Bartender stunned by Irishman's response after his brother seemingly died

The Irishman had a curious practice when it came to his drinking habits, and everyone who witnessed it wanted to know why.

Patrick walks into a bar in Dublin on his own, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the corner of the room, drinking a sip out of each pint in turn. Once all three are done, he goes back to the barman and asks for yet another three pints.

The barman, noticing he's alone with the drinks, decides to offer some advice to Patrick: “You know a pint goes flat soon after I pull it. Your pints would taste better if you bought one at a time.”

But Patrick has an interesting response, which also explains why he's drinking so much in one go.

Patrick replies, “Well now, I have two brodders, one is in America and de odder in Australia and here I am in Dublin . When we all left home, we promised dat we’d drink dis way to remember de days we all drank togedder.”

The barman is touched by the admission, and agrees that it is a wonderful custom that he and his brothers have come up with in order to stay close. He says nothing further about Patrick's drinking habits.

Patrick becomes a regular customer at this bar and always drinks the same way, ordering his three pints and drinking a sip out of each in turn, until they are finished.

One day, he comes in and orders just two pints. All the other regulars in the bar that know of his custom notice what he has done immediately and fall into a solemn silence.

When he goes back to the bar for the second round, the barman decides to say something to him: "I don’t want to intrude on your grief but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss."

Patrick looks confused for a moment, unsure about what the barman is talking about. When the penny drops he starts to laugh.

“Oh no,” he says, “Bejesus, everyone is fine! Tis me … I’ve quit drinking!”