What's the story with the Porterhouse's collection of bottles ?

Red Sleeping Beauty · 31-08-2009 11:31pm #1

Ye know the one in Temple Bar, they've 100s of bottles in display cabinets. What's the deal with them ? Any itneresting stories behind any of them ?

I saw some of their own brews (Oyster, Brainblasta, Wrasslers etc.) in bottles there. Are these bottled and sold anywhere?

While I'm on the Poterhouse... they say Wrasslers was the drink favoured by Michael Collins. Are there any historical texts or photos about this or was it a myth handed down ?

Cheers

Con Con · 01-09-2009 2:27am

The bottles in cabinets are pretty much decorations as far as I know. A bottle (sometimes more than one) for each bottled beer they have stocked in the past and present. Give a bit of time and they'll act as a history of what beers have been most popular through the times of Porterhouse. I'm sure certain rare bottles have interesting stories which I've never heard.

With regards their brews in bottles, some of them were bottled in the past but not for large scale production. However I've heard that porterhouse are in the process of bottling their current brews for a wider market. September fest on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September in Phoenix park should exhibit some of these.

Never heard anyone question the Michael Collins-Wrasslers connection before. Nor have I heard of any historical texts or photos

oblivious · 01-09-2009 7:30am

Alan Rouge wrote: »

I saw some of their own brews (Oyster, Brainblasta, Wrasslers etc.) in bottles there. Are these bottled and sold anywhere?

The where most likely hand bottled but they have now invested in a bottling line sometime in the next few months along with make time available for other Irish micros

Alan Rouge wrote: »

While I'm on the Poterhouse... they say Wrasslers was the drink favoured by Michael Collins. Are there any historical texts or photos about this or was it a myth handed down ?

Its supposedly based on a recipe for stout that he or was avialbe in the area around that time

BeerNut · 01-09-2009 9:43am

Alan Rouge wrote: »

What's the deal with them ? Any itneresting stories behind any of them ?

The most interesting story is that, once upon a time, you got a free pint if you brought them a bottle they didn't already have. But that stopped some years ago

Alan Rouge wrote: »

I saw some of their own brews (Oyster, Brainblasta, Wrasslers etc.) in bottles there. Are these bottled and sold anywhere?

Purely decorative. The only beer they've released bottled so far (AFAIK) was their 10th anniversary imperial stout, back in 2006. But as Oblivious said: bottled Porterhouse beers are on their way, very soon.

Alan Rouge wrote: »

they say Wrasslers was the drink favoured by Michael Collins. Are there any historical texts or photos about this or was it a myth handed down ?

I did a bit of research on this for a book I'm helping with, and yes, it's true. Deasy's was the local brewery in his native Clonakilty and there was a tied house system in Cork, so all of his local pubs growing up would have mainly (possibly only) stocked Deasy's beer. The beer's original name was "The Wrestler" (or "Wrastler"), following what seems to have been a fashion for pugilistic names: Beamish & Crawford made a stout called "Knuckleduster", for instance.

I think Collins's fondness for it stems from the fact that he was an emigrant, hankering after the produce of the home he left at 15. On the day he died he was touring West Cork with his entourage, standing rounds of Wrassler's in every pub, showing off the superior Clonakilty beer to his Guinness-drinking cohort. Some historians reckon Collins himself wasn't drinking on the day, because of an upset stomach, but I think he probably had a few, which is why when the ambush kicked off he got out of the car and stood in the middle of the open road at Beal na mBlath firing randomly. And we all know what happened next.

The Deasy family were no longer involved in the brewery in 1922, but they were still around. I think it's safe to say that Liam Deasy -- commander of the Beal na mBlath ambush -- was of that stock. One account has it that the Beal na mBlath roadblock included a brewery dray: again, in all likelihood it came from Deasy's brewery.

Collins definitely loved Wrassler's, but there's not so much written about its part in his downfall.

