Port Watch
It’s cold and it’s damp and these days all you want to do (or at least all I want to do) is find a nice cozy pub with a roaring fire that does a good line in Hot Port. So far the search for the Perfect Port hasn’t been going so well. As you may remember I previously mentioned Madigans of Donnybrook (1 slice lemon, no cloves, proper glass, vaguely warm water) and Keogh’s of Sth Anne St. (3 slices lemon all nicely studded with cloves, proper glass, good hot water.) At that time Keogh’s was the clear winner, but what has happened and where have I been since?
Neary’s
Not a proper glass, but was pre-ordered for me, so by the time I arrived it was ‘luke-warm Port.’
Stags Head
Not a proper glass and no accompanying napkin wrapped round so I had to wait for the thing to cool off before I could even take a sip. Sort of took the point out of ordering a ‘hot’ port. No sugar added and the lemon looked like it had died long ago. No cloves, no spoon.
Library Bar
Proper glass, one clove stuck in the lemon. Sugar on the table so I could add it myself with spoon (provided.) Fair to middling.
Neary’s
On a return visit I received my port in a proper glass this time, but it came with a plastic cocktail swizzle stick yoke which didn’t work very well, as by the time I got to the end of the glass the sugar was all still sitting undissolved at the bottom of the glass. Lemon was properly studded with cloves, but had turned deep red by the time I finished which means it wasn’t the freshest slice.
So at the moment the leaderboard is still showing that Keogh’s serves the top hot port in the city. More anon as my liver recovers.
