This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Porterhouse Brewing invests €6m in new Dublin site
Ireland’s Porterhouse Brewing has invested €6 million in a new Dublin brewery, which has the potential to increase its production by up to 10 times, and has plans to open an additional visitor centre and tap room at the site.
The new brewery, which took roughly 15 months to construct, was built to cope with rising demand for the beers in the UK and Europe.
Speaking to the drinks business, Elliot Hughes, partner at Porterhouse, explained how the new facility would help the business.
“It’s on a different level to what we had before,” he said. “You couldn’t move in our old place, this place could (and will) hold a rock concert!
“We are slightly more automated than previously, albeit still very manual, with a hop back which we hadn’t used before, a much more efficient keg filler as well as a state-of-the-art filtration system which we think will be a game changer for us”.
In addition, the new site has “immediately tripled” the brewer’s old capacity, but “has the potential to go up to 10 times our previous 10,000 hectolitre limit”.
Also under construction is a new visitor centre complete with an events space and tap room. It will bring an immediate five extra jobs to the area with a potential seven further positions when the construction work is completed.
Porterhouse’s new beer called Bounty Hunter.
Founding partner, Liam LaHart said: “it won’t be like your typical brewery visitors centre, which to be honest, are more like museums.
“We want to create a bit of theatre, an immersive experience that is all about getting involved in the process and having fun. The new Cross City Tram line will run right past the brewery, allowing for easy access to and from the city centre”.
Head brewer and director Peter Mosley added: “The increased brewing and storage capabilities of the new site will give us the flexibility to produce and experiment further with flavour variation, create limited editions and seasonal brews which will appeal to a wider audience of beer drinkers, whilst still meeting the demands for our core and already established beers”.
To celebrate the investment, the brewer launched a new limited-edition brew on St Patrick’s Day, the first official new beer to emerge from the new brewery and the winning creation of The Porterhouse Beer Project.
The project, which was open to employees throughout the group, encouraged the creation of a beer that “would appeal to both existing and new generations of craft beer drinkers”.
The winning concept was the Porterhouse Bounty Hunter, a 4.2% coconut porter. The brewery has produced 30 barrels (around 5,000 litres) of the beer using liquified cocoa and roasted malted barley to create a “roasted chocolate finish”.
The beer shares its name with the famous chocolate bar produced by Mars, but Hughes does not think the similarity will be a problem.
“I don’t see any issues with this,” he said. “If a giant, multinational food brand wants to pick fights with a small, independent Irish brewery over a small quantity of beer, go for it!”
Founded in 1989, Porterhouse opened Ireland’s ‘first’ brewpub, The Porterhouse in Temple Bar in 1996. In 1999 it opened its 12-level bar in London’s Covent Garden and in 2017 Porterhouse Brewing Company was launched internationally as a brand.