However, I've no idea what connection there is between The Wrastler of the 1920s (Deasy's eventually closed in 1940) and Porterhouse Wrassler's XXXX. The Deasy's beer would definitely not have been served on nitro, and I doubt it would have been as weak as 5% ABV.

slayerking · 01-09-2009 11:51am

Great story Beernut, very interesting.
Is there an alcohol % on that label of Knuckleduster out of curiousity, just cant make it out in the photo?

BeerNut · 01-09-2009 12:09pm

slayerking wrote: »

Is there an alcohol % on that label of Knuckleduster out of curiousity

No, I don't think so. Apologies for the abysmal quality of the photo. It's from a poster displaying various extinct Beamish beers produced for the company's 200th anniversay in 1992 which hangs in Slattery's in Rathmines, on the way to the gents.

Here's the full thing, click for big.

slayerking · 01-09-2009 12:21pm

Just came across another better quality photo of the knuckleduster label, no alcohol % on the label though either...

This website seams to have lots of them, although most are american.

BeerNut · 01-09-2009 12:26pm

Nice.

Y'know, somehow I doubt you'd get away with call a beer something like that these days.

MediaTank · 01-09-2009 12:26pm

Alan Rouge wrote: »

I saw some of their own brews (Oyster, Brainblasta, Wrasslers etc.) in bottles there. Are these bottled and sold anywhere?

The display bottles are filled with (coloured) water AFAIK.

MT

slayerking · 01-09-2009 12:32pm

Wonder how this would have tasted back then, given the alcohol vol is so different to todays 3.8%.....

MediaTank · 01-09-2009 12:33pm

It may not be that old, just brewed for a different market, probably France.

oblivious · 01-09-2009 12:37pm

suspiciously their barleywine was 5.5%, yep a 5.5% barleywine:p

MediaTank · 01-09-2009 12:39pm

oblivious wrote: »

suspiciously their barleywine was 5.5%, yep a 5.5% barleywine:p

The odd time I bought it the offie owner asked me if I was baking a cake!

BeerNut · 01-09-2009 12:48pm

Yes, I'd say that was Smithwick's Barley Wine labelled for the French market. I remember selling it when I worked in a pub in the 1990s.

I thought this was interesting: the Scottish beer called "Scotch Ale" in England was called "Strong Ale" in Scotland and sold as "Barley Wine" in Ireland.

rubadub · 01-09-2009 1:35pm

BeerNut wrote: »

Y'know, somehow I doubt you'd get away with call a beer something like that these days.

I think I have come across some dodgy names of real beers or ciders.

There was a cider with "legless but smiling" on the bottle, it was sold in tesco in dun laoghaire for a while but was overlabelled.

The smithwicks in north america is meant to be 5%

3.8% (Ireland), 5% (North America)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithwick's

Surprised offies don't import it (or do any?)

Red Sleeping Beauty · 01-09-2009 10:44pm

Thanks everyone

A mine of information! Especially Beernut. Wrasslin' is the way someone with an American southern drawl accent might say wrestling. Don't know if that's of any interest to anyone though.

Were there many Irish beers that ceased production during and after the war of independence, the world wars and the civil war ? I think I remember reading how that 15,20 year period had a devestating effect on the whiskey industry at the time, just wondering was it the same for the beers ? Were many lost ?

BeerNut · 02-09-2009 12:57am

The history of Irish beer through the 20th century has been a more-or-less continuous story of the loss of beers and breweries. So many of them were swallowed up by the predecessors of today's Big Two and erased from history afterwards; and the big breweries themselves have homogenised their own ranges over the years and then pretended that what they make now is somehow traditional and authentic.

For an idea of what the beer scene in Ireland used to look like, there's the map in this ongoing(ish:o) project.

I don't think the War of Independence/Civil War had much of an effect on Irish beer as far as I know, but the First World War decimated beer gravity throughout the UK, and it was the shortages of the Second World War that caused Deasy's to close.

IrishWhiskeyCha · 02-09-2009 1:19pm

Alan Rouge wrote: »

Thanks everyone A mine of information! Especially Beernut. Wrasslin' is the way someone with an American southern drawl accent might say wrestling. Don't know if that's of any interest to anyone though.

