Smithwick's Brewery

Ireland's oldest ale brand, brewed at St. Francis Abbey in Kilkenny until production moved to Dublin in 2013. Part of the Diageo stable alongside Guinness.

A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.

1. 1710
   The brand's founding date, as claimed

   Smithwick's dates its beer to 1710. No record of a Smithwick brewery that year has been found; the documents begin in 1827–28 (see the entry on the disputed 1710 date).

2. 1965
   Bought by Guinness

   The Smithwick family ran the Kilkenny brewery until 1965, when Arthur Guinness, Son & Company (Dublin) took it over. Guinness became part of Diageo in 1997, and in 2013 the Kilkenny brewery closed and production moved to Dublin.

3. 2013
   The Kilkenny brewery closes

   Diageo closed St Francis' Abbey Brewery in Kilkenny in 2013 and moved production to Dublin. The site closed; the brand did not.

4. 1710
   The 1710 founding date is the brand's claim, disputed

   Smithwick's advertises "first brewed in Kilkenny in 1710". The earliest documentary evidence found is 1827–1828: Pigot's 1824 directory lists Patrick Brennan as a distiller at St. Francis Abbey and no brewery; an 1827 lease advertises the site as a distillery, malt house, corn stores and water mill; the Kilkenny Moderator of 12 March 1828 first records beer from the St. Francis Well Brewery by Edmund and Patrick Smithwick. A John Smithwick existed in 1710, but no evidence of him brewing commercially has been found (Liam K., IrishBeerHistory, 24 June 2022). The 1710 date stays on this record as the claim it is, not as a fact.

5. 1828
   First recorded beer from the St. Francis Well Brewery

   The Kilkenny Moderator of 12 March 1828 carries the first notice of beer brewed by Edmund and Patrick Smithwick at the St. Francis Well Brewery, on a site advertised for lease in 1827 as a distillery, malt house, corn stores and water mill (Liam K., IrishBeerHistory, 2022).