Irish Brewing People of the Past - #2 Eliza Alley

The history of Irish brewing is no stranger to women. There is much talk and commentary regarding the brew wives of the far past, and some mention of those who brew in the present - although it could be argued not enough - but there are scant mentions of those who brewed in the two centuries previous to our current one, and specifically in the 19th, where as we shall see, some women had the business of brewing thrust upon them. Dr. Christina Wade in her book Filthy Queens is hugely focussed on the role of women in brewing, and the book certainly champions their cause repeatedly - and rightly. And those who may feel there has been too much commentary on women in brewing would do well to remember that to get a well-worn gate that has seen too much on-way traffic to hang straight you need to sprain the hinges the opposite way, almost to breaking point, in order to get it to sit evenly in the middle of its post.

One of the women featured in the good doctor’s book is a lady called Eliza Alley, who I have written about previously - and that piece was nicely referenced in one chapter. I had come across Eliza’s name while researching who brewed Ireland’s first ‘IPA’ - or more correctly who was the first to advertise such a style of beer by that name or similar. At that time I focused on the beer itself, a little on the brewery and some of its history but always felt there was more to commit to history about Eliza herself. So here we go …

-o-

Eliza Humphreys was born in 1796 or 1797, the 5th daughter of William Humphreys - sadly I can’t be sure of her mother’s name. Her father was a prominent wool merchant in the city of Dublin and shortly after her birth bought Ballyhaise estate in county Cavan, and appears to have divided his time between Dublin and Ballyhaise House. His business was situated at 17 Merchant’s Quay in the city and he also had property on Gardiner’s Row/Place. The family were Church of Ireland (protestant) and, interestingly, it appears that his son William (Eliza's brother) was Grand Master of the Orange Order in Cavan in the 1850s, so the family would seem to have been quite involved in the organisation - probably not an unusual thing for the merchant and land-owning class at this time.

Eliza married William Alley in 1821 in the wonderfully grand St. George's Church in the north-east of Dublin city. William was the son of Alderman, High Sheriff and Mayor John Alley - another merchant and prominent individual in the city of Dublin, who was also a brewer. They had at least ten children over 14 years - John, William, Letitia, Catherine, Henry, Eliza, Matilda, Robert, Caroline, and another Caroline (presumably the first having died as a baby) although not all survived to adulthood. They lived in Clontarf and at one time owned Ivy House, a six-bedroom house with pleasure grounds and a walled garden, as well as a coach house and some farm buildings.

In 1823, William Alley succeeded his father in the brewery in Townsend Street following the latter’s death, and at this time he was brewing ‘Strong Ale, Porter and Table Beer’. Brewing was a family business for the Alleys, as William's brother John refitted a brewery belonging to the wonderfully named Mr. Wigglesworth in Ardee Street in 1824, it having also been occupied by a Mr. Richard Pim (a surname of importance in Irish brewing) and an advertisement mentions that his father had been brewing in the city for 30 years, so it appears the brewery on Townsend Street could date from at least the late 18th century and was certainly owned by John Alley in by the very first years of the 19th century. John junior was bankrupt by 1827, so his venture didn't last too long. Interestingly he wasn't brewing porter, just ale and table beer which may explain its failure, given how porter was the dominant drink in this period.

But tragedy struck on the 18th of June 1836 when William died at the age of only 39, leaving Eliza with a large young family to raise. Undeterred, she embraced the ownership of the brewery, and mere days after William’s burial she took out advertisements letting friends and customers know that the brewery would continue, and trusting that their patronage would continue. A year later she was thanking those who 'encouraged her to persevere in the arduous undertaking in which she engaged for the advancement of her numerous family’ and goes on to assure them that the 'malt drink manufactured at her establishment is of the very best quality.' Mysteriously, in a separate advertisement below this she cautions 'her friends and the public against the misrepresentations of a clerk who was lately in her employment and whom she was obliged to discharge, for conduct that it would not be to his credit to explain, but which she is ready to do if called upon. This person is now in another establishment and is, she is informed, endeavouring, by gross misstatements, to induce her customers to withdraw their support but she feels happy in the conviction that all his efforts to do so will prove futile, and only tend to expose his own character.' Whatever occurred in the brewery it appears that Eliza was aggrieved by the episode, and it certainly shows and edge to her strength of character and resolve. 

By early November of 1837 she was looking for a brewer to brew ‘fine ales, beer, and porter’ and by the end of the month she had taken on a Mr. Harrower 'a brewer of great experience and well-known ability’ as head brewer. It is worth noting of course that Eliza would not have been brewing any beer herself, and nor would many of the names we associate with Irish breweries, as almost all would have employed talented brewers to produce their beers, regardless of their gender by the way. These entities were for the most past business people who employed others to execute their wishes and needs, as with any similar business.

Although it appears that neither her or William’s family were short of money it was important that the business continue and succeed in order to have a constant revenue for both herself and her large family and a sense of that can be obtained from the announcement of her employment of Mr. Harrower where she thanks those who have supported the business and ‘have marked their approbation of her exertions, and encouraged her to persevere in the arduous undertaking’ of running the brewery. She assures her customers and friends that ‘her unceasing efforts shall be directed, and her best attention given, to merit a continuance of that patronage which she with pride and gratitude acknowledges.’ Eliza’s character again shows through here, as well as her driven nature, and she appears to have been quite hands on with the running of the business.

Eliza remarried another respected merchant, Henry Cochran of Merchant's Quay, in 1838 back in her father’s home of Ballyhaise in Cavan. (Curiously, Henry dealt in Wool like Eliza’s father and he even operated from the same premises – so there was clearly an existing family or business connection here.) The brewery was trading under the name of Eliza Alley, Sons & Co. and although Eliza was still actively involved in the business, Mr. Cochran also seems to have been involved in the management of the enterprise to some extent. Her oldest sons, John and William would have been 16 and 15 at this time, so were unlikely to have been very much involved in the business, although it’s clear from the brewery’s name that they were to be very much included in the business in the future – although obviously not her daughters!

A curious incident occurred in late 1838 when a man was charged with firing a pistol into the brewery from a nearby building. This was the second time with weeks that this had occurred and intimidating letters had also been sent to Eliza, although it is not clear if there was a connection between the events. Reports of the events indicate the possibly weren't linked, but it does seem that Eliza had her enemies and detractors given this episode and the earlier issue.

But what makes Eliza and her brewery stand out in Irish brewing history is that newspaper mention in 1842 of having ‘East India Beer’ for sale. This was said to be ‘of superior quality and will be found to be very similar to that justly celebrated article “Hodgson’s pale ale”'. This is clearly what we would now term an India Pale Ale or IPA, and seems to be the first mention (at least) of the style being brewed in Ireland, and it occurred during the stewardship of a woman owner, which is also of note. Whether this new brewing was her choice, driven my market forces (this style of beer was certainly being imported into the country by this time), the possible involvement or her two youngish sons in seeing new trends, or a decision by the resident brewer at that time, we will never know but it certainly started a trend in pale well-hopped ales that lasted in Ireland until the early 1960s or so, and returned to us in the latter part of the last century.

In September of 1847 Eliza was once again a widow, as her second husband Henry died of fever that month. But the brewery itself appears to have been doing relatively well and by 1850 they were exporting to England and had acquired a royal warrant, claiming in their advertisements to be ‘sole brewers in Ireland to her most gracious majesty.’ They were brewing ‘Strong XX Ale, Plain Ale, Bitter Ale, Strong XX Porter, Plain Porter and Table Beer’ at that time. Advertisements listed the business as E. Alley, Sons, & Co., and whether the abbreviated first name is an attempt to hide the fact that it was owned by a woman is certainly possible if not provable, and at this point it is highly likely that her sons John and William were involved in the brewery business.

But, like the majority of breweries in Ireland, it wasn't to last, as the brewing equipment was for sale in 1853 and near the end of 1855 the brewery property was in chancery and being sold along with houses at number 55, 56, and 57 Townsend Street, where an advertisement states that the entire property takes in 141 feet of Townsend Street, 213 feet on Prince's Street, 123 feet on South Gloucester Street. This, along with the large number of utensils and equipment for sale, gives us a nice footprint for the substantial size of the business. Eliza Cochran, as she was then known, appears to have been still at the helm and still active in the business at this time.

