Idea lager was unveiled to 550 guests in January 1963 in Lawlor's Hotel in Naas at a launch that was attended by the then Taoiseach Sean Lemass. At this time Smithwicks were allegedly in the process of constructing a lager brewery on their existing site in Kilkenny, so it was brewed in the Guinness-owned Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk following research into continental styles and visits to European breweries. (Seemingly, a provision of the sale of Great Northern by Smithwicks to Guinness in 1960 was that Smithwicks could use a section of the brewery whenever it wanted...)1
It was hoped at the launch that it would be available to the public from April 1963 and the intention was that production would move to Kilkenny early the following year when the lager brewery there was finished, but by June 1964 when Guinness took controlling interest in Smithwicks they were still brewing it in Dundalk. In 1965 Guinness completed its take over and Smithwicks had abandoned their Idea lager brand by this point2, leaving Guinness to push its own Harp lager which was also brewed at Great Northern.
And, so ended Idea lager's short lived appearance in the Irish brewing landscape.
(I'm unsure if it was ever brewed in Kilkenny - probably not I'd guess - as information is quite scarce...)
'Active men with subtle tastes, bright young men who set the trends, men who know what they like and insist on it.'Indeed...
Notwithstanding its male-centric marketing angle I think it was certainly ahead of its time, even the logo was ultra modern and wouldn't have been out of place in the eighties or even much later. If it had been launched a decade or two later and given different circumstances it could still be a brand we are aware of now, not one that has been consigned to guest appearances on online breweriana auction sites and charity shop shelves.
Image Source - Author's own collection, do not reuse without permission
Image Source - Author's own collection, do not reuse without permission
Beermats appear to be scarce and the only one in my collection is this - again 'on brand' but with a sporty influence.
Image Source - Author's own collection, do not reuse without permission
I have two bottle labels, one saying 'lager' and the other 'lager beer' in a different font, both are classy with gold-ish backgrounds which tie in with the glassware. I'm not sure if both were used or whether the second was just a prototype design - or perhaps it was for the export market.
That's all I have on this 'lost' Smithwicks' brand for now but I will update this post if and when I come across more information. No doubt more will surface at some point...
Liam
(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and can not be reproduced elsewhere without full credit to its source and a link back to this post. Please be aware that my own photos are watermarked.)
(All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and can not be reproduced elsewhere without full credit to its source and a link back to this post. Please be aware that my own photos are watermarked.)
References:
1 The Irish Press/Cork Examiner - January 11th 1963
2 Beamish & Crawford: The History of and Irish Brewery, Donal Ó Drisceoil & Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil (2015) - page 329
Newspaper images © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).
4 comments:
We found two of the glasses after a clear out. Lovely size and quality. Had not realised they're from the 60s.
Hi, yes that idea glass was made in Waterford, I have it and a Phoenix one the exact same,the phoenix one still has the Waterford sticker, never knew the time glasses were Waterford as well
Very interesting, what might have been.... I never knew that Great Northern was owned by Smithwicks
My parents were t the launch of this product in Naas. My dad had connections with Smithwicks and I recall as a child that Idea and Time bottles were often in our house. We had official photos of the launch, one of them showing my mother talking to the Taoiseach, Mr Lemass. I remember the logo and the beer mats. I had not appreciated that the lager was so short lived.
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