St Francis Abbey Brewery.
It doesn't really come as any shock to me that they are closing brewing operations in Kilkenny as they've owned the brewery for nearly fifty years now. What does shock me is reading about Guinness's method's of expansion over the years. In the last two centuries they've undercut their rivals forcing them to close. In some cases they'd move in and buy up the business and premises and then set about removing all reference of the brewery. Beer mats, glasses, mirrors, signs and other beer paraphernalia, were bought up and destroyed in an attempt to remove it from popular memory. A bit ... well ... fascist you might say!
I had my first pint of Smithwicks after the SFAB tour! Sorry, I just love that acronym!
We managed to bag a couple of spots on the last tour of St Francis Abbey Brewery. It was a fairly dull and formulaic affair. I'm still wondering why we needed high visibility vests and protective glasses as we never actually got near anything dangerous or interesting for that matter. There were some highlights, the tour included a visit to the old St Francis Abbey, which is now in ruins, also the small oratory used by the brewers and the tasting room were the brewers can taste the beers at different stages of fermentation. They even taste the water to make sure it's suitable!
The original Saint Francis Abbey.
Talking of water, and this is where things get messy, when Diageo ceases production at Kilkenny all brewing operations will move to St James's Gate in Dublin. Unfortunately the water there is different and apparently not suitable for the brewing of red ale. Scientists are currently working furiously to find a way to chemically change Dublin water so it more resembles Kilkenny water. If that fails Diageo will resort to shipping Kilkenny water in tankers to Dublin. Very sensible and cost effective?
Soon to be decommissioned, perhaps demolished?
I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed by Diageo that while they've been consolidating things there's been a sprinkling of new independent breweries opening up. While at present they only have a 0.6% share of the market it's a share they've been nearly doubling year on year. The 1990's saw the rise of the microbrewery but they were tough times too, the reduction on excise duty for the craft beer industry wasn't to be introduced until 2004 and some, for instance The Dublin Brewing Company, went to the wall. They said Irish drinkers weren't ready for craft beer but one company which dates to that period is still in business.
Space is getting tight in The Carlow Brewing Company.
Standing roughly 20km from the nearly defunct St Francis's Abbey is The Carlow Brewing Company. It opened in 1996 and having gone from strength to strength it's currently in the process of outgrowing it's current accommodation. They offer tours to the public every Thursday at 4pm. We were lucky enough to join Ciaran for a trip around the brewery recently.
The new pot still and other brewing equipment that we got up close and personal with on the tour!
The tour was fantastic, we were brought down onto the brewing floor, we got to trip over hoses, burn ourselves on the pot still and stick our heads into the mash. Well maybe it wasn't quite the health and safety disaster as all that but we got to experience what a real living brewery is like. I'm surprised we weren't all given jobs to do while on the tour! Ciaran's love of beer was palpable, he wasn't just a tour guide he was an advocate of great beer. He was a joy to listen to.
The Brewery Corner in Kilkenny. Carlow Brewing's first brewery pub.
So one brewery closes it's doors and another goes from strength to strength. I've come across too many people who are only too eager to pronounce the demise of craft brewing but I don't know one single craft beer drinker that will ever return to mainstream beer. It think people just have to adjust to the idea that it's here to stay. Finally I find it interesting that Carlow Brewing have opened up a pub directly opposite Saint Francis's Brewery, maybe it's the first step in the long journey of the reinstatement of our brewing and drinking diversity?
