Fancy a Murphy's IPA? - The forgotten origins of Cork's Lady's Well Brewery...

Image pre 1890 from Barnard's The Noted Breweries of Great Britain & Ireland

(This post is a combination of a couple of older posts on this subject which I've revised and updated with extra content.)

The things you find when you're down a rabbit hole of printed brewing history...

I love looking through old newspapers,as they are such a great source of material for those looking into the past, as they are a snapshot of a particular day or date in time that might otherwise have been lost forever, akin to a word-based Polaroid - albeit one that needs to be assessed with the knowledge of who had their finger on the shutter release at the time, and what direction they were pointing the camera. These papers are of course a great resource for capturing monumental events or catastrophes and in doing so they can give you a much better feel for a society's mood as well as firsthand accounts. They are a goldmine for revisionists of history who can look back to events before and after a particular time to see if the winner-written history was really as accurate as it was portrayed. All of that is fine providing the facts being reported are what actually happened, and everything is reported in a non-partisan way, and unfortunately this is not always the case, 'Fake News' - or even 'No News' - is not a new concept. So although I am a little wary about certain content, in general I give a degree credence to what's written in older papers with regard to certain aspects of beer history, especially if reported in multiple sources.

Where am I going with this? Well up until relatively recently I associated Murphy's in Cork just with stout (apart from their dip into red ale), and if asked I would have stated that Murphy's Brewery (or James J. Murphy & Co., or more correctly Lady's Well Brewery) was founded as a porter brewery back in the day. Anything I had read mentioned just porter or stout, with at most a mention to a mysterious and short-lived 'Lady's Well' ale. I had of course fallen into the trap that many have before me, of forgetting that marketing people and not historians write the history of Irish breweries these days - something I am quietly trying to rage against via blog posts and Twitter-speak. Much of my ammunition comes from those old newspapers, and although I regard them relatively warily, they generally tend to speak a closer version of the truth than a fakeloreified advert from 100 years after an event.


So when by chance I came across a write-up on the opening of Lady's Well Brewery brewery from back in 1856 in The Cork Examiner I decided to give it a read, not thinking it would hold much interest for me. I was of course very wrong, as it gave me a first hand perspective of what the ethos and business plan was for the brewery when it was initially founded.

THE LADY'S WELL BREWERY

We hail with pleasure the commencement of a new enterprise in the opening of the magnificent brewery at the Watercourse, which will be known by the name of The Lady's Well Brewery. The undertaking is one that not merely reflects great credit on the commercial activities and spirit of the gentlemen concerned it, but will be likely to prove of great benefit to the city in the addition it will make to its resources of the industrial employment, and the very large amount of capital which its success will be the means of putting into local circulation. The names Messrs. James J. Murphy and Co., highly [and] deservedly popular throughout the town and country, have been chiefly known of late in connection with the extensive Midleton Distillery, but the decided opening which lay in the brewing trade has made them turn their attention [to] that branch of business, with what chance of success we shall endeavour to give an idea.

I was unaware at the time of the seemingly well documented Midleton Distillery connection until I read it here first, since then I've read about it in books such as The Murphy's Story by Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil & Donal Ó Drisceoil in which it is well detailed, as well as on some online sources.

The article continues...

