Dublin Porter

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

GlentoranMark

Landlord.
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
1,037
Reaction score
291
I was in Dublin yesterday for a Poker Tournament but after I got KO'd I waited on the bus home to Belfast in O'Connell Street. As I had 90 minutes to wait, I thought I'd conduct a science experiment purely for the HomeBrewForum and sample the local cuisine.

Near the bus stop is Madigan's Pub. It's in the tourist district so not the average local, it had a live singer who was not the greatest but he was good for the banter and the place was packed with both locals and tourists. Back home in Belfast it would be similar to our Crown Bar

I love my Stouts and Guinness would be my tipple of choice so I ordered one. The Guinness was great as usual but then I noticed a drinks menu behind the bar. I was going to try a Guinness's new Hop House 13 which is a lager but just at the bottom of the menu was a Dublin Porter.

I've only just discovered Porters thanks to Home Brewing but I've never tried one and boy was I in for a treat. It was very dry, like a stout and very thin compared to my Guinness but it was also very dark, mellow and sweet on flavour. I enjoyed it so much I had another.



Would a London Porter be similar?

I'll be looking out a recipe of my own and giving this a go. It's one of the best beers I've tasted. Maybe it had everything to do with the surroundings and the chance stumblings onto this beer but I really enjoyed it.

3 pints in 90 minutes is not great for the bladder however and the Bus to Belfast had no toilet. After 45 minutes on the bus I was literally crying and had to bear another 90 minutes without a pee. Enjoyable as the beer was, it was the bus that I'll remember about this trip :idea:

I'd only those 3 pints all day which as Saturdays go was a pretty dry one. Next time I go down I'll find out a bit more about the Porter and sample it again - oh and bring a bucket.
 
I've had the Dublin Porter bottled and didn't think too much of it, but would try it draught if I saw it. Try the West Indian Porter if you can find it too.

They had a substantial drinks menu, wish I'd have taken a photo but they only had the one Porter.

I'm new to Porters, it's something I simply can't get back home. Would a West Indian be similar to the Dublin one? (colour, taste etc.?)
 
Porters vary a lot, loads of options. But the recipe for Fullers London Porter is hard to beat. It's a good base recipe for trying variations too.
 
I tried the bottled version of the Guiness Dublin Porter and like yeast face wasn't that impressed. I drink the Fuller London Porter all the time as the only time I go to the pub is to a Fullers pub. For me this is a benchmark porter
The FLP receipe in GW BYOBRA is the only clone I've made so far that tastes the same as the original. I've made it a number of times
 
I think I had the west Indian Porter.. does it have a yellow label?, thought it was pretty nice but If i was honest I cannot remember much about it.
 
The Dublin Porter isn't particularly different from the bottled Guinness - drinkable but nothing particularly special. Another +1 for the West Indies Porter it's by far the better of the two. Incidentally the bottles are great for reusing - the labels come off really easily and they're usually on offer on tesco.

I'll usually have a few in the Brew Dock beside busaras and get the train back to Belfast - that way I've got a convenience handy to deal with the inevitable result of drinking a few pints before setting out! ;)
 
The Dublin Porter isn't particularly different from the bottled Guinness - drinkable but nothing particularly special. Another +1 for the West Indies Porter it's by far the better of the two. Incidentally the bottles are great for reusing - the labels come off really easily and they're usually on offer on tesco.

I'll usually have a few in the Brew Dock beside busaras and get the train back to Belfast - that way I've got a convenience handy to deal with the inevitable result of drinking a few pints before setting out! ;)

I organised things last weekend, never thought about no toilet on the bus! I think there's one on the Goldline but not Aircoach, maybe spending a pound will save a penny :)

There's no late trains so bus is the only option. I'd prefer the train myself. The bus was empty but fully booked. The driver was turning people away. If your stuck, make your way to Dublin Airport and you will find a space as people book and miss their flights so there's always empty seats.

Maybe as it was on draft and I was in Dublin and it was my first Porter but I still loved it. One of my favourite beers now. It was well chilled and in the glass you see. I could get used to that and will search it out on my next poker trip to the city.
 
I've spent a lot of time in Ireland and have Irish blood and I'm in love with the country, but... There is no serious beer culture in Ireland, Guinness must have brutalized it. I've had some pretty good beers from the few microbreweries that have sprung up. But don't judge a porter, or a stout, or any other beer, by what you can buy in Ireland on draught. There are way better stouts and porters, and you can make them. I actually taught myself to make beer largely cos I was close to moving to Ireland and the beer was the one big problem!
 
Ya gotta admire Guinness for the brand...

pity about the product...

that being said the new variations arent bad....hope they last longer than the black lager....

weird thing about stout is Guinness really has the market...

can anyone local remember red heart or when there was single or double?

**** im feeling old

for a giggle grab a pen and paper

and make 2 lists

list 10 lagers then 10 stouts
 
My biggest problem with Guinness is in the late nineties the made it blander to appeal more to the lager drinking masses... Was an ardent Guinness drinker until I moved to England.

As for Irish beer culture - historically it's been poor, but by God they're making up for it! Every time I come down home I discover more new breweries. Craft brewing had taken off like mad and it seems to be gaining a lot of momentum in the last 5 years or so...
 
My biggest problem with Guinness is in the late nineties the made it blander to appeal more to the lager drinking masses... Was an ardent Guinness drinker until I moved to England.

As for Irish beer culture - historically it's been poor, but by God they're making up for it! Every time I come down home I discover more new breweries. Craft brewing had taken off like mad and it seems to be gaining a lot of momentum in the last 5 years or so...

Yes, it's definitely on the up.
 
I highly disagree with clibit. There is a growing (hate the phrase) craft beer culture in Ireland and it's only going one way. Galway Bay are producing some super beers and own a fantastic set of bars. Of Foam and Fury is possibly the finest DIPA being produced this side of Europe. Trouble Brewing do a fantastic Porter and are trying out new flavours, whilst maintaining standards. Breweries are popping up in every town and they're all going away from the stereotype stout and red. O'Hara's Leann Folláin is the benchmark strong Irish stout for me.
 
I've visited Galway regularly over the last five years. It's on the up, yes, there are some good beers coming out of Ireland now and O'Haras are good, but it's still in its infancy. How many breweries are there in Ireland? Two or three years ago I think there were 8 microbreweries in all of Ireland, I went to a beer festival in Galway and most of them were there.
 
Thanks for the list, good to see it's taking off. I did winder about getting in early and setting up myself a couple of years or so ago. Converting all the Guinness drinkers. I couldnt believe a whole nation of pub goers had so little choice.
 
Thanks also Beardy, only glanced at that list and didn't realise there were so many craft beer makers. The only one I really knew about was Hilden but I'll find out more about the others and make a point of finding samples.
 
For a very long time a lot of pubs (certainly in northern ireland) where tied to either guinness/harp or tennents/bass and there where very very few free houses, even pubs that had paid of there brewery loans still just kept selling there products. Wetherspoons has made inroads into seeing a far wider selection of beers over here but craft breweries are either selling to a very small local market or not pushing the boat out regarding advertising.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top