Major Developments Brewing at Porterhouse Brewing Company as Beer and Spirits Sales Drive Expansion Plans
The Porterhouse Brewing Company has long been a ground-breaking innovator in Irish beer. The independent, family-run company was stablished in response to the bland and mass-produced beers from multi-national companies which dominated the Irish market in the 1990`s. Ever since then, the company has been at the forefront of the craft beer revolution. In 1996 they opened Ireland’s first brewpub, The Porterhouse in Temple Bar, which stocked only their own craft beers.
Nowadays, Porterhouse Brewing Company continues to make waves in the Irish drinks industry. In 2012, the company began producing its own whiskey, gin and vodka with its subsidiary company, the Dingle Distillery. In keeping with their foresight in predicting trends, Dingle Gin, Dingle Whiskey and Dingle Vodka have been runaway domestic and international successes following an explosion in the demand for craft spirits, especially gin and whiskey.
As co-founder and Managing Director of Porterhouse, Liam LaHart, says, ‘’the only problem we have had is producing enough beer, whiskey, gin and vodka to meet the demand that’s out there. Gin has really taken off in the last two or three years and Irish whiskey is now the fastest selling spirit in the world. We have been honoured that our own Dingle Gin won the Best London Dry Gin at the World Drink Awards last year.’’
In response to the demand, the company have built a €6 million state-of-the-art brewery in Glasnevin which will allow them to dramatically increase production, especially for the export market. Head Brewer and Director, Peter Mosley says that quality is at the forefront of their plans; ‘’the new brewery will allow us to increase our production for both the export and domestic markets, while at the same time maintaining the current high quality that we have become known for.’’
The new state-of-the-art brewery in Glasnevin will also feature a visitor centre based on examples in the US and an event space which will be able to cater for a variety of events, such as live music, corporate functions and parties taking place in the heart of the brewery. According to Liam LaHart, the new brewery will offer something different; ‘’the visitor centre at the new brewery won’t be like your typical brewery or distillery visitor centre, which are more like museums, to be honest. We will be creating a more involved visitor experience, which is more about fun, enjoying yourself and getting involved in the process of brewing. The new Cross City Luas line will run right past the brewery, allowing for easy access from the city centre.’’
Last week, the Dingle Distillery began an investment drive through the EIIS initiative, offering individuals a chance to invest in the promising young company. As Porterhouse Business Development Director Elliot Hughes, son of co-founder Oliver Hughes, said; ‘’the investment will allow us to rapidly scale up our production capacity by several orders of magnitude to meet the enormous international market demand for our gin, whiskey and vodka brands. We plan to double our production of spirits next year and expand aggressively in the North American market. We also have advanced plans to develop a state-of-the-art visitor centre at the distillery in Dingle, which will be developed into one of Ireland’s premier tourist experiences.’’
On the reasons behind the Porterhouse success, Liam says that it is all down to simplicity. ‘’People really like what we stand for, which is quality and honesty. They like the fact that we are an independent, Irish-owned, family-run company brewing all our beer in Dublin and distilling all our spirits in Dingle. We don’t buy our whiskey wholesale and stick a different label on it. The entire process of producing Dingle Whiskey, from distillation to maturation, takes place at the Dingle Distillery. Not many other Irish whiskey brands can say the same. Since we began distilling, we have managed to maintain true to our original values of honesty, independence and our commitment to quality.’’
from L to R: Elliot Hughes – Business Development Director, Liam LaHart – Managing Director and Peter Mosley – Head Brewer and Director.