This week, one of Mobile’s favorite neighborhood pubs celebrates a major anniversary with lots of music and a special limited-edition beer from a local brewery.

This is the 77th anniversary week for Callaghan’s Irish Social Club and the 20th anniversary for its current ownership, which revitalized a nearly dormant private club, turning it into a thriving spot with a reputation for serving some of the area’s best burgers and for introducing attentive listeners to new bands on their way up. Among the artists who played the small club on their way to bigger things are Alabama Shakes, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Jason Isbell and the late Justin Townes Earle.

Woodrow and Catherine McAfee Callaghan opened Callaghan’s at the corner of Charleston and Marine streets in 1946 and added a liquor license the next year, according to archival Press-Register accounts. She died in 1959 and he passed in 1979, but family members kept it going. Daughter Katie Jernigan was the principal operator in the years leading up to 2002, when she and her brother and sister-in law, Pat and Mary Callaghan, sold it to Wendell Quimby.

The deal included three nearby houses and a vacant lot. Quimby, well known for his flair for renovating and revitalizing bars and restaurants, did little to disturb the ‘40s and ‘50s décor and patina of the bar. But where Callaghan’s had become a closed-up watering hole with a “members only” sign on the door, he opened it up so that it offered an indoor-outdoor experience in pleasant weather, with music spilling out for patrons to enjoy at sidewalk tables. It continues to host one of the area’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and its proximity to the main parade route makes it a popular Mardi Gras spot, particularly on Joe Cain Day.

In June 2003, John “J.T.” Thompson took over the newly renovate property, along with partners Richie Sherer and Chuck Commiskey. Commiskey sold his stake a few years later, Thompson said. Sherer was largely a silent partner, but Thompson became the face of the new Callaghan’s.

Told that the 20th anniversary might make patrons feel old, Thompson said, “No kidding. It makes me feel old.”

“I’m just amazed I haven’t screwed it up yet,” he said. “Surround yourself with good people, that’s what they always say.”

Thompson said he had no idea where things were going, back in 2003.

“It was basically just going to be a hobby,” he said. “I had no idea it was going to take off like it did. We turned into a full-fledged restaurant and then a full-fledged music venue.”

“I was in sales, but I had always bartended,” he said. “That’s how I put myself through college, and that’s the first thing I did when I got out of college, was run a bar. So I knew how to do it and I thought it would be fun. But again, I didn’t know it was going to be this much work.”

The week’s lineup features traditional Irish music on Tuesday, June 6. On Wednesday, guitarist Phil Proctor and bassist Stan Foster, whose long-running weekly gig has made them more or less the house band, welcome special guest Grayson Capps. This also will be the night that Callaghan’s begins serving a limited-edition beer made specifically for the anniversary. Callaghan’s Session Ale IPA, which features mango, will be available at the Braided River taproom on St. Louis St. starting Thursday.

Friday brings a performance by Gabe Willis, followed on Friday by Billy Allen & The Pollies. (“This guy is gonna be big,” advises Thompson, who’s shown a knack for being right about such things.) Saturday, June 10, brings the final performance by Blackwater Brass.

It wasn’t only the upcoming music Thompson was excited about: He also was raving about a recent sold-out performance by Kristy Lee, with special guests The Hussy Hicks. “She had a five-piece band herself, and then she had a string quintet play. It was incredible,” said Thompson. “I was blown away. Every time when I think I’ve seen the best music at Callaghan’s, then I see something that might be right up there with it.”

Asked if he was ready to celebrate 20 more years, Thompson had a ready replay: “Hopefully by then my kid’ll be running it,” he said.