   In this country it is well known that the consumption of porter is very large, and that there is business in that direction to occupy a manufactory, we need not say; but there is new ground to be broken in which we feel a more direct interest, leaving as it does an opening for enterprises capable of indefinite expansion. For the last few years a taste has grown up in this country for a light sparkling drink called "bitter beer," or "pale ale." The rapidity with which the sale and use of this article has grown up has been most extraordinary, knowing how difficult it is to change the habits and tastes of persons in such respects. The article of this kind sold in Ireland - unless in cases of adulteration or imposition - is exclusively the manufacturing of the breweries of Burton-on-Trent, and comes from the celebrated houses of BASS, ALLSOPP, SALT, &co., &co. An idea of the extent to which the article has gone may be inferred from the fact, that Cork's receipts of one of those firms amount to nearly thirty thousand pounds a year. When we take, then, into consideration that our city forms but a small item in the list of consumers of an article which is exported alike to the Equator and Antipodes, we will see what a vast field for specification and enterprise lies in its manufacture. Hitherto, however, no attempt of any importance or any large scale was made in this country to compete with the gigantic English establishments. One reason, it may be mentioned, that has been popularly alleged, was the want of a water containing the peculiar qualities which gave so much merit to the Burton ales. But it happened some time since that the building known as the Foundling Hospital was put up for sale, and it was purchased by the Messrs. MURPHY. It is a splendid situation for a brewery, containing a range of buildings embracing an open square of nearly 200 feet. In addition to this, however, it contained what was still more important to their purpose, a well or spring of water coming from the same rocks, and of the same quality as the delightful Lady's Well; and also of properties precisely similar to those of the celebrated Trent water, taking advantage of this circumstance, the Messrs. MURPHY resolved to enter upon the manufacture of ales, in which they have already achieved a decided triumph.

I found this to be a very interesting and exciting paragraph, as it seems to more than suggest that the stout porter we now associate with Murphy's was not the original reason for starting the brewery. If this editorial write up, which at times comes across as an advertisement and an ego massage for the Murphy's, is to be believed - and we should take everything here with a small pinch of salt perhaps - then the original plan for the brewery was to set themselves up as direct competitors to the glut of pale ales that were - seemingly - swamping the country, as well as exporting a good deal of the ale brewed. They were hoping to launch a full-on assault on the larger English ale breweries was my interpretation of this.

(I have no idea if the water being drawn up from the eponymous Lady's Well was akin to Burton's magic liquor but it is certainly possible...)

It continues...

   If energy be an element of success, the new firm decidedly can boast of it. They got their building on the 27th of July, and on the 8th of December the commenced brewing. When they took possession of the concern, all the found available for their purpose was the large shell of the building. They had to erect floors and fittings, pipes, vats, shafts, chimneys and machinery. All their work was done under the superintendence of their brewer, Mr. GRESHAM WILES, and as it has been constructed on the newest and most advanced scientific principles, a passing reference to it may not be devoid of interest. In the first place, it may be remarked, the entire of its processes are regulated and carried on by steam; and in this respect it is, we believe, quite unique in this country. Then there is scarcely a single item of its machinery which has not undergone some improvement, and does not mark an advance upon the old system. For instance the mash tun, a huge vat where, by means of huge teeth or saws, the essence of the malt is extracted, is covered with a coating of enamel, a perfectly new invention, which the firm have registered. The advantage derivable from this is chiefly its obviating any chance of mixing the colours of porter and ale, a defect to which machinery of the ordinary kind, in which both are brewed, is very liable. Even the contrivance by which the grains are expelled from this vat, after the essential principle of the malt has dropped through the false bottom, is, though simple, a great saving in labour and at the same time a great novelty. A more important improvement, however, has been effected in the machinery for extracting the essence of hops. In place of the older mode, which involved considerable waste of fuel and employed a great deal of labour, a new system, also registered, and about to be patented, has been adopted by the firm. The boiling batches (two of which are used for extracting the bitter juice of the hops - one for porter and another for ale) are covered with a perforated false bottom. In connection with this is a "sparge," or cylinder of copper, through which, by means of pipes, steam from the boilers is introduced. From the various apertures in the cylinder the subtle vapour permeates through the hops, leaving not a single one untouched, and extracting in a most complete manner their bitter principle. An equally interesting improvement has been effected in a process of depriving the porter of superfluous yeast; in the cooling apparatus, and even in the process of transmitting the malt from the lower floors through two series of flats, to the top of the building; but we do not feel ourselves at liberty to enter into particular descriptions of these. It might be thought that with so many novelties in the machinery of the brewery, there would, at some one department at all events, be risk of failure; but though on the occasion of the first brewing, out of twenty-five men employed in the establishment, not one had ever been engaged in a brewery before, not a single item failed or went out of order, and all the machinery worked as freely as if it had been twelve months in operation. The capability of this machinery may be judged, when we mention that, in full work, it can brew 5,000 tierces of ale or porter in the week or an aggregate of 260,000 tierces in the year. In connection with the appearance of the building, we may allude to one fact en passant, which will be of interest to a large class of our readers. There are no less than 150 gas lights burned in the establishment, and though the Messrs, MURPHY received most enticing proposals from the United General Gas Company to contract with them, they preferred to aid the citizens of Cork in their anti-monopoly movement, and declined the tempting offers made them.

