Beamish and Crawford was a brewery in Cork, Ireland, established in 1792 by William Beamish and William Crawford on the site of an existing porter brewery. In the early 1800s, it was the largest brewery in Ireland.
Porter from Great Britain, and England in particular, had for a long time been more popular in Ireland than Irish porter, as Irish porter was taxed at a higher rate than imported porter. This changed in 1791, when British porter became subject to higher taxes than Irish porter, giving rise to the brewing of porter in Ireland.[citation needed]
William Beamish and William Crawford, both merchants descended from British settlers in Ireland, entered a business partnership in July 1785.[5] Richard Barrett and Digby O’Brien, already partners in an ale brewery in Cork, approached Beamish and Crawford in 1791, likely in the summertime, as they wanted to enter into the then booming porter industry, but lacked the capital to do so themselves.[6]
History
The Counting House, part of the brewery complex in central Cork, Ireland
The Cork Porter Brewery was founded in 1791 by Beamish, Crawford, Barrett, and O’Brien.[7][8] They purchased an existing brewery from Edward Allen (the son of Aylmer Allen who had run the brewery until his death in May 1791) on a site in Cramer's Lane that had been used for brewing since at least 1650 (and possibly as early as 1500).[9][3] By 29 August 1791, Beamish, Crawford, Barrett, and O'Brien had placed advertisements seeking barley for their company.[9] Brewing commenced on 17 January 1792,[10] with product sales starting in June 1792.[11]
O'Brien died on 15 September 1794 in Brest, France where he was being kept prisoner. Though the exact circumstances surrounding his imprisonment are unknown, during the Napoleonic Wars it was common for merchant ships to be captured, and O'Brien could likely have been seen as a hostage who could have attracted a handsome ransom.[12] Barrett left the partnership on good terms on 1 August 1799. His one-third share in the brewery was valued at IR£21,000, to be paid in instalments of £1,500 on 1 February and 1 August each year until he had been fully paid, along with 6% interest on the outstanding balance, all in all a substantial return for Barrett's eight years involvement with the partnership.[13] Following his exit from the partnership, the name Beamish and Crawford became associated with the firm, though they continued to trade as Cork Porter Brewery.[14]
The brewery underwent eight years of steady growth, going from having produced 12,003 barrels of porter in 1793, to 63,230 barrels in 1800. The profit in 1800 was £10,088, and was split equally between Beamish and Crawford — as part of the original agreement signed in 1792, all of the profits of the initial seven years of business were reinvested in the firm.[15] From the passing of the Act of Union in 1800 to William Beamish's death in 1828, the Cork Porter Brewery was Ireland's leading brewery, and one of the largest in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[14] Following William Beamish's death, his third son, Francis Bernard Beamish, took his place as acting partner in the firm. In 1834, William Crawford Jr succeeded his father as acting partner on behalf of the Crawford family.[16]
The brewery prospered, and by 1805 it had become the largest brewery in Ireland and the third largest in the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as a whole. In 1805, its output was 100,000 barrels per annum — up from 12,000 barrels in 1792.[17] It remained the largest brewery in Ireland until overtaken by Guinness in 1833.[18] A result of the popularity of Father Theobald Matthew's temperance movement (which unlike previous temperance movements, aimed at teetotalism rather than only the avoidance of spirits), Beamish and Crawford experienced a steady decline in sales between 1839 and 1843.[19] Father Matthew's campaign was at its peak between 1837 and 1843, and beer output in Ireland fell from over a million barrels per annum, to roughly half that number. Between the years 1839 and 1843, Beamish and Crawford matched that trend, decreasing from an output of 63,031 barrels in 1839 to 32,848 in 1843.[19]
Following the decline of the temperance movement, Beamish and Crawford sales began to increase, though it is expected that the company would have experienced much greater growth but for the effects of the Great Famine, which began in 1845. Though were unaffected by the famine contemporaneously (the brewery actually reporting an increase in sales in the period through to 1848), the following economic impact of the famine led to a resultant decrease in sales.[20]
