Porterhouse Brewery

The Porterhouse logo

The Porterhouse Brewing Company is a chain of public houses in Ireland and London, England. It was founded in 1989 by Liam La Hart and Oliver Hughes and now has 5 premises.

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. However, this number dropped significantly by the twentieth century due to the dominance of a few large and famous breweries. Today there are only about 12 breweries in the country, with most producing mass-produced beer, backed by formidable marketing budgets.

It was in this environment that in 1989 cousins 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.

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% abv stout claimed to be made to a recipe originally brewed by Deasy's of West Cork in the early 1900s;
• Oyster Stout;
• Plain Porter;
• 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.

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

• Chocolate Truffle Stout (Spring)
• Hemp Beer (Summer)
• Hop Head (Summer)
• Kölsch (Autumn)
• Vienna Dark 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.

Festivals

The Porterhouse Brewing Company regularly host beer festivals. Every October sees an Oktoberfest and there have been many Belgian beer festivals, as well as a Winter Beer Festival, an Australia Day Festival and a St. Patrick's Day Festival.

Pubs in order of opening date

• The Porterhouse Inn, Strand Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.(1989)

The original Porterhouse, opened 1989 and incorporating a 16-room inn.

• The Porterhouse Temple Bar(1996)

16-18 Parliament Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

• The Porterhouse (Covent Garden) (2000)

21-22 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2 E7NA, England.

• The Porterhouse North (2004)

Cross Guns Bridge, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland.

(Considered to be an art deco landmark)

• The Porterhouse Central (2006)

45 - 47 Nassau Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

External links

• Official Porterhouse site
• Analysis of Porterhouse business strategy