But perhaps everything finally took its toll, as Eliza died relatively young at the age of 59 on the 30th of June 1856 at Redmondstown House, Clomel, Co. Tipperary, the home of her daughter Eliza and son-in-law, William P. Worrall. Her burial - like that of her first husband - took place in Clontarf, Dublin.

But Eliza and Williams’s legacy in brewing continued, just much further afield. Their sons John and William both left Dublin for America and were involved - separately - in breweries in Boston. John Robinson Alley in particular fronted a number of breweries in the area and the name Alley was once again hung over a brewery business.

But what of the property where Ireland’s first 'IPA' was brewed? By the 1870s at least some of the property was being used by Wheeler & Shanks - later J. Shanks & Co - who were operating from 54 to 56 Townsend Street in 1882 selling alcohol free beverages such as the wonderfully sounding 'Export' Ginger Ale. They were still there in 1898 advertising mineral waters of all types and by 1901 no. 56 Townsend Street was home to an agency for the Deli Brewery in Amsterdam's 'Pilsner and Lager' beers.

No trace of the brewery now exists, as a relatively new development sits on the site of this once important Irish enterprise.

-o-

It’s a pity that the names of brewery owners, both male and female, seem to have been lost to us. Over the years consolidation and rebranding means that just one handful of Irish brewer’s name remain and are remembered by most Irish beer drinkers. Eliza and William, and his father John, deserve to be recorded and name-checked in the long list of Dublin brewers that have risen and fallen through the years and centuries. Ironically, it’s probably their son John Robinson Alley who is best remembered and written about in brewing circles, albeit and the other side of the Atlantic.

But perhaps, just perhaps, we should raise a toast in memory of Eliza the next time we pour an Irish IPA.

Liam

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source, and a link back to this post. Research was via The British Newspaper Archive and Irish Genealogy, both online. Some content was used and adapted from my earlier mentioned post on who brewed Ireland's first IPA. All sources are available on request. DO NOT STEAL THIS CONTENT!

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #24 – Smithwick’s Poker Cards (c. 1957)

Someone behind drinks ale,

And opens mussels, and croaks scraps of songs

Towards the ham-strung rafters about love.

Dirk deals the cards.

Excerpt from The Card-Players – Philip Larkin

Gaming and drinking are hardly new bedfellows, and it would be fair to say that the practice goes back many centuries if not millennia, so it was hardly a surprise that sometime in the late 1950s someone within the greater Smithwick’s brewery fold of marketing gurus had the brainwave to produce a poker game that could be used to advertise their drinks. It was at a time when many drink companies were exploring ways to brand their output and advertise their beers more in newspapers, and promote them with items such as branded glassware, beermats and other bits of ephemera. Colour printing was becoming more affordable and the use of graphics and images in newspaper advertisements was starting to become more the norm than the exception, and marketing brains were becoming more inventive in their pitching of concepts and ideas in that alleged golden age of advertising. So, it isn’t completely surprising that a brewery would go down the route of producing something a little unusual like this, a giveaway item, as a form of promotion - assuming that it was used in such a way.

The game was designed by Domas Ltd, an advertising and marketing company who also dealt with the newspaper advertisements and other marketing for Smithwick’s, and was printed by the firm of Bailey, Son & Gibson Ltd, both of whom were based in Dublin, so this is truly an Irish originated item - even if the images on the cards seem to have somewhat of an English slant? Based on the general style of the imagery and the typeface, plus the words ‘Everybody’s Drinking Smithwick’s’ on the reverse of the cards which was used in Smithwick’s advertising on the island of Ireland in the 1950s, it is from that period. The era can be narrowed down further as Domas appear to have taken over the advertising for the brewery in the second half of the decade, and the exact line-up shown by the counters was only available in Ireland at this time too, so although there are not dates on the pack it is an educated guess to state it dates from the latter half of the 1950s given the information at hand. There is also an assumption it was made specifically for the Irish market, which may not be the case of course.

As to the game itself, it comprises of 19 cards - 2 pairs of 8 different faces plus one joker - a booklet of instructions, and 24 counters showing the labels of 3 different types of beers, Smithwick’s No. 1 ale, plus their barley wine and their export ale. There are 4 different games listed in the booklet all if which seem relatively complicated, and one would think that with drink taken they would be quite a challenge! It is clearly a marketing tool aimed very much at men, which is hardly a surprise given the era we are dealing with. Some of the colour illustrations were no doubt thought of as cheeky at the time and certainly would not be tolerated nowadays. They are somewhat Gilroy-esque (the well-known Guinness illustrator) and there is something familiar about the style, although sadly the artist is not mentioned on any printed piece in the game or its packaging. (Incidentally, the illustrations in the instruction booklet clearly show the use of the flared pilsner glassware which had become the ubiquitous style used with bottled beers, as well as the standard shape used when ordering a ‘glass’ - the Irish terminology for a half-pint - of beer.) The whole game is very well designed and constructed, and they were presumably made in their 100s of not 1,000s, although they seem to be a relatively rare item now in this complete state.

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But what of those ales featured on the counters and Smithwick’s beers in general in the 1950s? What do we know of them, if anything? Well, during this period these three products seem to have been the main output of the Smithwick’s company, with the Kilkenny brewery having chopped and changed its beers over the previous century or so depending on the tastes of the times, and other issues.

By far the most important and commonplace was ‘Smithwick’s No. 1 Ale,' which was predominantly a bottled product but was also available in draught form. This was a clear, golden ale - as were most Irish ales at this time - and could possibly trace its origins and popularity, at least, to the pale ale which was the mainstay of the brewery in the previous century. The travel guide writer George Measom, a visitor to the brewery in 1866, stated that there were 'two enormous pale ale vaults' in which were stored '4,000 hogsheads of ale.' Interestingly, he also mentions the malting process within the brewery and how carefully it had to be dried 'to prevent the slightest tinge or colour being imparted to the malt,' and also with regard to the boiling process he states that the coppers are uncovered 'to preserve the colour of the wort, which would be darkened by higher pressure,' so they were truly going to great lengths to keep the beer as pale as possible. It would be wrong to absolutely link this pale ale to the Smithwick’s No. 1 of almost a century later, especially as the brewery produced other beers such as what they termed Mild and Bitter ales in the latter half of the 19th century, and listed India Pale Ale, XXX, XX and X, along with various porters, toward the very end of that century. The ‘No. 1’ could be related to that XXX ale either, as that beer would certainly have been classed as such by some breweries, although XXX ales would generally be quite strong and as we shall see the No.1 ale was possibly not very alcoholic, although it may have just been weakened over time. But regardless of the nomenclature or origins - the first advertisements seem to date from the 1930s - this 1950s version of a pale ale was the breweries most popular product at this time, and it lived on for a while after the brewery changed to the Time branding for its beers in 1960. It was certainly still available in the mid-to-late sixties as advertisements show, but - sadly - is now only remembered by the ‘No.1’ printed on the bottles of modern Smithwick’s ale. A beer which it certainly is not.

That Time rebrand in 1960 also helps with our knowledge of Smithwick’s Export Ale, as this beer was rebranded as Time Ale - or Time Beer - and an advertisement for this product describes it as ‘full of golden goodness,’ which at least gives us an idea of the colour. It was presumably the weakest of the three stablemates in the Time collection, with Time Extra sounding like a stronger version of the same beer (see below), and Time Barley Wine being the strongest. Smithwick’s Export Ale only became available in Ireland in 1955 - the brewery had been exporting their beers since the middle of the 19th century - and was called ‘Smithwick’s No. 1 Export Ale’ in newspaper adverts from that year. This iteration of their export ale appears to have been available beyond these shores since 1949 before finally surfacing here.

That last product in the Time line-up can be assumed to be just a rebrand of the barley wine from the 1950s as seen on the tokens in the poker game, although that label does not appear to be as common as other designs. Whereas the previous two Time beers were served in half-pint bottles the Time barley wine came in a third of a pint version, and it is possible that this was also the case in the fifties. The beer is helpfully described in Time advertisements as ‘rich, ruby [and] heartwarming’ which gives us a colour change at last at from it pale stablemates.