5,000 tierces is around 800,000 litres, which is an awful lot of ale - even if it is hypothetical ale - and I don't know enough about 1850s breweries to know whether this is a little on the high side perhaps but it seems that the Murphy's were nothing if not ambitious so perhaps it is correct. Certainly the description of the enamelled covered mash tun with its 'huge teeth or saws' sounds impressive, but some of the other descriptions of the equipment are a little vague, and the 'sparge' being used to extract the 'essence' from the hops seems to me to be either rushed note taking on the part of the writer or Mr. Wiles was deliberately confusing the writer so as not to let others know his secrets, but yet again it's all quite interesting and perhaps there is such thing as a 'hop sparger'... [Edit: There is! See Ron's comments below...]

Another interesting point is that the The Murphy's Story mentioned above states that the brewer was one Edward Lane when they opened, this is at odds with the comments regarding Gresham Wiles above, so presumably he was just employed to set up the brewery and perhaps to train Edward Lane. (Curiously, there was also a Lane's Brewery in Cork at this time - which incidentally appears to have been connected with an alarming number of accidents, some fatal - but I'm not sure if there was a connection with this Edward Lane or not, although an Edward Lane was also involved with another Cork brewery, Arnott's - St. Finn Barr's Brewery, in the city. His successor at Murphy's, Edward Herring, also joined Arnott's and there is another story involving a public-touted porter brewing challenge - perhaps a post for another day...)

Let's keep going...

 The manufacture of the brewery consists of common draught porter, bottling stout, imperial stout, mild, sweet, bitter, and pale ales. Of the qualities of some of these we can speak as affording promise rivalling, nay, in some respects, surpassing, the beverages produced by the great BURTON houses. The "Lady's Well" ale, made with the spring water of which we have spoken, is one of the most agreeable malt drinks that could be manufactured. It is a clear, amber colour, possessing a light, piquant bitter, and its flavor is in every respect fully equal to the highly-prized, a we may add, highly paid for, BASS or ALLSOPP. The bitter ale is of a stronger kind, and its acid quality is more powerful. This ale is intended for export, and from the success of this article we look for results of great importance, as, should a local firm obtain a most footing in the foreign markets, or which Burton brewers have so long enjoyed a monopoly, we might look forward to its laying the foundation of a new and valuable trade for this city. Of all the manufactures of this new establishment we can only speak in terms of commendation, but we confess to taking the strongest interest in that which leads them into competition with the English firms. They have laid the foundation of their undertaking in the soundest manner; they have brought to its assistance skill, capital and enterprise; they have constructed it with every advantage which science can afford, and we consider, therefore, that they deserve to succeed. The qualities which they have brought to their aid, are indeed those of which we have been most deficient in this country, but we trust to see the success of the Messrs. Murphy affording an example and a stimulus to others to strike out new paths of industry and increase the manufacturing energy of the country. 

~The Cork Examiner 31st December 1856

This paragraph was for me the most interesting, as it describes the beers being brewed at Lady's Well when they opened. So it seems that '...draught porter, bottling stout, imperial stout, mild, sweet, bitter, and pale ales...' were being made. Again I took this with a degree of scepticism but it all seemed to be accurate, as why would they report otherwise? So it looks like there were four paler ales were being produced as well as the darker ales we are more familiar with from Murphy's, and it was nice to see they brewed an imperial stout! The list of beers looks very like what we normally expect from English brewers, which is more than a little unkind on our own brewing history but up to recently many of us had been brainwashed into thinking that all we ever brewed were stouts and red ales. (As you have seen from my previous posts this is far from the truth if you go back a century or more - or even sixty years for an Irish brewed selection of pale ales.)

