Painted in gold on a wooden beer sign at the Whig & Courier in Bangor are those three little words that sum up the appeal of an Irish pub. Words that make everyone who knows them smile.

Oh, and I’m not talking about “Guinness on tap.”

The phrase is “cead mile failte,” Gaelic for “a hundred thousand welcomes.” If there’s one thing an Irish pub is more famous for than the rich, creamy stout, it’s the hospitality – on St. Patrick’s Day and every day.

“If that’s what constitutes an Irish bar, then I guess there are still Irish bars around,” said Chris Geaghan, who owns the Whig & Courier.

The Whig’s original owner modeled it after a bar in Philadelphia, but since Geaghan came on board four years ago, it’s taken on more of an Irish-pub feel.

“Since I came here, obviously, because of my heritage, it’s going to look like an Irish bar,” Geaghan said. “It’s almost unavoidable for me – it’s the way I was brought up.”

For Geaghan, hospitality has been a way of life since his father opened Geaghan’s Roundhouse on Main Street in Bangor.

“I told him I’d do it for six months,” Geaghan said, laughing. “That was in 1974.”

He left the Roundhouse four years ago, but his family still owns the restaurant and tavern. And while the Roundhouse has more of a railroad theme than the typical dark-wood pub-style decor, it still has the feel of an authentic Irish pub.

“The sense of welcoming you into a pub is there,” Geaghan said.

It’s that sense of welcoming that led Lorraine Duffy of Brooklin to open an Irish pub in the Brooklin Inn – and she’s not even Irish. On a trip to Ireland, Duffy liked the atmosphere of the pubs so much that she decided to start her own.

“If you walk in and don’t know anyone, everyone is so welcoming. Everybody tells stories. Everybody’s willing to share and to talk,” said Duffy said. “It’s just such a warm feeling. You’re never made to feel like you’re a stranger.”

Duffy sold the inn a few years back, but the new owners continued the tradition in the pub, and it draws a steady crowd of locals and not-so-locals. Usually, by the end of an evening, even strangers have become old friends.

“It just happens to be that way because we’re a little town,” said Chip Angell, who owns the inn with his wife, Gail. “People come in and there’s a television on, but people just talk (to each other).”

That’s how things happen on the Emerald Isle, too.

Eleven years ago, David Zelz of Bangor was traveling through Limerick. He decided to stop at a pub called Tom Collins, which he remembered from a previous trip to Ireland. All he went in for was a pint, but he left with a pair of lifelong friends, Anne and Denis O’Dwyer. The couple traveled to Bangor last week to stay with Zelz.

“What started out as just a chance meeting turned out to be a wonderful friendship,” Zelz said as he shared a drink with the O’Dwyers at a Bangor pub. “Think of how little time we’ve actually spent together, but the friendship (is still strong).”

Since 1996, he’s gone back to Ireland every year. Now, he’s become a regular at the O’Dwyers’ favorite pubs – or as they call them, their “locals” – Tom Collins and Tom and Jerry’s (named for the owners, not the cartoon). Now, Mary Ryan, the manager at Tom and Jerry’s, recognizes Zelz when he walks through the door.

“Mary’s first words to me are, ‘Welcome home,'” he said.

Anne O’Dwyer said this is typical of an Irish pub.

“It’s a small place and your friends become almost your family,” she said. “It’s very much part of your life, apart from the drinking. It’s our culture, really. That’s the only way to describe it. A lot of people would think that all we do is sit in bars, but it’s more than that. It’s our way of life.”

In this country, most people go to a pub to unwind or to have a couple of drinks. In Ireland, the O’Dwyers said, people go to their “local” to cash checks, meet friends, announce a baby’s birth, have a wedding party, pretty much anything.

“It’s basically your social hub,” Denis O’Dwyer said. “That’s why the pub business is so important, because it really is the focal point – the gathering place.”

And it’s big business.

“They say there are 365 pubs in Limerick – one for each day,” Anne O’ Dwyer said, laughing. “You couldn’t get bored, now, could you?”

Actually, you’ll only find 290 pubs in Limerick, but you’ll still find “cead mile failte” – a hundred thousand welcomes – at each one.