Irish beer

Brewing in Ireland has a long history. Production currently stands at over 8 million hectolitres, and approximately half the alcohol consumed is beer.

Lager accounts for 60% of the beer sold, stout 34% and ale 6%.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were over two hundred breweries in the country, fifty-five of them in Dublin. In the nineteenth century, the number of breweries fell to about fifty, and by 2007 only about twelve remained.

Historically, Ireland produced ale, without the use of hops, as the plant is not native to Ireland. Large quantities of hops were imported from England in the 18th century. In 1752, more than 500 tons of English hops were imported through Dublin alone. In the second half of the 18th century, beer, mostly porter, was imported from England in increasing quantities: 15,000 barrels in 1750, 65,000 in 1785, and over 100,000 in 1792. In the 1760s about 600,000 barrels of beer were brewed annually in Ireland.

In the 18th century, the Irish Parliament used taxation to encourage brewing at the expense of distilling, reasoning that beer was less harmful than whiskey. In the 1760s, the Royal Dublin Society offered prizes to brewers who used the most Irish hops and those that produced the most porter.

Brewing prospered in the early decades of the 19th century and by 1814 Ireland was exporting more beer to England than it imported. Irish exports to England accelerated as the century progressed and from a modest 11,328 barrels in 1828, exported 689,796 barrels by 1901.

in 1998, Ireland produced approximately 8.5m hectolitres of beer per year; this rose to 8.7m in 2002. Exports were 3.5m hectolitres in 1998 and fell to 2.4m in 2002. Whilst Ireland lies 6th in the world for beer consumption per capita, it ranks 4th in the consumption of alcohol, with 11.7 litres per head in 2011.

The first lager brewery in Ireland was set up in Dartry, Dublin, in 1891, but did not survive very long. Lager was later brewed for a short period at the Regal Brewery, Kells.Harp Lager has been brewed in Dundalk since 1968.

Heineken Ireland, based at the Murphy Brewery in Cork, have the largest share of the lager market. In addition to Heineken, they brew Amstel and Coors Light, as well as the brands they acquired from Beamish & Crawford including Fosters and Carling.

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Wikipedia