As a young Colleen growing up in the green fields of Ireland, it was Rosie Connolly's dream to bring a taste of the Emerald Isle to the pub-less wasteland known as the States. Here she would open the kind of warm, inviting gathering place she knew so well, where both the pints and the conversation flowed freely, where even a passing stranger would feel like a regular. Sadly for America, Rosie never made it beyond the bustling port of Liverpool. Happily for us thirsty Yanks, her roving grandson Tommy did. But the journey tested the mettle of the determined Liverpuddlian. The Big Pond was a wee dram compared to the raging river that a tropical storm named Gaston unleashed on Richmond's Shockoe Bottom on August 30, 2004. As fate would have it, this was the very day Tommy Goulding was to take ownership of his pub. But Gaston's fury couldn't drown Rosie's dream. Like he would a beer vendor who dared deliver a keg of watered-down Guinness, Tommy gave Gaston a quick boot out the door and commenced the massive cleanup. Miraculously, Rosie Connolly's soon emerged from the muck and the mire. She now stands gleaming and proud, a true Irish pub, with a splash of the Mersey. So come raise a glass to Rosie. It's been a long voyage from her homeland, but you'll feel closer with every pint.