(IRELAND) – From a B. United rep, news that Porterhouse Brewery from Ireland will soon be imported to the U.S.: “They have a new Irish Stout, Oyster Stout, and Irish Red Ale. We’re going to have 4 packs and 30L nitro drafts. We’ll be adding more information to our website until our final release, in the middle of the March.”

The story of The Porterhouse begins in 1989, when Liam La Hart and Oliver Hughes bought a run-down building in Bray, which became the original Porterhouse. They ran the bar with a strict philosophy, later helping to produce the Founding Charter of the Brewers and Malsters Guild of Ireland . Suffice it to say here that all the beers sold were produced strictly in ‘traditional’ ways to create a more organic product than mass-market beverages.

In May 1996 La Hart and Hughes were confident enough to buy a premises on the junction of Essex Street East and Parliament Street , on the edge of Dublin’s trendy Temple Bar district. Not just a bar, the new Porterhouse incorporated a microbrewery, which now produces ten beers under the pub brand. They claim to have the widest choice of raw materials in Ireland, brewing three stouts, three lagers, three ales and a Weiss2 from a selection of eight malts and ten hops.

There are now Porterhouses in Glasnevin (in the north of Dublin city); in Covent Garden3, London; and in Barnes, London, as well as the Temple Bar and Bray outlets 4

The Porterhouse Brewery

At At The Porterhouse raw material are paramount. Fresh hops are air-freighted at vast expense from the US, New Zealand, Germany and the Czech Republic. Closer to home, Kentish Goldings and Fuggles are selected with care more usually associated with choosing a marriage partner.

Perhaps even more. 

Ireland produces the finest pale malt on the face of the earth which is handy as it’s very close by, so to speak. (By the way, it’s raw Irish barley that adds that extra dimension to The Porterhouse stouts). England’s best maltster and roaster supplies special malts.

You may be very excited to know that The Porterhouse uses a traditional true top fermenting Yorkshire stone square yeast It’s highly flocculent and comes from the Old Romsey brewery in Kent by way of the East Riding Brewery.



Direct-fired coppers are expensive but essential if you want the best results. On a more down-to-earth note, you wouldn’t believe the work involved in the manual cleaning. But it’s worth it. 


The Porterhouse Pub

On four levels, The Porterhouse is an inviting and lively bar and, with wooden floors and heavy oak tables and benches, has a very relaxed feel. This is hardly absent from other bars in the area, but the difference here is that the atmosphere does not feel imposed for the benefit of a tourist crowd. The usual range of taps and fridges full of bottled drink crowd the bar, but there is a difference. Mass-market lagers and stouts are missing from the pumps, and a closer inspection of the fridge will reveal a happy absence of ‘alcopops’. The draught beers are mainly produced on-site The bottled beers come from five continents and all meet the requirements of the Guild’s Charter.

The ethos is unmistakable. Proud signs over the bar list the ingredients in Porterhouse drinks alongside the ones found in big brewery beers (the presence of benzoate being a tad worrying). Customers are also implored to avoid the advertising executives’ bland branding of beers as ‘ice’, ‘smooth’ or ‘brewed under licence’, the suggestion being that such straplines merely hide poor beer. The friendly atmosphere cannot be overstressed, from the cheerful and patient bar staff to the chatty, international clientele. The upper floors often play host to live music, sited precariously on a large shelf above a stairwell, and there is plenty of seating overlooking the street.

In short, this is a fine and noble bar with a strict ethical approach to the craft of brewing. If you value quality above brand image, this is the choice Dublin bar.

Porterhouse Oyster Stout

Alc/vol: 4.8%

Malts used: Pale Malt, Roast Barley, Black Malt, Flaked Barley

Hops: Galena, Nugget, East Kent Goldings.

Brewed with fresh oyster.[added during end of boil in the brew kettle]

Gold Medal, Belfast 1997.

Porterhouse Red

Alc/vol: 4.4%

Malts used: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Chocolate Malt.

Hops : Galena, Nugget, East Kent Goldings.

At last one Irish Red Ale with a traditional hop flavour to balance the fruit character of the yeast and the luscious caramel flavour notes delivered from the malts used, as opposed to artifiacially added. “Makes Caffey’s taste like Tizer”Michael “The Beerhunter Jackson”,

Wrassler’s XXXX Full Stout

Alc/vol: 5%

Malts used: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Flaked Barley, Roast Malt.

Hops: Galena, Nugget, East Kent, Goldings.

Made to a recipe originally brewed by Deasy’s of West Cork in the early 1900’s. This was Michael Collins’ favourite tipple – a stout like your gradfather used to drink. A fine fullsome stout, full in every way, a pungent aroma of late kettle hops. A generous quantity of roast grain for flavour, bitter with flaked barley producing that body.

Gold Medal, Belfast 1997.

Gold Medal, Huddersfield 1998.

Gold Medal, Stockholm 1999.Bronze Award, All Ireland 2000.
The Best Irish Stout I’ve ever tasted”
Tom Doorley, Sunday Tribune.