Sadly, we can only guess at the strength of these beers as the Smithwick brewing records are not available to the public. In later years with the brewery wholly in the hands of Guinness, well after the end of the Time rebranding experiment and the launch of the now ubiquitous Smithwick’s Draught, the barley wine was - at 5.5% abv - surprisingly weak, and was also now available in half-pint bottles. If that was also the strength of the product in the 1950s - and there are no available records that can confirm this - then export was weaker again and No. 1 possibly the weakest? It is quite possible that 1950s and 1960s barley wine was somewhat stronger and perhaps may have weakened over the years? (This may not be the case, as a poster in a Kilkenny pub showing the prices for beers in 1962 state that a pint of Time Barley Wine could be bought for 2 shillings and 2 pence versus a pint of 'plain' Time ale at 1 shilling and 6 pence. It would be unlikely to be very strong if sold in pints, and at that price.)

There were some other Smithwick’s ales around this time, such as one called ‘Black Diamond’ which was possibly a nod to the coalmining district of Castlecomer in Kilkenny, which isn’t far from the city, plus a beer called SS, which may have stood for ‘Special Strength,’ and was the intermediate beer in the Time rebrand, where it became Time Extra.

-o-

So this poker game is more than just a piece of inconsequential, fifties brewery marketing, it is a snapshot of the general output of the Smithwick’s brewery in the middle of the 20th century, before its Time rebrand and its complete regroup around Smithwick’s Draught, the then new English-style keg ale launched in the mid-sixties that we are so familiar with in the pubs of Ireland.

This is a tangible - and relatively playable - piece of Irish brewing history.

And we certainly appear to have been playing games with Irish brands and beers ever since …

Liam K

You can read more about the Time rebrand here.

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its source, and a link back to this post. The item featured is from the author's own collection. The game it is copyrighted and used here for educational, non-profit purposes. All sources, where mentioned, are available on request. DO NOT STEAL THIS CONTENT!

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #18 - ‘International Bar’ Half-Pint Tankard (c. 1902)

… to run “as dim eyed animals do, towards any glittering object, were it but a scoured tankard, and mistake it for a solar luminary” …

Memoirs of the Life of Scott – London and Westminster Review 1838 – Thomas Carlyle

There is something extremely appealing about public house drinkware. Even an item that has been maimed and repurposed like this once-tankard are a comforting joy when held in hand and raised ritualistically to the drinker’s lips. This vessel is certainly enigmatic in many ways, from the material it’s made from to its exact provenance, it asks more questions than it can answer. Much like a lot of our public house and brewing history it is possible to find out some information from records and writeups but sadly, much is also down to half-educated guess work and assumption. But there are some clues to its past be found on the piece itself, which at least answer some of the more basic questions it poses ... 

-o-

This tumblerised tankard carries the word ‘1/2 Pint’ as well as the term ‘Masonoid Silver.’ It has a rubbed Edwardian stamp showing a crown flanked by a very faint later E plus an R, with the Uniform Verification Number 6 below the crown denoting it was verified in Birmingham, where it was manufactured. There is also a tiny M to the right of the verification mark whose purpose is unclear although it may reflect a date, but that Edwardian stamp puts its manufacturing firmly prior to 1910 and probably post 1902. At some point someone has removed the handle, which would have been rounded and C-shaped, and the surface is also covered in roughish scratches which means the engraved name showing the words ‘International Bar’ in, and on, a belt and buckle design is almost obliterated. Perhaps it had become damaged in use and repurposed, but as the heavier and deeper gouges are very much focussed on the engraved bar name in order to obliterate it, it would appear that the tankard may have been taken from the bar by somebody for a specific purpose, which has become lost to history.

The belt and buckle device is in fact a 'garter' and appears to have originated from the emblem of The Most Noble Order of the Garter, with the garter in question being a part of a knight's wardrobe for securing parts of the armour together or to the body. This motif turns up in many logos, decorations, and trademarks in the late 19th and early 20th century, perhaps as a way of adding an air of ostentation to a brand, company or object without it being actually connected to the order.

Masonoid Silver was a durable, bright metal alloy developed by Samuel Mason in Birmingham around or prior to 1887, when it first starts to appear under that name in publications. It was originally available in two colours, one as a replacement for silver or silver plate and another as a replacement for copper or brass. It was possibly a type of Nickel Silver, which contains mostly copper with nickel and zinc, but more was more likely similar to an early version of a more expensive alloy patented as Monel in 1906 and composed mostly of nickel with less copper than Nickel Silver and with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon and other elements. Masonoid was used for many products, particularly those that revolve around the drinks trade such as beer engines and taps, as well as bicycle parts and other applications. The company went through a number of name changes and partnerships, such as The Masonoid Silver and Midland Rolling Mills in 1898, before disappearing from historical mentions by the end of the second decade of the twentieth century and is now only remembered in objects like this.

-o-

It is tricky to ascertain exactly which International Bar this tankard was made for as there appears to have been at least three public houses bearing that name on the island in the very early 1900s. There are newspaper mentions that reference an International Bar on Market Street in Derry, which was operating around the same time and had a reopening in 1907, which certainly ties in with the date of the tankard. There also appears to have been a pub of the same name in Newtownards and perhaps one in Belfast. It is quite possible that this object relates to any of those bars but it is equally conceivable that the tankard came from The International Bar in Dublin. (Especially given that it was discovered in a shop that specialises in house clearances from the Dublin area.) This bar still exists and appears to have been quite a salubrious spot since the very late 1890s, so it would certainly suit as an establishment that had commissioned its own personalised tankards, but sadly there is no recorded proof of this in the common sources.

The Dublin based International Bar began its beverage selling life on a slightly smaller scale than its current footprint, as it was originally focussed on the side of the building that sits on 8 St. Andrew Street, although with some frontage also on to Wicklow Street as it sat on that corner. As far back as 1827 a Mrs. B Cavenagh (also spelled Kavanagh) had a grocery, tea, wine and spirit warehouse on the site, and a possibly related James Kavanagh of the same address was declared insolvent in 1838, having let the license go into arrears the previous year and the building go into a state of disrepair, so the lease was up for sale at that point. The premises was taken over by a John Hoyne in that year and repairs were made to the building before he was granted a publican’s license, although it was opposed by some local people on the grounds that there were already 19 public houses on nearby Exchequer Street alone! A wonderfully, Joycean named person called Stephen Pidgeon applied for a license for the premises in 1839 and 1840, before it was taken on by John Dunne in 1843. Mr. Dunne appears to have ran it as a spirit grocers until his death in 1880, and by 1885 it was being operated by a John Cox. In 1887 Michael O’ Donohoe, a Cavan native, applied for a license to retail alcohol at 8 St. Andrew Street and was also leasing the 23 Wicklow Street building around the corner by 1892. (That address also appears to have been occupied by a tailor’s shop and then a jeweller and clockmaker, which overlap slightly with the O’Donohoe lease dates, but that might have been on the upper levels of the building or it may have been sublet.) In 1897 Mr. O’Donohoe applied for a new licence to sell alcohol on that attached building on Wicklow Street, it now being an extension of his original business. But big changes were afoot …

On Friday the 5th of August 1898 the International Bar, as it was then named and as it appears today, was opened as a completely new build on the two sites acquired by Mr. O’ Donohoe. A newspaper advertisement from this time reads thus:

THE INTERNATIONAL

ST. ANDREW ST. & WICKLOW ST.
___ 

M. O’DONOHOE

Begs to inform his Friends and the Public that his New Premises,

THE INTERNATIONAL BAR,
WILL BE OPENED
ON
NEXT FRIDAY, the 5th inst.

This Establishment has been fitted up throughout with the Electric Light, generated on the premises by powerful electric generator, worked gas engine of Crossley Bros, Warrington, and has already been pronounced by competent judges one of the finest of its class to be found either home or on the Continent.

In point Architectural Design and Beauty it stands second none. The art decorations and ornamentation are of the most modern and up-to-date style. The plans were designed by George O’Connor. Esq, MRIAI, and the building was carried out under his personal supervision. The Sanitary arrangements are of the most Modern Type, and ate complete In every respect.

