Just months after its 2013 launch, it took home three Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards - World’s Best New Bar, World’s Best Menu, and World’s Best Bartender. In the years that followed, the tally grew to eight Spirited Awards, and in 2016, it was crowned World’s Best Bar by World’s 50 Best Bars. Today, it’s recognised as the World’s Most Awarded Pub.

Of course, Jack wasn’t the first Irish immigrant to stake a claim in lower Manhattan. In the mid-1800s, the Dead Rabbit gang fought to defend their poverty-stricken Irish slum from rival nativist gangs like the Bowery Boys. Ostensibly there to protect the Irish underclass, they were also a formidable criminal organisation with deep ties to New York politics. By the time he died in 1878, he’d reinvented himself as a successful businessman, congressman, and politician. It’s said the entire New York senate turned out for his funeral - if only to make sure he was really dead.

In 2023, a decade after opening, The Dead Rabbit underwent a refurnishment and a rebrand, with a new ethos - Tradition Meet Tomorrow - steering a new vision - to deliver an unparalleled hospitality experience while challenging paddywhackery representations of Irish culture, celebrating Irish heritage, and bringing modern Irish hospitality to new locations across the USA.

In 2022, the team launched The Irish Exit, an Irish transit-style concept in Manhattan’s Moynihan Train Hall, followed in 2024 by The Dead Rabbit Austin, and by Grá Mór (Austin) and San Patricios (Jersey City) in 2025. 

The story of San Patricios - Irish soldiers who fought alongside Mexico in the 1840s - echoes that of John Morrissey. Both are tales of defiance, solidarity, rebellion, and pride. In a world that feels increasingly divided, we’re committed to building a community that crosses borders, breaks down barriers, and fights for the underdog.