Beer History: Who Brewed Ireland's First 'Stout'?

Having previously looked at who brewed the first porter and other beer styles in Ireland - or at least flagging the first mentions of them in newspapers - I thought I should delve into that most quintessential of Irish beers. No not red ale, that is a whole other multipart story, I am talking about stout of course.

I better clarify that I am not talking about the most modern iteration of stout that dates from around the mid twentieth century or later, I am talking about a dark beer that had the word ‘stout’ in its name that was being produced by an Irish brewery.

And yes, I am being a little pedantic about the name itself, as stronger dark beers were possible being produced but not being sold as a ‘stout’ version. We are just looking at the actual word when used in conjunction with something darkly brewed, as it could of course also be use for a paler ale.

As far as I can see the first use of the term was in January of 1779 when the following advertisement for Alderman Warren’s brewery at No. 6 Mill Street in Dublin appears in Saunder’s Newsletter:

They were clearly brewing porter and I think this qualifies as the first dark ‘Stout’, regardless of whether it would be recognisable - or drinkable - by today’s stout aficionados. A John Magee may have been the actual brewer according to later advertisements, and those just mention the production of ‘Irish Porter’. Whether this means it was discontinued or just not being specifically flagged is impossible to say.

A few months later in August 1779 another advertisement appears in Saunder’s Newsletter by a Robert Pettitt who was based off Dame Street in Dublin:

Robert Pettitt had previously sold London Porter and here we can see he was selling a product called ‘Irish Brown Stout Porter’, and it is certainly nice to see that full title in print. No brewery is mentioned but given that I cannot find any other breweries producing a similarly name product, is it safe to assume that this is also from Warren’s brewery? Probably not, but in January of the following year the advertisement was changed to include the following:

'This being the first House opened for Sale of Irish Brown Stout Porter in this City, claims the Protection of the Public, to whom the Proprietor returns his most grateful Thanks, for their Encouragement, which far exceeds his most sanguine Expectations.'

Wonderful wording and it seems to be that this is the first retailer - I am taking 'house' to mean shop or warehouse not public house, which it appears not to have been - to sell and clearly advertise an Irish 'Stout Porter’ for sale.

There are very few mentions of Irish brewed stouts for a good few decades after but a few others stood out...

In April 1808 Messrs. Madder & Co. of Hope Porter Brewery on Watling Street in Dublin ran an advertisement in Saunder’s Newsletter that stated:

'… that the demand for their Brown Stout having exceeded their expectation, their stock of it for immediate use is entirely exhausted…'

(Nice to see a namesake for a modern Irish brewery there, and it appears from other notices that there is a complicated story about the Madders, their fallings out, and the setting up of a rival brewery at Black Pitts by a son - Samuel jr. - but that would need to be a whole different post…)

In 1812 The Belfast Commercial Chronicle carries an advertisement for ‘100 Tierces [of] Brown Stout Porter’ which were received from Cork but sadly no brewery was mentioned, we could possibly guess which brewery but that would hardly be factual...?

In May 1816 and also in The Belfast Commercial Chronicle an advertisement of a dissolution of a partnership between Clotworthy Dobbin and John W. Wright, which states that the business will be carried on by Mr Dobbin and that he is ‘well supplied with Double Brown Stout Porter’ in his brewery in that city Belfast.

It is October 1828 before I finally spot a Guinness product being described by those words in an Irish newspaper, but this might just be the words of the seller - Francie Magee - as he lumps it in with Barclay & Co.’s listed offering, possibly to save space. I doubt this is the first time that Guinness used the word ‘Stout’ but it’s the earliest mention I came across ...

So there we go, a pointless exercise in one way but it is nice, as ever, to pull this information out of the virtual pages of newspapers and drag them into a somewhat more accessible and searchable format.

Liam

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