The description of the 'Lady's Well' is of an amber coloured ale (Hardly a nod to the infamous quasi-mythical 'Irish Red Ale' of prose and poetry?) and seems to mention a light but sharp bitterness and they compare it favourably to Bass and Allsopp pale ales. The writer then goes on to talk about the 'bitter ale' being of a strong kind, so more alcohol perhaps(?) and more 'acidic,' which we should probably take to be being more of a highly hopped bitterness than actual sour bitterness ... and they say that this is the ale intended for their assault on the export market.

Plenty of interesting information here even if you dismiss all the praise for the beer and brewer.

Then I discovered that the writer in the Cork Examiner was not the only member of the press who appears to have gone on a trip to the brewery, as the following piece appeared in The Cork Constitution newspaper the next day. This write up focuses on the brewing machinery and vessels mostly and combined with the previous post it gives a better picture of the size, scale and workings of the brewery.

OPENING OF THE LADY'S WELL BREWERY

    A few years ago a stranger visiting Cork, and entering the city from the former terminus of the Great Southern and Western Railway, might have noticed a large square building, the high walls surrounding which frowned darkly up on the narrow and crowded thoroughfare. This building was the Cork Foundling Hospital founded in the latter half of the 18th century for the support of deserted children of both sexes and maintained by a tax upon coals. For many years the establishment continue to exist but the progress of legislation, which has subverted so many still more venerable institutions, has at length abolished the Cork foundling hospital. The property in the building became vested in the Poor Law Guardians, who wore it first desirous that it should be converted into an Emigration Depot, and entered into communication with the Emigration Commissioners for that purpose. It appeared, however, that, partly from the growing conviction on the public mind that emigration ought no longer be assisted by the home government, the Commissioners could not assent to the terms required by the Guardians or the use of the building. Subsequently the Guardians were about to offer the building to the military authorities for the purpose of an auxiliary Barracks, but for this its situation was on suited and at length the premises having been offered for sale to the public, they have been purchased by Messrs J. J. Murphy and Co., who intend devoting them to a more practical and, we hope more profitable, if not more useful, objects that close originally contemplating. Few persons not acquainted with the subject and have any correct idea of the immense quality of malt liquor annually manufactured in these countries It is calculated that in England the amount yearly drank is 3½  gallons per head on the entire population in Scotland 2 1-9[?] and in Ireland 1 ½ - that the entire quantity consumed per annum is 17,000,000 barrels. In addition to what is consumed by our home population, vast quantities are exported to almost every part of the habitable globe and the consumption, so far from diminishing, is largely augmenting every year. In England malt liquor is emphatically the national beverage - it is the favourite drink of the artisan, and is found on every dinner table. In Ireland it does not seem to have please the public taste so well as in the sister Kingdom, still large quantities are consumed, and it is to be hoped it may ultimately supersede the more intoxicating and less nutritious produce of the still.

At this time whiskey was the tipple of choice for many in Ireland and this is noted here with regard to the beer consumption per head, but it might also explain why the Murphy's didn't succeed in their bid to great an ale brewery to rival those in England. Although it's possible they just were not great ale brewers of course!

