Region & History

Anyone who wants to know what Cork stout is needs to travel to the River Lee. There, two breweries competed against each other for generations, and their followers took it seriously. The county likes to call itself Rebel County, and the beer is part of that pride.

Beamish and Crawford was founded in 1792 and was the largest brewery in Ireland in the early 19th century. Ownership changed hands several times, including Carling O'Keefe, Elders IXL, and Scottish & Newcastle. Most recently the brewery belonged to Heineken.

Murphy's followed in 1856. James J. Murphy founded the Lady's Well Brewery, named after a spring on the hill opposite that was said to have healing powers. Murphy's stout was first brewed in May 1888. By 1906, the company was the second-largest brewery in Ireland, behind Guinness.

Then came the corporation. Heineken bought Murphy's in 1983, and the Lady's Well Brewery gradually turned into a plant of the group, known since 2001 as Heineken Brewery Ireland. In 2008, Heineken also took over Scottish & Newcastle. That meant both Cork brands belonged to the same house.

In May 2009, Heineken closed the Beamish brewery. It would have required heavy investment, and the group already had spare capacity in Ireland. The Beamish brand still exists, brewed in Cork at the former Murphy's brewery on Leitrim Street.

Alongside the corporation, small breweries exist, such as Franciscan Well, on the site of an old Franciscan monastery since 1998, and Rising Sons, which opened in 2014. There is no EU protected designation of origin for stout, since stout is simply a free style term.