The International has been built and fitted up regardless of expense.

It is intended it should occupy a foremost place amongst the Establishment class in this city, where Gentlemen from every part the world will find every accommodation and their requirements catered for in the best manner under the personal supervision of the Proprietor.

The Refreshments, both Home and Foreign, will all of the very best manufactured, and no inferior qualities will kept slock.
___ 

THE BRANDIES, CHAMPAGNES, WHISKIES, AND WINES,
OF ALL KINDS, TOGETHER WITH
ALES. BEERS, PORTER, STOUT, AND MINERALS, &c., &c.,
HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED BY THE LEADING MANUFACTURERS,
And will found fully Matured, and in the finest. Condition.
The CIGARS, &c., are all selected from the Best Brands.
Mr. O’D. Cordially Invites the Public to Visit his ESTABLISHMENT,

and he guarantees them every attention and courtesy.
___ 

LUNCHEONS OFF JOINTS A SPECIALITY.
___ 

NOTE ...

THE INTERNATIONAL
ST. ANDREW AND WICKLOW STREET
M. O’DONOHOE, Proprietor

Another advertisement from later in the month is of a similar vein and includes the following paragraph:

The proprietor begs to inform his numerous friends and customers and the public generally that this magnificent establishment - the finest in the city - is now in full swing and worthy the attention of connoisseurs.

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING SUPPLIED
___

J.J. & SON'S WHISKIES,

GUINNESS'S STOUT,

BASS'S ALE,

Etc, Etc, Etc

It is certainly a fine building of excellent design and sits very handsomely to this day on that site. No expense appears to have been spared with its build and fit out so it is hardly surprising that shiny new tankards may have been purchased for the premises a few years later, engraved with the bars name. 

Mr. O’Donohoe died in October 1904, and his funeral was attended by most of the other licensed traders in Dublin, a sign surely of how well he was thought of by his peers.

-o-

It could be argued that this object is more connected to beer serving and public houses than with actual Irish brewing history, but both are of course intrinsically linked so it is impossible to have a conversation about one without involving the other.

Irish pubs have always been an essential part of Irish brewery history, albeit with their former fondness for English-brewed Bass et al., and their present dalliances with foreign lager brands – although at least, as with an iteration of Bass at one time, many are brewed in Irish breweries.

The Irish brewing industry should - rightly - evolve, improve, and embrace the new, but Ireland has lost most of its breweries over the last couple of centuries. They became hollowed out brands within the portfolios of drink corporations, detached and rebooted as one-off, one-dimensional beers, with their history discarded, disfigured, and diluted. But many of the public houses that served the beer from lost breweries still exist in one form or another, and they are entangled in our brewing provenance and 'heritage,' to use an overused word. Many of the public houses of Ireland have now become the historical repositories of our relatively recent beer-laded past, as they have become aesthetics-driven exhibitions of artefacts and ephemera from that now-lost era, even though they lack perhaps the knowledge, the interest, or the want to communicate any of this history to their customers. Understandably, many focus on their own history – sometimes scribbled on the back of a beer mat over a few pints after closing time it appears – but not on the actual libations they pulled and poured over previous decades or centuries.

A cynic might say that there is little point in trying to communicate history of any type to those who don’t care, but in many cases it is how that information is communicated is the key. Irish bars are certainly good at storytelling, but for today's audience they need something more than just words, they need something tangible and ‘real,’ a touchable connection to our brewing past that will engage the customer and stimulate some conversation. It might be that framed letterhead from Mountjoy Brewery, or the beer label on the wall for D’Arcy’s Stout. It could be an old, embossed bottle from a famous Sligo brewhouse sitting on a shelf, or a price list from a Kilkenny brewery listing all of its beers.

It might even be a worn and damaged tankard that may in the past have been filled with a half pint of plain porter or a pale ale in a newly built bar in a busy city.

These stories need telling, before all of our history is completely worn away …

Liam K

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. The photograph and tankard itself are the authors own and the image cannot be used elsewhere without the author's permission. Newspaper research was thanks to The British Newspaper Archive. DO NOT STEAL THIS CONTENT!

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #15 – Murphy Stout Label (1960s?)

Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form, and thus with an independent existence. Its heartwood is calligraphy - the dance, on a tiny stage, of the living, speaking hand - and its roots reach into living soil, though its branches may be hung each year with new machines. So long as the root lives, typography remains a source of true delight, true knowledge, true surprise.

Robert Bringhurst - The Elements of Typographic Style (1992)

Any visitor from Manchester of a certain age who strolls around Cork city might have a nagging feeling of familiarity when they come upon certain pubs that are dotted around its streets. They might pass The Castle Inn on South Main Street and think that there was something inviting about it, or look at the front of the nearby Vicarstown Bar on North Main Street and think that the gold-on-black writing on the façade was calling out to them, as if previously they had drank a pint or two sitting on a stool at the counter. Callanan’s too on George’s Quay looks like somewhere they have been in a previous life, as does Forde’s which wraps around the corner from Barrack Street on to Sullivan’s Quay. Even The High House with yet more gold and black livery, which is appropriately situated at the top of Blair’s Hill – although long closed – feels oddly like something from their Mancunian hometown.

The more knowledgeable and eagle-eyed of those visitors who are familiar with the pubs and streetscape of Manchester will twig that the lettering and design on the name signs of all of these pubs – and others too – look exactly the same as many of those that once adorned certain pubs in their home city although, unlike in Cork, this familiar capitalised and italicised gilded lettering has almost disappeared, if it's not already gone. More specifically, it exactly matched the typeface and colours of many of the pubs that were once tied to the Wilson brewery of Newton Heath in that English city.

What appears to be a strange coincidence can be relatively easily explained, as there is a clear connection between those Cork pubs and the ones owned by the Wilson brewery, that being the Watney Mann brewing conglomerate. All of the Cork public house mentioned above – along with quite a few others – were tied-houses belonging to, or run for, The Lady’s Well Brewery, which is more commonly known as Murphy’s Brewery. It is now owned by Heineken but still sits on the same site on Leitrim Street just north of the river Lee.

Tied houses, where a public house was obliged in most cases to sell the produce of just one brewery, were extremely common in Cork city and county in the past, where breweries such as Murphys and Beamish & Crawford (and Lanes and Arnott’s at one time) effectively owned the public houses and controlled what was sold by them, and who ran the houses or rented the premises. This arrangement also meant that the brewery was responsible for the upkeep of the buildings both inside and out as well as overseeing and funding any modernisation or refurbishment that was required from time to time.

In early 1967 the Watney Mann group became the majority shareholder in Murphys and in that year it was decided that all of its tied pubs should have a uniform look, so the manager of the tied houses Rex Archer along with Cork illustrator and artist William Harrington were sent off to study the branding and look of the Wilson Brewery houses in Manchester.* Wilsons brewery had itself been absorbed by Watney Mann in 1960 and it appears that shortly after this time new branding was rolled out for its houses. Although Harrington came up with designs for the interior of some of the Cork pubs and perhaps the exterior too, it seems that a decision was made to just copy the typeface and signage from the Wilson’s pubs right down to the gold text on a black background rather than come up with something specifically for Murphy's houses.

Some of those Manchester pubs appear to have had white writing on red but in the same typeface, this appears to be what was called the ‘Watneyising’ of some of the pubs in a CAMRA publication** from 1976, although some photographs from the time also show Watney pubs with the same colour but a different typeface so it seems that those red and white Wilson pubs were perhaps a hybrid design. This ‘Watneyising’ appears to have been rolled back in some cases and the black and gold lettering reinstated according to that same article. It also looks as if at least some of the Phipps breweries houses - a brewery in Northampton in England that was also acquired by Watney Mann in 1960 - had at least one house with exactly the same branding, The King’s Head in Coventry,*** so perhaps the branding originated somewhere other than for the Wilson’s pubs in Manchester and was part of an over all strategy by Watney Mann? (Curiously, a Chester Brewery house in Manchester, a brewery taken over by rivals Whitbread, had a very similar typeface too.)