    Comparatively little of the building which went to form the Foundling Hospital was available for the purposes for which the premises were purchased by the Messrs. Murphy, and considerable expense had to be incurred in order to render the works complete. They possess, however, one great advantage in having an inexhaustible supply of the purest well water, suitable for manufacturing the finest bitter and sweet ales. The entire area included within the boundaries of the premises is 258 feet square. The building runs along each of the four sides and, is 18 feet in depth, thus leaving an open square in the centre of 240 feet each way. In the middle of the square is the well already mentioned, from which the water is pumped up a depth of 60 feet, as often as wanted. For the purpose of securing a sufficient supply, a tank has been constructed capable of holding 3,000 barrels, communicating by pipes to all parts of the building, thus any damage from fire maybe obviated. The water or “liquor,”’ as it is termed in brewers phraseology, is either soft water, for the manufacturer of porter, or hard water which is preferable for fine ales and beer.

Again we have mention of the quality of the water here, although it's somewhat confusing that they mention both hard and soft water in the last line. That may be just a general point and not suggesting that they were magically pulling both from the same well! [Edit: See Ron's comments below...]

    The entire of the building and apparatus of the brewery was erected under the superintendence of the Messrs. Murphy's brewer, Mr Gresham Wiles who studied subject under Mr James Young, of Messrs. Hoare and Co, London, one of the highest practical brewers in the Kingdom. The premises have been taking possession of by the Messrs. Murphy in July, operations were immediately commenced to render them complete at the earliest possible period, and in the lapse of a little less than six months they were so far completed that brewing was entered on. Acting under the advice of Mr Wiles, the materials are entirely heated by steam, not as usually the case by common heat. Steam is supplied from boilers situated in a detached building - it is of a new patent construction, combining the principles of the Cornish and the tubular boilers. In appearance it consists of two horizontal cylinders 18 feet in length and seven feet in diameter, running parallel to each other. Underneath are the fires, which present a great improvement over those commonly constructed, as by a lever the stoker can break and pulverize the coals, and keep up the heat without opening the doors of the grates. These boilers not only heat the materials but feed several steam engines amounting to 70 or 80 horse power, which communicating by shafts to various parts of the building keep the apparatus in motion. 

The aforementioned list that I thought sounded 'English' was perhaps reflects the training of Mr. Wiles at 'Mr. James Young of Messrs. Hoare & co. in London' and was probably why he was employed by the Murphy's in the first place.

    Ascending to the first loft the visitor is shown the mash tuns, which are 8 feet deep, 18 feet in diameter, and each capable of mashing 120 quarters of malt. The interior of each tun is enamelled, a process patented by Mr. Wiles and which enables the tun to be readily cleaned after each time of filling. All malt liquors are in one sense brewed in the same way; that is to say, the water goes into the copper, passes thence into the mash tun, through that into the receiver, then into the copper again, after which it is cooled. It then passes into the gyle tun where it undergoes the process of fermentation, and thence it is cleansed into the cask. In this general light, the process is alike, but on the mode of which the various operations are conducted, on the proportion and quality of the ingredients, on the temperature, time, &c., showed in the different portions of the process the entire quality of the produce depends. This is of course one of those “secrets” which every manufacturer keeps undisclosed, but it is reasonably to be expected that has improvements are made from time to time in the mode of operation the quality of the produce will be better, and the cost of manufacture reduced. In this respect some innovations have been introduced in the establishment of the Messrs. Murphy, the effect of which is stated to economise time, and while cheapening the expense of manufacture, to produce a liquor at once combining strength of body with excellence of flavour.     In the Lady's Well Brewery, the boiling is effected by steam, and such is the rapidity with which it is effected that the entire liquor, in two large batches, containing 200 barrels each, can be raised to a boiling temperature in three quarters of an hour. Boilers contain ‘sparges’ which are constructed upon a patent principle, combining economy of fuel with rapidity of operation. The liquor having been raised to the proper temperature it is let into one of the mash tuns already mentioned. Each of these “mash tuns” is capable of containing 430 barrels. The malt, having been ground, is then shot into the mash tun. Each mash tun at the Lady's Well Brewery may be filled and empty three times a day. The time and manner of hopping vary among different brewers, some using more and some less. Much of course, depends on the kind of ale or porter required to be brewed, and the particular particular market it is intended for. The heat should be just sufficient to separate the aromatic portion of the plant without extracting the rank and injuries elements. To the judicious management of the hopping is mainly due the mild and pleasant flavour of the “Lady’s Well Ale” manufactured at Messrs. Murphy's Brewery, and which bids fair to acquire and extend the popularity.

