St. Francis Abbey Brewery / Smithwick's Brewery

The verified essentials — location, founding year and ownership — are below. This entry has not been written up beyond them.

1. 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.

2. 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).

3. 1827
   Two readings of the 1827 sale

   Kilkenny County Council's draft masterplan says Edmund Smithwick bought freehold property 'including a distillery and a brewery' through the Court of Chancery in 1827. Liam K. reads the 1827 advertisement as a distillery, malt house, corn stores and water mill, with no brewery (see the 1828 entry). Both readings are kept; the 1827 notice itself has not been read.