What could be called the “Wilson’s" typeface (If not” Phipps”?) [ EDIT: It's actually "English Two-Line Antique’] was also adopted by Murphys in and unitalicised form for their name on labels, beermats and other items associated with the brand at this time, as can be seen in the handsome label shown above. This typeface seems to have lasted with some minor changes until the 1980s when the image and branding was changed and updated in the Heineken era. Looking through old advertisements and breweriana there is a similarity in some of the Wilson’s branding – and Phipps too – which is hardly surprising given their shared ownership, and it is quite possible that there are other Watney-owned brands from that era that also share the same layout and fonts.

[EDIT: As it turns out - thanks to Boak & Bailey here - this lettering 'was conceived by the Design Research Unit and applied across the Watney’s pub estate, including pubs owned by breweries it took over' and is actually called ‘English Two-Line Antique.’]

Even after the Watney Mann era ended at Murphys and the tied houses were all eventually sold off, many of the now independent public house still clung on to the typeface for their name, and a few still do to this day as noted above. Perhaps that tied house program also explains what could be perceived to be a slight lack of surnames on public houses in Cork city when compared to the rest of Ireland, which might certainly make some sense given the actual ownership of many of the pubs at one time.

That recognisable typeface seems to have all but disappeared in Manchester, the city from which it may have originated, something that is a little sad as there was a certain elegance, and certainly some history, to that “look” which once adorned a considerable number of public houses in both cities.

Although it would be nice to think that perhaps a tiny amount of that style struck some chord in Cork publican's minds, and it might explain the commonness of gold writing on a black background in that city. A lasting reminder, at least to those now in the know, of a small episode in the city’s rich brewing history - 'a source of true delight, true knowledge, true surprise' indeed ...

Liam K

*This is from the book The Murphy’s Story: History of Lady's Well Brewery by Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil and Donal Ó Drisceoil and I was reminded of the mention by a Tweet from Tripe + Drisheen about the commonness of the typeface in some of Cork's pubs which were Murphy's tied houses.

** CAMRA publication

*** Boak & Bailey’s Modern Pubs of 1961: Watney’s & Whitbread ant there's much more about Watney's written by them here too.

(Image of The Vicarstown Bar is cropped and via their Facebook account.)

(Image of The Barley Mow is a cropped/enhanced and from the Flickr account of Manchester Archives+, shared via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic)

(Newspaper advertisement is from The Stockport County Express - Thursday 24th June 1965)

(There are more examples from Manchester of that typeface here.

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. The photograph and label itself are the authors own and cannot be used elsewhere without the author's permission. Newspaper research and advertisement reproduction was thanks to The British Newspaper Archive, and other sources are as credited. DO NOT STEAL THIS CONTENT!

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #11 – Mountjoy Brewery Cask Return Postcard (1888)

Returning to the larger yard, we crossed over to the cask-washing sheds constructed principally of iron and tiled roofs. […] Three thousand casks can be turned out of these sheds daily, and thirty men are employed at the work. Facing these sheds there is a space of ground, upwards of an acre in extent, which is covered in casks …

Alfred Barnard, The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume II - 1889.

In late January of 1888 some post from the Mountjoy Brewery in Dublin arrived on the premises of James Watford who had a wine and spirits stores at number 76 on the High Street in Bedford in England. The bespoke postcard wasn’t anything special or unusual, and was something that the Mountjoy Brewery probably posted in reasonably large quantities every month, being just another part of the accounting, notification and checks that were carried out by all breweries in this era.

The prepaid halfpenny postcard was dated and posted on the 19th of January 1888 and on the back was printed the following message:

Messrs. FINDLATER & CO., Have to this date received the undermentioned Casks, and placed the same to the credit of your account.

There follows a list of cask sizes from Hogsheads (54 Imperial gallons) down to Firkins (9 Imperial gallons) and it is beside this last size that the number 5 is written and below that a list of the reference numbers of those casks and the words ‘ad[d]ressed 23/11/87 + 28/12/87.’ Additionally there is a diagonal stamp across all of this bearing the words ‘FINDLATER’S MOUNTJOY BREWERY Co., LIMITED.’

This postcard only tells us part of a story, as it just acknowledges the return of casks to the brewery from a delivery of stout to Watford’s drink store in Bedford, which as well as being involved in spirits and wine were ale and stout bottlers at this time, but we can expand at least a little more on the tale this object can tell …

Mountjoy brewery was founded in Dublin in 1852 by a group of Irish and British businessmen and was one of the largest stout exporters in the city - and country - in the late 19th and into the early 20th century. It was a part of the large Findlater mercantile empire that was well known in the food and drink industry in general. In the late 19th century Mountjoy Brewery only brewed porters and stouts according to Barnard’s description of the brewery, and it appears from advertisements in British papers at this time that they were sending Extra XXX Stout, Extra XX Stout and X Stout in that direction and their brewings widely available in many towns. One of the most popular products was called ‘Nourishing Stout,’ which was also marketed as Crown Stout.¹

We will never be sure exactly which stout - or stouts - were being sent to Watford’s but it was likely to have included that Nourishing Stout, as that was extremely popular at this time and for decades after. Indeed back in 1871 Findlater, Mackie & Co. a bottling and drink company based in England and connected to the Dublin firm were sued by Messrs. Ragget for using the term ‘Nourishing Stout’ on their beer. The case was dismissed as the word ‘nourishing’ was not seen as a trademark infringement, just a descriptor. It came out during the hearing that Ragget’s were not brewing the stout themselves, they were sourcing it from Truman’s brewery in London and bottling it under their own label, and it was reported that this was also where Findlater, Mackie & Co. were sourcing theirs!² Why they weren’t using a Dublin brewed version of a ‘nourishing’ stout from their related brewery - if that report is correct - is a mystery, as Mountjoy were exporting to England at this time, but may have just come down to logistics and convenience, or perhaps some other internal issue. It also emerged that Raggets had already stopped a ‘Nourishing Dublin Stout’ from being sold under that description, and newspaper records show there was one being sold in 1869 with no brewery mentioned and one also being sold in 1872 brewed by Jameson, Pim & Co.³

But back to our casks and what is perhaps also of interest is that Mountjoy Brewery claimed in the 1860s to be the ‘only Dublin brewers who send out all sizes of casks in English measure.’⁴ How true this claim is might be difficult to verify but it was certainly true that many Irish breweries were using Irish cask sizes up until at least the turn of the century, and some even longer. An Irish barrel was 40 Irish gallons which was roughly the equivalent of 32 gallons whereas an Imperial ‘English’ barrel was 36 gallons.

What is clear is that there were many casks, regardless of their size, going back and forth across the Irish Sea in the latter part of the 19th century and there was a great deal of logistical work needed to document, trace and return these casks to their rightful owners. This postcard is a literal snapshot of that process and the communication that was needed for tracking individual casks, which would have been recorded on the delivery dockets and invoices sent out by the brewery at the time of dispatch.

To give an idea of the volumes involved the total exports of porter from Dublin in 1888 amounted to the equivalent of 424,205 hogsheads.⁵ Much of this was probably shipped in some smaller sized casks like Mountjoy’s firkins, so the total number of items shipped may have amounted to close to a million perhaps, of which not all would have returned of course. Even still, this is a huge amount of paperwork and organisation, a side of brewing that can be forgotten about compared to the actual ‘glamour’ of the brewing process itself.

Incidentally in 1888 the Mountjoy Brewery were only sending out the equivalent of 11,595 hogsheads, 6th on the list behind D’arcys, Phoenix, Jameson and Watkins, with Guinness topping the list naturally with 330,088 hogsheads by volume. Although it is worth noting that Mounjoy were in a slump in sales at this time compared to the decades before and afterward where they came second on the list at times.

And these casks would also need sniffing, sorting, cleaning, repairing, stacking and host of other jobs performed on them before they were filled and sent out, and the whole process of recording and retrieving would start yet again. A small glimpse at where some of this took place is mentioned by Alfred Barnard in the opening quotation.

Simple, fragile and ephemeral objects like this brewery postcard are important reminders of our brewing heritage, giving us a glimpse into our past, although admittedly not a very exciting one perhaps.

