GALWAY HOUSE

By DAVID DAY | PHOTOS BY DAVID DAY

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Local pubs rule in Boston, perhaps more so than any other city in the US. Not only does the local population imbibe furiously and famously, bars are our backbone—like it or not. Galway House is one institution that supports everything great about locals, as its mission is to serve the clientele. A Sunday afternoon, featuring the first Patriots game of the season, was a perfect chance to test the theory.

Drink 1: Tom Collins ($5). My bartender wasn't too keen on being quoted, or included much at all, but my drinking neighbor, Mike, sure was. "Don't write too favorably about the place," he says. "Or it'll jam out." After downing one—okay, two—glasses of water, it was on to the good stuff. The frothy Tom Collins, perfectly set off by a chunky slice of orange, starts off my session as the game gets underway. "It was the first thing that popped into my head," says the lovely bartenderess. "I should have given you a Mai Tai or a Long Island Iced Tea." "Go easy on me," I say, slurping up the remaining gin.

Drink 2: Bud Light ($3). Tom Brady down! Tom Brady down! Rarely in my life have I heard a bar so quiet. In the dining area adjacent to the bar (complete with bluefish and oysters Rockefeller at a remarkably inexpensive price), I swear someone had just had a heart attack from the game-induced shock. Mike orders another Bud Light. "This is not good," he says, stating the obvious, as Mr. Bündchen limps from the field. It's going to be a long, long day.

Drink 3: Strawberry daquiri ($6). The towering whipped cream is something I don't even get in my Frappuccinos, let alone in my drinks. Mike and his neighbor have taken to reminiscing about Southie bars, another area of town close to Boston's historic heart: Teamsters, Murphy's Law, "L Street used to be Shorty's" and so on. "Locals looking out for each other," is how Mike categorizes the bar scene, as music from my favorites Santogold and Justice play on different car commercials.

Drink 4: Sam Adams Boston Lager ($4.50). Nothing says local to Jamaica Plain like Sam Adams, who, after the sale of Anheuser-Busch to Belgian company InBev, is now the largest domestic brewer. "The Galway has been here forever, forever and forever," says patron Donna, as talk turns to the Muck Ball tournament, an annual softball fundraiser between four JP pubs: Jeanie Johnston, Galway, Costello's and the Brendan Behan. It's exactly the type of thing you'd never know was happening unless you were a regular regular regular. Santogold again.

Drink 5: Margarita ($6). Fortunately for, well, everyone in here, the Patriots have won the game, and immediately every flat-screen TV turns to the Sox rather than the afternoon NFL games. "I kinda was hoping to watch some of the second football games," my friend Russ says to me, motioning toward the bartender. I grab his wrist—"Don't even think out it."