that floats on top of the beer. Sure enough, she was right. My friends and I each armed ourselves with a Car Bomb. Two-thirds of the chug in, we had to awkwardly tilt our pints to empty out the rest of the shot. The last sip left me with an acrid sting of dairy-soaked whiskey.

First-timers Maddie Ledford and Nina Newkirk took notes too. The Cal Poly fourth years belonged to a group of nine girls, all dressed in bright green Care Bears onesies. From McCarthy's, they were ready to continue the parade to Bull's Tavern and then Frog and Peach. Their diet won't be entirely liquid.

"We bought boxes of Lucky Charms and stored them in fanny packs for when we go out," Maddie said. "We're probably going to get breakfast burritos later at Tonita's."

Ledford and Newkirk started their dawn with Irish coffees and recommended grabbing Jameson with ginger ale. Their drinks stayed true to fellow partier George Peterson's St. Patrick's Day rule.

"You shouldn't be drinking anything that's not Irish!" he said amid the sounds of Celtic pub songs and shattering pint glasses that slipped from patrons' fingers.

Peterson is the founder-owner of Central Coast Brewing. He's celebrated St. Patrick's Day at McCarthy's since 1983, and even worked there at one point. Peterson's recommendations go beyond Irish libations. He told me about the corned beef breakfast burritos at Central Coast Brewing's food truck, too.

McCarthy's patio hosted cult hot dog joint Zen Dog. Its owner Nick Regalia and chef Cameron Wilson doled out corned beef hot dogs and more from 6 a.m. until noon. Wilson told New Times that though their full hot dog menu was available too, the corned beef variety was a March 17 special only.

"It has got green garlic pesto and pickled onion all on a local Farbs [Bakery] English muffin," he said. "It's my recipe. I picked up the green garlic from the [Downtown SLO] farmers' market yesterday."

By 7 a.m., my friends and I were ready to hit the next spot: Black Sheep Bar and Grill. The sun was up, and on our way out, I caught Cal Poly's Miller making an exit too.

"It's sunrise, are you drunk yet?" I asked.

No, he told me wistfully. The day was still young.

Black Sheep was much quieter, more laid-back, and had barely 20 people flocking to it. We relaxed at a table with some Black and Tans—another mixed drink of Firestone DBA topped with Guinness.

"It's what they called British soldiers in Ireland," my friend Drew told me.

Surprisingly, we only saw one table with a single glass of green beer. Black Sheep didn't have green food coloring, its bartender told me. Guests were bringing their own dye to tint their beers. My teeth were grateful.

On to our next and final stop!

Typically silent during daytime, this corner of Chorro Street now buzzed with party music and chatter emanating from Bull's Tavern. Nearing 8:30 a.m., we had had our fill of heavy Irish drinks. I was ready to break Peterson's cardinal rule.

Drew grabbed a Coors Light. I chose a SLO barfly wildcard: the Bull's Sweat. A lurid mix of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces, salt, and a random liquor chased with half a glass of beer, it was the lightest thing I had consumed so far. Officially feeling drowsy, we called time but not before I glimpsed Miller once more.

He huddled around his friends at Bull's, glowing under red and blue light. Miller saw me too.

"I am drunk now!" he said. Δ

Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal is nursing a mug of green tea and grateful for accommodating friends. Send congratulations to [email protected].