From the foundation, Beamish and Crawford dominated the Cork porter market, until in 1856 James J. Murphy opened Lady's Well Brewery.[21] Ongoing conflict within the Beamish family, as well as a rise in sectarianism (the Murphy family were a prominent Catholic family in Cork at the time) enabled Murphy's to challenge Beamish and Crawford's dominance.[22] Initially Murphy's did not enjoy much success, and after less than two years in business, members of the family approached Beamish and Crawford hoping that the latter would purchase their new brewery, but they were rebuffed. This resulted in Murphy's going to great lengths to challenge Beamish and Crawford, and they began acquiring public houses and underselling Beamish and Crawford porter. On 14 February 1861, both breweries signed "an agreement for mutual non-interference", though by this point, Murphy's had positioned itself as a competitor. While in 1861 Murphy's sold roughly a third of what Beamish and Crawford did, by 1863 they sold over half. Beamish and Crawford's sale of 116,076 barrels of porter in 1861 would not be surpassed until 1901.[23]
Beamish Stout, 1919 advert for the noted Cork brewers
In 1865, the brewery underwent a modernisation programme and was completely revamped at a cost of £100,000. Alfred Barnard, a noted brewing and distilling historian, remarked in his book The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland in 1889 that:
"The business of Beamish & Crawford in Cork is a very old one dating as far back as the seventeenth century and it is said to be the most ancient porter brewery in Ireland."
The company went public in 1901, issuing a share capital of £480,000. Further expansion was aided by the acquisition of a number of local breweries in the early 1900s. In 1962, it was purchased by the Canadian brewing firm Carling-O'Keefe Ltd, who embarked on a modernisation programme at the brewery. In 1987, Elders IXL purchased Canadian Breweries (incorporating Carling-O'Keefe). In 1995, Elders sold the brewery to Scottish & Newcastle.
In December 2008, it was announced that the Beamish and Crawford brewery was to close in March 2009 with the loss of 120 jobs. Production was moved to the nearby Heineken Brewery (previously Murphy's), with about forty of the Beamish staff moved to Heineken.[4][25]
The brewery buildings (including the Tudor fronted "counting house")[26] are still in the heart of Cork's medieval city, close to the South Gate. The original brewery facilities are subject to planning permission for use as a visitor and events centre.[27]
Products
Before the takeover and closure of the brewery, beers included:
Beamish stout, Beamish and Crawford's flagship product, now brewed by Heineken at the Murphy's brewery.
Beamish Red, a sweetish Irish red ale, made to resemble Kilkenny or Murphy's Irish Red.[28] Production ceased immediately following the takeover. Several Cork pubs which once stocked Beamish Red replaced it with Franciscan Well Rebel Red.
In addition to their own beers, Beamish and Crawford brewed and distributed a number of internationally known brands of beer, with the Irish franchises for Fosters, Kronenbourg 1664 and Miller. Fosters has remained with the new owners, while Miller was transferred to a new distributor, importing the beer from SABMiller's Netherlands brewery.
In 2009, after just over two years of being reintroduced to the US market,[2] owners Heineken decided to stop distribution of Beamish products outside Ireland.[1]
Related Research Articles
Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer style which includes dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout.
Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale, originally brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter after three years of development, the 1960 merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer national distribution and sales peaked in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. The beer underwent a resurgence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with student unions selling it. By the late 1990s, the beer was the most widely distributed alcoholic product in the UK. By the 2000s, the majority of sales were in the United States, although it still sells 100 million bottles annually in the UK. Brewing moved in 2005 from Newcastle to Dunston, Tyne and Wear, and in 2010 to Tadcaster. In 2017, the Heineken Brewery in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands, also began production. As of 2019, it is brewed as well by Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California, and Chicago, Illinois, for the American market.
John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s.
Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold.