But because this object exists and was kept and passed on through numerous hands it became a tangible record of what a huge brewing city Dublin was in the 1880s, and that Irish brewing history exists beyond those breweries whose beers and history survived.

Liam K

¹ Warrington Examiner 18th September 1875 and Leicester Daily Post 6th June 1889

² The Law Reports : Equity Cases Including Bankruptcy Cases, Before the Master of Rolls, the Vice-chancellors, and the Chief Judge in Bankruptcy · Volume 17 1874 - Editor: George Wirgman Hemming

³ The Shrewsbury Chronicle 29th November 1872

⁴ The Birmingham Daily Gazette 19th May 1868

⁵ The Railway News, Finance and Joint-stock Companies' Journal 1889

More information on the Mountjoy brewery can be found in Findlaters: The Story of a Dublin Merchant Family by Alex Findlater

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. The attached images are the author's own and cannot be used elsewhere without the author's permission. Newspaper research was thanks to The British Newspaper Archive and other sources are as credited.

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #8 - Label Facsimile for Greenmount Brewery (c. 1870)

Perry Archive in Portlaoise Library

The PALE ALE was beautifully clear, bright, and sparkling. It had a very pleasant bitter flavour of the Hop, and was full-boiled to the taste. It contained more than the average of alcohol and substances which give to Ales of this kind their nutritious and exhilarating properties.

The Samples I examined were well fermented, and would keep a due length of time. They contained all the essentials of PALE ALE of the first class, viz. :- Flavour, brilliancy of condition, and keeping qualities. […] “Greenmount Pale Ale” must become a formidable competitor to the English and Scotch Ales.

I remain, Gentlemen,

Your obedient Servant,

ROBERT GALLOWAY, F.R.S.,

Professor of Applied Chemistry.

Saunders' News-Letter 23rd May 1868

If you walk down Clanbrassil Street and cross the busy Robert Emmet Bridge over the Grand Canal on the south-side of Dublin then head further south on to Harold’s Cross Road you will pass on your right hand side a row of pleasant-looking brown brick low-rise apartments and some equally plain but inoffensive offices, and behind those a collection of commercial and residential structures that cover most of the site. Early maps label the area as Cherry Orchard (not to be confused with the same-named suburb of west Dublin) which might relate to a larger area stretching in a thin plot further north beyond the canal or may just demark a space where there was once an actual cherry orchard - most likely both. The area is now known as Greenmount and has been for many years, presumably after Greenmount house which was just southwest of this location, with the name is still in use in the warren of lanes and streets around here, and it has been home to much industry and business over the centuries – including a brewing enterprise.

-o-

Greenmount Brewery was a joint venture between the elegantly name Robinson Gale Perry and an enigmatic Mr. Alexander, plus possibly other partners, and traded as Alexander, Perry & Co. Mr Perry was part of the Perry family of brewers, maltsters and businessmen from Laois, being one of the sons of Robert Perry and born in 1833 in Rathdowney. His unusual middle name is in fact his mother’s maiden name, an Elenor Gale also from Laois. There is no doubt that there is a bigger story that should be told regarding the Perry family and their various enterprises, including the brewery in Rathdowney which lasted into the 1960s, but for now we will focus just on Greenmount brewery site and history. Regarding the Mr. Alexander whose surname is also on the company name there appears to be very little trace but there was an Edward Alexander of Greenmount listed in Thom’s Almanac from 1870, which could be the missing joint owner. Indeed, there are Alexanders connected with the well-known Pim family who owned the nearby clothmaking company and all - including the Perry family - were Quakers so there seems to be a strong likelihood that this is the correct family at least. (A curious note on the company name is that many in the past and present seem to think the owner’s name was ‘Alexander Perry’ due to the comma being misplaced in the company title, with corrections appearing in newspapers such as times where donations were given by the brewery to various causes.)

-o-

There is a relatively full description of the brewery featured in The Irish Times on the 12th of December 1867, eighteen months or so after the brewery was started, which gives some detail of the building and its operations.

GREENMOUNT BREWERY.

We have pleasure in laying before our readers the following short description of the brewery lately erected by Messrs. Alexander, Perry and Co., at Greenmount, Harold's-cross-bridge.
This brewery was commenced on May 1st, 1865. A rough sketch of the proposed position of the different utensils and the necessary dimensions of the building was furnished by Mr. Robinson Perry, one of the partners, to Mr. John McCurdy, the eminent architect, in Leinster-street. After severe competition the contract we awarded to Mr. S. H. Bolton, of South Richmond-street, and the construction reflects great credit on both architect and builder, for its superior style and finish.
In the lower portion of the building is the malt-room, where the process of brewing first commences. The malt Is drawn from air-tight bins, and emptied into a hopper, from which it is elevated and discharged into a separator and joggler; the former removes all the dust and small grains, the latter retains all the stones, &c. The malt falls on to metal rollers and is crushed, then elevated to a large hopper placed over be mash tun.
The upper portion of the building is occupied with the next operation, which is to boil the water for the mash. This is dine in large wooden backs, lined with copper, the water being heated by passing steam at a high pressure through copper coils lying on the bottom of each vessel. The hot water is conveyed to the next stage, and through a mashing machine, on entering which the malt Is allowed to fall on to it, and the two are mashed up by a series of rakes revolving at great speed inside this machine, discharging the two into the mash tun, where they are allowed to stand for some time. This tun is fitted with a false bottom, which permits the extract from the malt to pass through, leaving the "grains" behind. This extract, now called worts[sic], runs direct into the coppers, where the hops are added. The worts[sic] are then boiled a sufficient time to imbibe the flavour and bitter of the hop, and are discharged direct into a hop-back. This is a square vessel, supplied with a false bottom, which permits the liquor to ran off to a large cooler, leaving the hops behind, where it is rapidly cooled by a fan, and is then allowed to pass over one of Morton and Wilson's patent refrigerators, which quickly cools It down to the temperature desired by the brewer; the wort lastly rubs into the fermenting tuns. The fermentation being completed, the beer runs down into swan-necks or puncheons in the cleansing cellars. The barm being all worked out of the drink in these vessels, the clear beer racked into casks, where it is left to arrive at maturity.
There are two large cleansing for this process, also a large store, where piles of the different ales and beers are ready for delivery. In the cask department the casks are all washed by machinery, then steamed, and dried by heated air.
The boiler-houses and engine-room are situated at one side of the brew-house, from whence all the shafting, &c., is driven. All the iron work and the large pillars were erected by the eminent firm of Courtney, Stephens and Co., and the shafting by Mr. Edward Toomey, of the Phoenix Works, all of which are a credit to both these Dublin firms.
The brewery is capable or turning out 1.000 barrels a week, and for compactness and economic principles cannot be surpassed; the use of pumps, requisite in other breweries, being dispensed with hastens the process, thereby ensuring [the] keeping quality in the beer.
The mild ale and bitter beer brewed by this firm are of an excellent quality, finely flavoured, and have a good body; and we believe that before long to Greenmount Bitter Beer" will be as well known and appreciated in Ireland as Bass and Allsopp are in England.

It is thanks to descriptions such as this that we can get an inkling of the internal workings of the lost breweries of Ireland and, as flawed and weighted as many newspaper reports can be, at least we can have some record and proof that these places existed and how they operated. (A later write-up in the same newspaper related to a different enterprise on the site mentions a description of the actual building as being ‘five stories high and 100ft long’ with an average ‘depth of 213 feet’ and two stores running parallel to the main building 100ft long and 30 or 40ft wide. It appears not to have been altered externally for the new business.)*

We also get a possible start date of 1st May 1865 for the enterprise and it appear it was newly built at that time, plus early maps show virtually no structures on the site. The first newspaper mention is in an advertisement dated exactly a year later on the 1st of May 1866 in The Freeman’s Journal for the sale of an adjacent premises which is said to be ‘adjoining the Greenmount Spinning Mills and Brewery’ so we can be relatively sure it existed by this time at least.