You may be right and a southern drawl is quite different from an Irish accent ... however wrasslin can also be associated much closer to home as it would be pronounced that way in the Kilkenny Waterford area obviously with the flat accent of the area especially the older folk. Especially if the wrassler was wearing yealla shorts

Red Sleeping Beauty · 04-09-2009 2:23am

Just watched Michael Collins there the other night. Neil Jordan agrees that Collins was under the weather but whether or not he takes a drink that night seems up in the air. No mention of Wrasslers

MikeMcG · 17-10-2009 7:47pm

re Wrasslers & Michael Collins

BeerNut wrote: »

Collins definitely loved Wrassler's, but there's not so much written about its part in his downfall.

However, I've no idea what connection there is between The Wrastler of the 1920s (Deasy's eventually closed in 1940) and Porterhouse Wrassler's XXXX. The Deasy's beer would definitely not have been served on nitro, and I doubt it would have been as weak as 5% ABV.

My Dad has a book with interviews mainly from Dublin landlords & bar staff
http://www.amazon.com/Dublin-Pub-Life-Lore-History/dp/1570981647
in it, one chap recounts how Collins' favourite tipple wasn't a rich dry stout, but was in fact a wee glass of sherry -

Page 91 -
Tom Bourke, 86 is the oldest publican in Dublin still pulling pints . . . Tom served drink to Michael Collins . . . (Tom B himself speaking -)
"Now Michael Collins would come in and have a drink of a small sherry . . . he was a great friend of my boss's at the time . . . "

my guess is he told the lads - "if any of youse tell anyone I drink feckin' sherry . . ."

BeerNut · 17-10-2009 11:35pm

In Dublin, sure. But down amongst his own I'm sure it was a different story.

Being able to buy the same drinks in every part of the country is a product of our times, not Michael's.

MikeMcG · 18-10-2009 12:00am

Aye, of course - I dare say you're right, it just tickled me to read that piece though, as it's such an unusual connection for a brewery to make.

(Westerham Brewery, Kent use the same yeast as the long-gone local brewery that it's said was a favourite of Churchill)

chrisos · 30-01-2017 3:53pm

I know this is an old post... but I designed the original Porter House brand/logo etc and most of the labels way back in 1996 or 1997.

These labels were never massed produced but at the time they were properly printed and each played a significant role in the launch of porthouse.

The originally family line up of beer labels were: Wrasslers XXXX Stout, Plain Porter, Porterhouse Red Ale, Hersbrucker Pilsner, Weissbier, Oyster Stout, An BrainBlásta, Temple Brau and Chiller Larger.

A lot of people don't know... but the was also 2 additional beer called 'Weiser Buddy and 'Probably Larger. Obviously these were riding on the back of Budweiser and Carlsberg. Both labels were purposely designed like Budweiser and Carlsberg but with slight differences.
From what I remember they had to be withdrawn.

They were fun labels to design and we spent may late nights working on them to get each design right. I have photos of all of these but not sure how to post them on Boards.ie.

So if anyone can advise... I will post what I have on this thread.

Cheers

BeerNut · 30-01-2017 4:07pm

I think you need to have a certain number of posts before you can post images on Boards.

They brought the WeiserBuddy name back for their American festival this year, which just ended:
https://twitter.com/WhitworthDublin/status/822492891515908096

Aglomerado · 31-01-2017 2:42pm

BeerNut wrote: »

I think you need to have a certain number of posts before you can post images on Boards.

They brought the WeiserBuddy name back for their American festival this year, which just ended:
https://twitter.com/WhitworthDublin/status/822492891515908096

I was in last week for a pint of plain and took my Weiserbuddy beermat home afterwards.

Zebra3 · 02-02-2017 10:21am

I remember the controversy over the Buddy Weiser and Probably.

Always assumed it was kind of guerrilla marketing. Call them something that'll cause a public row, be seen to be bullied by the big boys, rebrand, publicity gained.

What's the story with the Porterhouse's collection of bottles ?

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