Another nice mention of 'Lady's Well Ale' here and a description of its flavour, however vague it sounds...

    From the copper in which the work has been hopped it is passed into the cooler, where is is brought rapidly down to a lower temperature by means of the refrigerating process, which is affected by cold water, introduced through numerous pipes running through every part of the cooler, until the wort is brought down to the requisite temperature. It is then introduced into fermenting tuns of which there will when the establishment is completed be eighteen, holding from 200 to 500 barrels each. The process of fermentation which general generally last for days, is completed in Messrs. Murphy's establishment in half the usual time, after which it is drawn off into the cleansing rounds, where it undergoes a further fermentation before being fit for use. The cleansing rounds are 150 and number, and contain 8 barrels each.     The vats in to which the liquor is subsequently introduced are of large size holding from 500 to 800 barrels each. Some idea of the extent of this establishment may be derived from the fact that they can now produce 5,000 barrels of malt liquor, each barrel holding 36 gallons, per week

 The Cork Constitution - 1st January 1857

As you can see it describes in a bit more detail some of the equipment and buildings than the first article and is probably of interest to those who need to see the nitty-gritty of how the brewery operated on its opening, but again allowing it's not being described by a professional brewer.


But we are not finished yet, as here is a third write-up which I found more recently in the Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier from the 31 December 1856. This contains some common material but some new nuggets to, particularly on the range of beers being brewed at the time.

THE LADY’S WELL BREWERY

Frequent it has been our lot to complain of the great absence of enterprise which too strongly characterises our local commercial community, we feel a considerable amount of pleasure and satisfaction in being able, our present impression, to direct attention to an undertaking which reflects most creditably on our city generally, and, in particular, on the enterprise and spirit of the gentlemen concerned in it—we allude to the establishment of the Lady’s Well Brewery. The large pile of buildings which up to a recent period was occupied, and is still known, as the Foundling Hospital, on the Watercourse, and which includes, we believe, an area of 250 feet by 200, has within an astonishing short space of time been metamorphosed into a most complete and unique brewery, fitted up with all the late scientific improvements, and displaying some extremely useful and novel adaptations, never heretofore introduced into the brewing apparatus. The establishment of a manufactory in district is an epoch of importance in its local history, and this importance becomes greatly enhanced when the object of that manufactory is to diminish the imports and increase the exports of the particular place ; and this being one of the aims of the Lady’s Well Brewery, by our most respectable and spirited follow the Messrs. James J. Murphy and Co., we are inclined to hail it as a tangible indication of our local prosperous state, and a practical development[sic] of our capabalities—capabalities[sic], too, which, we are confident, will not be neglected or misapplied by the intelligent proprietors of the new brewery. The great demand which of late has sprung up in this district for such beverages as ales and porters, together with the vast quantities of “Bass,” “Alsop[sic],” and Burton,” &c., that are annually imported into this country could not have failed to attract the attention of any practical observer, pointing as such facts most unmistakably did, to great want in our local manufactures; and as there was no reason to believe that, with proper attention and proper management, Irish capital and Irish resources could not compete, in this particular department, with English imports, the offspring of the great energy and persevering application of our English neighbours, the Messrs. Murphy set themselves to work, and, have no hesitation saying, they will open to themselves a vast trade, which heretofore was entirely monopolised the English brewers—they will prove, beyond question, that all want this country, in order to rear up a great, a stupendous, and a lasting prosperity, is a little enterprise on the part of those who possess the capital—that are rich in natural resources, and in the intelligence and shrewdness which mark our artisans, and that the materials for an abundant commercial harvest are absolutely lying waste in all directions. Therefore, from those and other considerations, we greet, sincerely and warmly, the opening of the Lady’s Well Brewery.