The second part of a write-up on the brewery on the 1st of June 1868 in Saunders' Newsletter very much repeats the Irish Times article regarding the brewery itself to the point of near plagiarism, but it does add the snippets that the brewery gave employment to sixty men at this time and that the site covered three statute acres. The opening section of the article reads like an advertisement - which it probably was – but it does supply us with more information such as how the brewery had an ‘extensive trade in their Irish ales [..] in the west of England, Scotland, and Wales’ which we shall confirm later. The piece also rails against the Irish ale retailers love of Bass and Allsopp’s ales and how Greenmount now 'supplies private families themselves to the extent of nearly three hundred [quarter?] casks per week.’ This can perhaps give us a snapshot of the retail trade in ale in Ireland at this time and how difficult it was for smaller, newer breweries to compete with established brands on the grocery floor or public house counter - plus ça change!

The article goes on to mention what was being brewed at the time, with the pale ale being ‘fully equal to Burton’ only cheaper, there is also a bitter beer that is ‘not so strong, but finely flavoured, bright and sparkling, with good tonic qualities.’ The piece goes on to say that there are two kinds of stout made there, an Imperial and an XX porter, ‘with the latter possessing a good body, and equal to any we have ever tasted.’ The Imperial was thought of as ‘very fine, but expensive’ but  it ‘is becoming celebrated, and is one of the most popular drinks in Liverpool and other seaport towns in the west of England, where extra strength is looked for.’ This 'stout' may be being confused with the Imperial Ale because as we shall see there are no other mentions of an Imperial Stout elsewhere, and might show that the writer might not be fully versed in the beers of the brewery after all! The only other fact of note is that the malt for their bitter beer was supplied by Giltrap and Sons, Newark in England – whether it was only used for this beer is not totally clear but it certainly reads as so.

To add to the above descriptions the brewery incorporated an extra element of cooling in 1870 with the installation of an ice machine made by Messrs. Siebe Brothers of Lambeth, London, which as well as making blocks of ice ‘as clear and solid as the “Wenham Lake” ice,’ was utilised in ‘cooling the worts[sic] by sending the half-frozen water in air-tight tubes passing through the vessels.’

-o-

We can add more information to the beers listed above. and perhaps a little clarification too. by looking at some newspaper advertisements from the period.

The label facsimile - which is used like a logo on a financial record held in the Perry archives in the local studies department of Portlaoise Library - shows that at one time the brewery was selling pale ale, extra stout and imperial ale and this can be verified by newspaper advertisements from 1869 and very early 1871. The quote at the beginning of this article is part of an advertisement for ‘Greenmount Pale Ale” which ties in with the label facsimile and gives us a reasonable description of its qualities, albeit from what was probably a paid source.

There is a particularly nice advertisement in The Monmouthshire Merlin of the 13th of February 1869 which shows that Greenmount Brewery were selling “Dublin Imperial Ale” in Newport, Wales from an agent called Robert Perry, who is quite possibly a relation of the brewery owner.

Prior to that, according to The Bristol Mercury, the brewery was looking for a local agent as early as January 1867 to sell ‘”Mild” and “Pale” ales; also, “Single” and “Double Stouts” in the city, and in the same month they were soliciting trials of their East India Pale Ale in The Freemans’ Journal in Dublin.  From November 1867 they were advertising a ‘Bitter Beer’ for sale at 1s a gallon in various editions of Dublin newspapers which was ‘not so strong a Pale Ale’ and had ‘a light tonic quality.’ The word ‘beer’ at this time meant a lighter and cheaper type of malt-based beverage in Ireland.

More confirmed export evidence can be seen in The Croydon Chronicle from the 28th of May 1870 where an agent took out a reasonably large advertisement complete with exclamation marks for their ‘Dublin Pale Ale’ and which was claimed ‘for flavour and quality this ale surpasses any other offered in the district.’

By 1872 an agent advertising in The Wexford Independent could offer Pale Ale, XXXX Strong Mild Ale and Dublin Porter in hogsheads, barrels, half barrels, and quarter casks from the October brewings of the previous year, plus there were advertisements in other parts of the country in other years too, showing that their beers were relatively widespread in parts of Ireland.

Interestingly, by January 1872 in another advertisement for their pale ale in The Freeman’s Journal that contains yet another positive report from Robert Galloway, the company name of ‘Robinson G. Perry, and Co.’ is used, which suggests the recent departure of Mr. Alexander from the business.

-o-

But by the end of 1872 a new enterprise – The Irish Whisky Distillery Company – had been formed with a view to converting the brewery into a distilling entity, and among the directors is ‘Robinson G. Perry, Merchant, Rathdowney Brewery, Queen’s County’ along with a William James Perry and some other high-profile business people. The abridged prospectus published in papers in December 1872 state that on the 15th of October of that year that Fredrick William Zurhorst agreed to purchase the ‘premises, known as the Greenmount Brewery, for the sum of £36,000, to be handed over to the company, with all the necessary appliances in complete condition for the Distillation of Whisky, within three months from the incorporation of the Company, capable of turning out 200,000 gallons of Whisky annually.’ The conversion from brewery to distillery was fully completed by 1874 and another of Ireland's breweries disappeared from view.

So it would seem that there was more money projected to be in whisky than in pale ale, and although there is a further chapter that involves the history of the distillery, including a fire and a conversion to an oil company, our interest in the site as part of our lost brewing history ends here.

Robinson Gale Perry died in Brentford in England in 1917 at the age of 83.

-o-

For an epilogue we will go back to June 1868 and a response by Samuel Haughton to that article that appeared in Saunders’ News-Letter quoted from above that sang the praises of the brewery. Carlow born Samuel Haughton was a priest, doctor and writer on scientific subjects. Amongst other things, he is gruesomely known for ‘The Haughton Drop’ - the calculation needed for a humane and swift end for those about to be hanged, but he was thought of generally in good terms. He was a supporter of temperance and Father Mathew so it comes as no surprise that his comments regarding Greenmount brewery are less than flattering. He speaks of the evils of ‘Seductive Liquors’ and ‘deplores that money and intelligence are so freely employed in a business that creates much of the misery and crime that exists around us.’ But his real issue is with the comments by way of the Galloway quote used in the original piece which stated that intoxicating beverages are nutritious, plus that sales of said products are good for the country as a whole, as implied in said article. He takes a huge swipe at Galloway saying, ‘I doubt if there be one intelligent man now to be found among scientific men to maintain that this poison can afford any nutriment to the human frame.’ He goes on to berate the press by saying, ‘Let not then the editors of our public press any more give currency to the idea that alcoholic liquors of any description aid men in the performance of their bodily or their mental labours.’ Lastly he aims his well-spoken words at the brewers, refusing to agree that they are manufacturers - as stated in the piece - and saying that ‘a manufacturer is one who takes raw materials of little previous value, and by art makes them into things of great value. The brewer, and the distiller also, does exactly the reverse of this. He takes articles of the first necessity, and of the highest value to man, and transforms them into poison, injurious to the health, and ruinous to the happiness of man.'

He must have went apoplectic when he saw the brewery - by far the lesser of two evils for many temperance people - converted into a distillery in his lifetime.

But at least he had shuffled off his mortal coil before the ‘Guinness is Good for You’ campaign began …

(Here's the link to object #9)

Liam K

(There is a photograph of the oil company set up by the artist Louis le Brocquy’s grandfather here which is on the same site, and the entrance and the five-story building are probably from the original brewery site, even allowing for damage caused by an 1877 fire.)

*The description above is from an article on the distillery in The Irish Times on the 18th of November 1873, and again the implication is that there was very little change to the external parts of the building but that floors were added internally and a new chimney.

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. The logo/label shown is part of the Perry Archive in Portlaoise Library and the attached image is the author's own and cannot be used elsewhere without the author's permission. Newspaper research was thanks to The British Newspaper Archive from whom I have received permission to publish images.

100 Years of Irish Brewing in 50 Objects: #7 - Time Beermats from Smithwick's Brewery (1962)

'The manufacturers of Time Beer have produced a number of new drip mats with some very amusing little designs, all based on well-known and popular Irish tunes such as ‘The Mountains of Mourne,’ ‘Come Back Paddy Reilly,’ ‘The Pride of Petravore’ and ‘Phil the Fluter’s Ball.' These Percy French melodies are as popular throughout the country as ever and it is certain that they will be known even more so now through this original idea of these manufacturers.’

