The Irish Rover
Pint First, Wine List Second — Surprisingly Decent
Frankfort Avenue · Louisville · Irish, Pub · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed March 21, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
You walk into a genuinely warm 1859 brick building on Frankfort Ave, order a Guinness out of habit, and then notice there's actually a wine list. It's short — about a dozen bottles — and reads like a grocery store shelf circa 2008. But the prices are honest, and that counts for something.
Selection Deep Dive
The list leans almost entirely on California and Australian workhorses: Fetzer, Mark West, Blackstone, Bonterra, Angeline. Nothing here is going to surprise you, and there's zero old-world representation — no French, no Spanish, no Italian beyond the Bolla Pinot Grigio. That said, King Estate Pinot Noir from Oregon is a small but welcome outlier, and Bonterra's organic Cab brings at least a touch of intentionality to an otherwise autopilot list. The gaps are wide — no sparkling, no rosé, no Rhône, no anything adventurous — but for a traditional Irish pub where the star of the show is the stout, this is functional.
By the Glass
With 10+ options available by the glass, almost the entire list is pourable — which is genuinely useful when you're splitting a bottle feels like a stretch next to fish and chips. Glass pours run $5.75 to $8.95, which is refreshingly low for 2024. Rotation doesn't appear to be a thing here; what's on the menu is what's on the menu, season after season.
Toasted Head Chardonnay — $20.95/bottle
At roughly 23% above retail, this is the least marked-up bottle on the list. Toasted Head is a crowd-pleasing, lightly oaked California Chard that actually overdelivers at this price point. If you're buying a bottle at the table, this is the move.
King Estate Pinot Noir
Everyone's ordering the Mark West Pinot because they've seen it at Target, but King Estate is the more serious Oregon producer on this list. It flies under the radar here because nobody expects a proper Willamette-adjacent Pinot at an Irish pub — which is exactly why you should order it.
Fetzer Gewurtztraminer
At $16.95 a bottle — the highest markup on the list at 70% over retail — this is the worst deal in the cellar. Fetzer Gewurz isn't a bad wine, but it's a $10 wine, and there's no reason to pay pub upcharges on it when better value exists two lines down.
Firestone Riesling + Fish and Chips
A off-dry Riesling with fried fish is a classic move for a reason — the residual sweetness cuts through the grease, the acidity keeps it clean, and the gentle fruit doesn't fight the malt vinegar. At $14.95 a bottle, it's the cheapest way to drink well here.
✔️ The Bottom Line
The Irish Rover isn't a wine destination — it's a pub, and a genuinely good one. But if you want something in a glass while your Scotch egg arrives, the pricing is fair, the pours are honest, and you could do a lot worse on Frankfort Ave.
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