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.

Contents 1 History 2 Beers 3 Festivals 4 Pubs in order of opening date 5 Distillery 6 References 7 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Distillery

The Porterhouse has announced plans to build a distillery in Dingle, Co. Kerry^[1]. Products envisioned include^[2]:

• Dingle Green (Bourbon-cask-aged whiskey)
• Dingle Gold (Sherry-cask-aged whiskey)
• Celebration (Limited-edition 5 year old single malt whiskey)
• Founding Fathers (Whiskey made to the specifications of individual investors)
• Whale Tail (Single malt)
• Dingle Cream (Cream liqueur)
• Dingle Dew (Aperitif)

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

[edit] External links

• Official Porterhouse site
• Analysis of Porterhouse business strategy