Murphy's Brewery, later known as Heineken Brewery Ireland, Ltd, was founded in Cork, Ireland, in 1856 by James J. Murphy. By 1906, Murphy's Brewery was Ireland's second largest brewer after Guinness. It was known as Lady's Well Brewery until it was purchased by Heineken N.V. in 1983, when the name changed to Murphy Brewery Ireland Ltd. The name of the brewery was changed to Heineken Brewery Ireland, Ltd in 2001. The brewery produces Heineken, Murphy's Irish Stout and other Heineken products for the Irish market.
McEwan's is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was originally brewed by William McEwan's Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The McEwan's brand passed to Heineken in 2008 after their purchase of Scottish & Newcastle's British operations. Heineken sold the brand to Wells & Young's in 2011, who sold their brewing operation, including the McEwan brand to Marston's in 2017. Cans and bottles are now brewed in Bedford, England.
Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased numerous other brewers – some to shut down, and some solely for their brands. In 1969, Canadian Breweries was acquired by a subsidiary of Rothmans, which renamed the company as Carling O'Keefe in 1973. The company was sold in 1987, then merged with Molson in 1989.
Brewing in Ireland has a long history. Production currently stands at over 8 million hectolitres, and approximately half the alcohol consumed is beer.
Several brands of beer are produced and served in Romania, including beer from local breweries and craft beers. The history of this beverage includes the territory of the Romanian lands, since at least the times of the Romanian Old Kingdom to contemporary times.
Events from the year 1792 in Ireland.
Heineken N.V. is a Dutch brewer which owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands, mainly pale lager, though some other beer styles are produced. The two largest brands are Heineken and Tecate; though the portfolio includes Amstel, Fosters, Sagres, Cruzcampo, Skopsko, Affligem, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, Zlatý Bažant, Laško and Birra Moretti.
Canadian Breweries Limited (CBL), originally the Brewing Corporation of Ontario, was an Ontario-based holding company in the brewing industry. The company was founded in 1930 by a merger of two breweries, Brading of Ottawa and Kuntz of Kitchener-Waterloo. Under the direction of its top executive, E. P. Taylor, the company bought or merged many of the smaller competitors existing after the repeal of prohibition. The new company closed many plants, reduced the number of beer brands and built new, larger plants to produce enough beer for a much larger geographic area. By the 1950s, the company had reduced the number of beer brands from approximately one hundred to six. Canadian Breweries became part of a large conglomerate of manufacturing and consumer businesses controlled by the Argus Corporation in 1945.
Murphy's Irish Stout is a stout brewed at the Murphy's Brewery in Cork, Ireland. It is owned and distributed by the Dutch brewer Heineken International.
Guinness is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is now owned by the British-based multinational alcoholic beverage maker Diageo. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to 850,000,000 liters. In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually.
The O'Brien Brewing and Malting Company, also known as the Klondike Brewery, was a brewery founded by Thomas O'Brien in Klondike City, an adjoining settlement to Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada from 1904 to 1919. It was established during a period in which Dawson City was expected to become an important regional city, and used modern techniques and equipment imported from California. It was initially successful, selling 68,748 gallons of beer in 1905, but Dawson's population declined and growing temperance attitudes threatened the business. O'Brien sold the company in 1915, and in 1919 prohibition forced its closure. The brewery was abandoned, and the remains of the site are now owned by the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation.
Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters.
Beer in Northern Ireland has been influenced by immigration into Ulster, especially from Scotland, and the drinking habits in Ireland until the partition of Ireland. Whiskey drinking was always a tradition with Guinness from Dublin being a strong influence in the style of beer drunk in the 19th and 20th centuries. Brewing traditions almost ceased to exist as smaller breweries closed, or were taken over, and then the large breweries in turn closed down their facilities. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971; however, it was 10 years before the first new brewery, Hilden Brewing, opened its doors.
William Horatio Crawford (1815–1888) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist. He was both a book collector and art collector, and contributed to the art school at the Cork School of Design, which became known as the Crawford School of Art in 1885. Much of the Crawford art collection is now held in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork city.
The Counting House is a mock-Tudor building located on South Main Street in Cork city, Ireland. Constructed in 1919 on the site of the Beamish and Crawford brewery, as of 2022 the building is undergoing works to re-purpose it as an event centre.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
