I would imagine there are very few craft beer enthusiasts in Ireland who haven't heard of The Porterhouse. Not only did the Dublin microbrewery start a revolution in Irish beer, but it hasn't been slow to build upon its success. As well as owning five pubs in two countries, its beers are a regular fixture at events around Ireland, including the Franciscan Well Easter Festival and the Great Irish Beer Festival in Galway.

The company was founded by two brewing enthusiasts, Oliver Hughes and Liam LaHart. They had previously run an unsuccessful microbrewery in Blessington in the 1980s, before buying a pub in Bray, renaming it The Porter House, and beginning their expansion plans. The beer came next, with a brewing plant installed in their second pub, on Parliament Street in Dublin's Temple Bar. London then beckoned, and by this stage -- in 2000 -- the brewpub kit was no longer up to the job of keeping the bars supplied with beer. A new standalone brewery was established in Dublin's industrial belt, and it was to this facility that an ICB delegation was invited last Wednesday to field test the latest seasonal beer from the brewery: a pale ale called Hop Head.


Oliver met us at the door and began immediately by pouring pints of the powerfully bitter amber ale from the taps on the brewery's small tasting bar. Moving through to the brewing floor it was discovered that Hop Head was also being supplied from the cask, and this received the bulk of the attention as the evening progressed. Tragically for us in Ireland, cask Hop Head will be sold commercially only in the London branch.

Pints in hand, the group was given a brief talk from Oliver on the history of the operation. He then handed over to Peter, the brewmaster, who gave us an insight into how the brewery worked, and about the formulation and brewing of Hop Head itself. A group was then brought around the brewing floor, from the upper gantries down to the conditioning tanks and kegging line. By then I was too interested in the cask ale, so you'll need to ask someone else if you want the details of this bit.

At the cask I met Liam who had just arrived and was getting his first taste of the new beer. We were also joined by Dave, the third partner, who runs Porterhouse Central and spearheads the brewery's marketing campaigns. As well as launching the new seasonal, Dave is gearing up for this summer's Belgian beer festival across the Porterhouse estate in July. Another luminary of the Irish beer scene present was Wally, late of Eurobeers, and now running his own import business temporarily under the aegis of The Porterhouse.

What happened next was Séan's fault. Returned from the in-depth brewery tour he was clutching a pint of black beer, grinning in a most disconcerting way. The beer, it transpired, was Porterhouse Plain Porter, served directly from the conditioning tanks. For the rest of the visit I was barely more than arm's length from the spigot on the tank. Neither Rossa nor Microgirl were in a rush to go anywhere else either. I apologise, therefore, if you're drinking Plain Porter some time soon and the pub runs out: we're to blame for the shortfall in that batch. Unfortunately, I can't say that my pitch to the management for more cask-conditioned beers and less nitrogenation was received entirely positively -- cold, smooth stouts are very much in the bank manager's interest -- but I feel better for having done my bit. The Porterhouse did dally with cask stout back in the day, but the Irish drinker turned up his nose at it. I remain convinced that marketed the correct way (ie directly to members of Irish Craft Brewer), this could be a winner again.

When the visit wrapped up, our hosts very kindly arranged taxis home for us. Well, I say "home": the one I was in made a brief stop in Parliament Street, and when it moved on again I wasn't in it. Wrassler's hadn't been available from the conditioning tanks, so I had to make do with the next best thing in the pub.

I would like to officially thank The Porterhouse team who made the visit possible, especially to Fiona who did the legwork setting up the event. Also to Peter for his insight into the glamorous life of the commercial Irish craft brewer, and finally to Oliver, Liam and Dave for allowing us on site to put a dent in their profits.

The next seasonal is due around September, isn't it..?

More pictures of the visit.

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