Porterhouse Brewery

The Porterhouse Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by cousins Oliver Hughes and Liam Lahart. They opened Ireland's first craft brew pub in Dublin, where the brewery is now on the outskirts, providing beers to its bars in Dublin, London and New York. Exports are made to over 20 countries.

The Porterhouse logo
Live music at The Porterhouse, Temple Bar in 2014

History

Ireland has traditionally had a long history of brewing. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were over two hundred breweries in the country, producing a wide range of Irish beer. This number dropped significantly by the twentieth century due to the dominance of a few large and famous breweries. It was in this environment that, in 1989, Liam La Hart and Oliver Hughes bought a run-down building in Bray, County Wicklow, which became the first Porterhouse. In 1996, the Porterhouse brewpub was opened in the Temple Bar area of Dublin city centre. The group grew to open their next bar in Covent Garden London in 2000. They opened Porterhouse North in Glasnevin Dublin in 2004, and added another in Dublin city centre in 2004. In 2010 they were the only Irish company to exhibit at the Shanghai World Expo, dubbed the Economic Olympics. In January 2011, they opened their premises on Pearl Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York, trading at Fraunces Tavern where George Washington bade farewell to his officers over two centuries ago. The original bar in Bray, was sold in February 2019.

Beers

With the exception of TSB, the draught beers are filtered, kegged and served under pressure.

The regular beers are:

  • Wrasslers 4X Stout, a 5.7% abv stout claimed to be made to a recipe originally brewed by Deasy's of West Cork in the early 1900s;
  • Oyster Stout, 5.2% abv;
  • Plain Porter, 5% abv; Winner of the gold medal at the Brewing Industry International Awards for the best stout in the world in 1998 and again in 2011;
  • Turner's Sticklebract Bitter (TSB), a 3.7% abv session bitter first brewed in July 2000 to celebrate the opening of The Porterhouse in Covent Garden, London;
  • Porterhouse Red, a 4.4% abv Irish red ale;
  • An Brain Blasta, a 7% abv strong ale;
  • Hersbrucker, a 5% abv pale lager;
  • Temple Bräu, a 4.3% abv pale lager;
  • Chiller, a 4.2% abv pale lager;
  • Hop Head, a 5% abv pale ale.

In addition, there are a range of seasonal draught beers including:

  • Chocolate Truffle Stout (Spring)
  • Hemp Beer (Summer)
  • Kölsch (Autumn)
  • Vienna Dark Lager (Winter)
  • Bohemia Black Lager (Winter)
  • Alt (Winter)

In 2009, the brewery launched a range of bottle-conditioned versions of its beers, beginning with Hop Head and Plain Porter. These are packaged in 33cl bottles.

Bottling now Plain Porter, Wrasslers 4X, Oyster Stout, Porterhouse Red, Brain Blasta, Hersbrucker, Celebration Stout and Down 'n' Outz.

In March 2020, during the Covid-19 "lockdown" in Ireland, they released a IPA called Stay Home Isolation IPA

Pubs

In order of opening date:

The original Porterhouse opened 1989 and incorporates a 16-room inn. This pub was sold by the Porterhouse Group in February 2019 to Shane O'Farrell.[1]
  • The Porterhouse, Parliament Street, Temple Bar, Dublin (opened 1996)
  • The Porterhouse, Covent Garden, London (opened 2000)
  • The Porterhouse North, Cross Guns Bridge, Glasnevin ((considered to be an art deco landmark)), as of 2016 rebranded to The Whitworth[2] (2004)
  • The Porterhouse Central, Nassau Street, Dublin (2004)
  • The Porterhouse at Fraunces Tavern, Pearl Street, New York [3] (2011)

The Porterhouse also owns a chain of tapas bars:

  • The Port House, South William Street, Dublin (opened in 2006)
  • Bar Pintxo, Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin (opened in 2007)
  • The Port House Ibericos, The Pembroke Cottages, Dundrum, Dublin

The group also owns a club, The Eclectic, and hotel, at their Bray location, on the seafront. It also owned the Lillie's Bordello nightclub and operates its successor, Lost Lane.

The Porterhouse brewery is located in Rosemount Business Park, Ballycoolin, north of Blanchardstown.

Dingle Distillery

In 2011, Porterhouse announced a desire to build a distillery in Dingle, County Kerry.[4] The distillery opened in 2012[5][6] trading as Dingle Distillery, part of the Porterhouse Group.

References
  1. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/braypeople/news/porterhouse-bar-under-new-ownership-after-30-years-37809815.html
  2. http://thewhitworth.ie/
  3. http://www.frauncestavern.com
  4. Some dead link
  5. "Porterhouse founder to open Dingle Irish whiskey distillery". Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  6. "Porterhouse pub founder Oliver Hughes left over €20m in his will". Independent.ie. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
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