Well there's an opening paragraph that really lets you see the writer's allegiance to the Murphy's! (It's also nice to see someone writing's that use more commas than I do...) Here again, amongst the hyperbole and praise we can see that this enterprise was indeed set up as an ale brewery to compete with English imports, and more. It's almost like the production of porter and its cousins were meant to take a back seat in the brewing scheme.

In the fittings-up, arrangement, and general details of the concern, the utmost credit is reflected on Mr. Wm. Gresham Wiles, under whose superintendence they have been carried out, displaying as they do, in a remarkable degree, large amount of scientific skill, great practical ability, and the most perfect order and regularity—desideratums of no inferior Importance such in such an establishment. What those works are—in order to give our readers some idea of their extent, powers, &c., we may mention they are capable of producing 5,000 tierces porter, stouts, pale, mild, and sweet ales per week, being a total produce 260,000 tierces a year—a capability which contrasts in a satisfactory manner with that of some of the largest breweries in this country or in England. The energy and activity which was displayed  to arrive at this efficiency may be estimated from the fact that the Messrs. Murphy did not get possession of the premises until the 27th of last July, and on the 8th of the present month they commenced brewing! It may not uninteresting here to state that this concern is the first and the only brewery in which steam has been thoroughly applied to the manufacture of beer. Heretofore the process was to inject the steam for the purpose of heating the liquor, while in the Lady’s Well Brewery it has been applied, with, the most successful results, by means of a boiling sparge—invented for the purpose by Mr. Wiles, and, we believe, patented by that gentleman—and the introduction of this most ingenious machine, he has achieved great and most desired improvement in the manufacture of beers, one to attain which much exertion has been made and time devoted by eminent brewers, and by which, with the nicest particularity and an important saving of time, the oleaginous[sic] and valuable particles of the hop are extracted, while the rosenous[sic] and coarser particles, which, when admitted into the wort impart a rankness of flavor, are unerringly excluded. We were also struck by a novel, and, now when known, simple contrivance, which a large amount of advantage must be attained, in the construction of the mash-tun. This nothing more or less than the enamelling of the inside of the tun, which, while it secures the most scrupulous cleanliness, enables the brewer to produce the brownest stouts and the palest ales in the same mash-tun, of course, at different periods. Although this may not be considered of any remarkable importance, it does assume some consequence when we recollect that in the old-fashioned timber-tuns, if ale and porter were made the one concern, the ale generally received something more than the colouring of the stout, which the timber had absorbed. It is only justice to acknowledge that this valuable improvement also has emanated from the intelligence and practical experience of Mr, Wiles, the brewer and manager of the establishment, and most creditable pupil of the eminent James Young, of Hoare and Co’s. Brewery, London—a man who has arrived at the highest eminence his profession. The cooling apparatus is also worthy of particular mention, being entirely on a new principle, and securing the greatest expedition in reducing the temperature of the wort. This is attained by means of the application of cold blasts on thin layers of wort, under which there are currents cold water constantly passing.

At least we get a mention of dark beers again here, plus a florid description of the brewing process and that enamelled mash tun. We also get another mention of the 5,000 tierces they could produce if need be...

Having said so much on the dry details, we may now speak of the quality the different articles produced and this we can do from experience. In the first we may say they embrace no less than seven distinct kinds, viz:-. common draft porter, bottling stout, imperial stout, mild, sweet, bitter, and pale ales, besides brown and pale ales and porters for export trade. The ales, which are produced from the highly prized water that supplies Lady’s Well, are exceedingly agreeable—the bitter possessing all the tonic recommendations without any of the disagreements of the ales at present in vogue; while the porter and stouts are highly nutritious and palatable beverages. We must not omit to mention—in fact, recommend the ale which the Messrs. Murphy have given the title of “Lady’s Well Ale.” It is a light, pleasantly-bitter and grateful drink, and highly calculated to fill a vacuum long felt in the want of a dinner table ale. It is the intention, we understand, to sell those ales in such quantities, as small as even nine gallon cask, that must prove vast accommodation to the public, and the heads families in particular.

Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier - 31 December 1856

Again we get a description of the wonderfully diverse range being brewed by Wiles at this time, although it could be interpreted as still being a little vague given how it is presented. Once again though, we see 'Lady's Well Ale' being pushed and promoted, this time as a light table ale. This view of the company in particular runs like an advert more than an impartial article, one wonders if money changed hands or if all three contributors were sent home with a supply of 'Lady's Well Ale'!


This was all interesting and informative but we still have no detail of what was actually being offered for sale apart from tantalising mentions and hints, with very early adverts just stating that ales and porters would be available from the beginning of 1857. Then on the 12th of January 1857 the following advertisement appeared. Complete with prices, which seems to prove that all of this range was available from this date.

Wow! This seems to make it clear exactly what was being brewed at the time, no less that seven ales and five porters:

Ales

Lady's Well
India Pale

Cork Sweet

Cork Mild

Cork X

Cork XX

Imperial Ale 

Porters

Draught Porter

Bottling Double Stout

Imperial Stout

Imperial Double Stout

Single Stout

Nice to see that Cork Mild -  with a capital 'M' -  as well as a 'Cork Sweet', an X Ale and am XX Ale, so it's clear that when they opened they were brewing more than one or two beer types, as why else would you advertise and price everything? It's also worth noting their description of being and 'Export Brewery' and later adverts like the one below emphasise this and 'Pale Ale' even more so.

In May of the same year the conquest for both domestic and word domination was still in progress, as the following appeared in the Tralee Chronicle:

LADY’S WELL BREWERY

We published some months since, from the Cork papers, very lengthened and interesting account of this gigantic enterprize, then in process of completion, and which is now an accomplished fact. After expenditure of over £40,000, the Messrs. Murphy are now giving to the country the best practical proof their sagacity, the production, immense scale, of porter and ale of quality already commanding an eager demand on the part the retail trade Ireland, but such must place the spirited and patriotic projectors a position, exporters, every part of the globe, on level with the great brewers of England who have hitherto enjoyed such world-wide monopoly. This is but another evidence. among the many springing up every day, of what can do at home, and what fruitful sources of commercial aggrandizement are scattered through the length and breadth of our land, where there is energy, self-reliance and honourable industry to unveil the fountain.

As will be perceived by the advertisement elsewhere, Mr. Henry Donovan has been appointed agent for Kerry, and a visit to bis stores in the Square will convince the most sceptical of the superior quality of the article manufactured Lady’s Well.

 Tralee Chronicle - Friday 08 May 1857

Unfortunately that wonderful looking range does not seem to have lasted too long, as an advertisement in November of the same year list just XX Ale, XX Stout, X Stout and Porter seem to be available.

On the 9th of December 1857 there is an advertisement for table ale available from the brewery.

On 24th of December 1860 a Imperial West India Stout was being bottled but after that the advertisement appear to dry up for anything different or exotic from what I can see.

So, it appears that this huge trade they had hoped for in domestic and exported ales never materialised, and they dropped back to what the public obviously wanted, and what their biggest rivals in the city, Beamish and Crawford were famous for - porter. As far as I am aware it would be another 100 years before anything other than dark beers were brewed in the brewery...

It's a pity that a 'Murphy's IPA' or 'Lady's Well Imperial Double Stout' never became the household names around the globe that the owners envisaged - in fact they were forgotten in their own country, and even own city...

Liam

(Incidentally a William Gresham Wiles died in a accident in 1863 at the Gresham Wiles & Brown brewery of South Malling, Lewes, England according to online sources. I wonder did he head back to England when his huge range of beer failed to make the impact he had hoped, or if he had stayed instead of Edward Lane would the original plan have succeeded? He almost certainly would have lived longer...)

With thanks to my local library for the original research and The British Newspaper Archive for more recent additions and images.

Some newspaper images © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). 

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