The Drogheda Independent - 2nd July 1962

Beermats are a part of pub paraphernalia which are very much taken for granted these days, as the hold very little interest to most drinkers apart from their practical use in absorbing spills from overloaded pints, or for soaking away the condensation that forms on a cold glass. They also have less obvious uses such as their use in letting others know you’ll be back shortly to finish your pint if you place one on top of your glass in a pub, not to mention their extremely important use as dewobblers for tables. And as much as they are still used for marketing beer and other products and services, they really have become just a practical object stacked on the bar with the paper straws and swizzle sticks.

The history of the use of beermats in Ireland probably goes back to the early part of the 20th century in one form or another but it was only in the 1950s and 1960s that the became more commonplace in Irish pubs, where as well as being used to reinforce establish brands, they were also used to tout a plethora of new beers that were arriving on to the Irish market from home and abroad to satisfy the changing taste of the modern drinker.

And one of those beer brands was called Time.

Smithwicks – or St. Francis Abbey Brewery to give them their proper title – launched the ‘Time’ rebrand of most of their ale range in March of 1960 to coincide with their "250th" anniversary celebrations. During this upheaval their best-selling 'No. 1' pale ale would remain unchanged but their ‘Export Ale’ would become ‘Time Ale’ and their ‘SS Ale’ would become ‘Extra Time Ale.’ Their barley wine would also be rebranded in October of the same year to ‘Time Barley Wine’ and a few years later in 1963 a new lager called ‘Idea’ was launched and these five beers would form the Smithwicks’ range at that time.

The rebranding appears to have been an attempt to bring the brewery’s image into the modern world of the sixties, which was a time of huge change in Ireland and not least on the brewing side of consumerism, when many of our breweries were about to go through changes and launch new beers, and English brands - some brewed in this country - were starting to creep into public houses around the country. Phoenix with its modern image had been launched in 1956 and it was making inroads into the sales of some of the established ale brands, which - keep in mind - were relatively small to begin with compared to the volumes of the bigger porter brands.

There was a further minor attempt and modernisation around 1962 when the word ‘ale’ was replaced by ‘beer’ in advertisements, labels and other marketing material. It could be assumed that the former was seen as too old-fashioned - stuff that your grandfather drank - whereas the latter sounded fresh and modern to the trendy ears of that era. Smithwicks also had an eye on the export market so a name and branding such as this would certainly have been helpful in that endeavour, as it was easy to communicate, not to mention simple to pronounce.

There are few records remaining of what these beers looked or tasted like but advertisements from this time describe Time Ale as 'full of golden goodness', while Extra Time was 'so smooth, so mellow,' and Time Barley Wine was 'rich, ruby and heartwarming'. Time Ale itself was served in half-pint bottles and on draught, Extra Time came in half-pint bottles, and Time Barley Wine in smaller bottles again.

In 1964 Guinness announced that they had acquired 99% of the ordinary shares in Smithwicks brewery and around this time public tastes were changing from paler relatively sharper ales towards those that was darker and sweeter, and Smithwick’s Draught was created by Guinness the following year to meet this demand. This was probably driven by the introduction of Watney’s Red Barrel (first imported and then Cork-brewed in Murphy’s Lady’s Well Brewery) and other similar keg ales to this country, and with the launch of this new beer the Time branding disappeared, leaving behind just a reasonable amount of marketing baggage, beermats and labels to show that it existed for a short period in the first half of the 1960s. The Guinness controlled Smithwicks’ Brewery continued to operate in Kilkenny until 2013, when it was closed and the production of all St. Francis Abbey Brewery beers was moved from their home as part of a consolidation of their total production.*

These beermats were issued in 1962 around the time that the minor rebrand from ale to beer occurred and feature part of the lyrics of songs by Percy French combined with illustrations by Bob Fannin. They appear to have been launched in two batches with the second set of four differing from the originals by including a copyright notice for 'Keith Prowse, by arrangement with Piggott’s' instead of just a copyright for the beer brand, and also with the word ‘Printed in Germany’ now appearing under the brand. Percy French lyrics were handled by a number of publishers including Piggot & Co. in Dublin and Keith Prowse in London, hence their mention. In addition to the lyrics printed on the first batch the second are comprised of the following of French’s songs ‘McBreen’s Heifer,’ ‘Little Bridget Flynn,’ ‘Are ye Right There, Michael!’ and ‘Slattery’s Mounted Fut.’

They are quite substantial compared to modern beermats being twice as thick and around ten percent wider. There is embossing around the lines of the drawings and the logo adding to that sense of quality. and they are - obviously - similar to some of the beermats produced for the German domestic market at this time. It is curious that given the contemporary feel of much of the other marketing for the range that these seem to be more traditional in tone and content, although perhaps the cartoons were perceived as having a modern look in the sixties which is harder to gauge from this vantage point. Another set of beermats produced for the brand feature football, bowling, golf and hurling and are also printed in Germany, and they certainly have a more modern feel with a similarly very well designed and produced look. That batch were designed by Adsell Ltd. in Dublin and the Percy French/Bob Fannin range were most likely designed by the same company, as they handled much (or probably all) of the marketing and advertising for Smithwick’s around this time. There were also square beermats being produced with just the brand name which were being printed in England, as well as a round version - both of these are lighter in quality than the German made mats and may date from later in the brand's brief history. (By the way, Smithwick’s lager brand - Idea - used at least some beermats printed in Ireland.)

But this wasn't the first time these lyrics and cartoons were used by Smithwicks, as with a little detective work it can be seen that they were first published by them in a calendar in 1960 to mark that alleged 250th anniversary of the founding of the St. Francis Abbey brewery, and at roughly the same time as the range was rebranded. It contained twelve illustrations some of which were used for the beermats two years later, although the brand itself appears to get no mention in the calendar. The illustrations are all signed by Bob Fannin, whose signature is sadly missing from the actual beermats and this calendar might be the only record remaining of who drew these illustrations outside of a dusty folder in a lost filing cabinet in Kilkenny or Dublin.

William Percy French was born in Roscommon in 1854 and was a prolific writer and entertainer. He was educated in both Ireland and England, and lived in the latter for a time, as well as travelling to America and Europe to perform. He is probably much better known in Ireland than in England as most of his more famous songs are very much Irish in content, humour and language and he is probably best known for ‘The Mountains of Mourne’ and ‘Come Back Paddy Reilly’ which have been sung by many artists, the former was even covered by Don McLean in the 1970s. Percy French died in 1920 and is buried in Lancashire in England.

Limerick born Bob Fannin produced cartoons for publications such as The Irish Field and The Evening Herald and should perhaps be better known given the level of detail and expressiveness of these drawings. He died at the age of 75 in late 2000.

-o-

Given their physical qualities as well as their design, these illustrations and verses from a now defunct brand are arguably the finest looking beermats ever produced in this country. There are few if any other examples that have all the qualities that these possess, and if the business and brand history of the St. Francis Abbey Brewery had taken a different turn they might be being touted, reproduced, and exalted in the timeline of Irish brewing history. These illustrations might adorn t-shirts in shops and poster in pubs around the country, instead of falling into the large bin of discarded Irish beer history - a purged part of our brewing heritage from the early sixties that doesn’t quite fit into a prescribed and promoted timeline.

They are perhaps a fitting symbol of the Irish brewing history that we lost but which we can rediscover, champion and promote - given time, research and access to the right material.

Our brewing history isn’t dead, it sits on shelves, and in binders, drawers and cupboards - just waiting to be rediscovered.

(Here's the link to object #8)

Liam K

* Adapted from a piece on the Time brand I wrote about here, which lists any references from this section.

References:

The William Percy French Collection in Roscommon County Library

Smithwicks Calendar - De Búrca Rare Books Catalogue 130 Summer 2017

Bob Fannin obituary via The Irish Times

Further Beermat Reading:

Boak & Bailey - FAQ: When did beer mats come in?

Martyn Cornell - Beer Memorabilia published by Apple 2000 ISBN 1-84092-214-1

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. The beermats and the attached image are the authors own and cannot be used elsewhere without the author's permission. Newspaper research was thanks to The British Newspaper Archive.