Deasy & Co: Clonakilty’s brewing history

Timothy Deasy established a brewing business in Clonakilty in c.1768. We chart the rise and fall of the brewing industry in the place that is still known today as “The Brewery Town”.

Clonakilty in West Cork is still known today as “The Brewery Town” due to its long brewing legacy. Timothy Deasy, a Catholic merchant and shipowner, established a brewing business there in about 1768. The Deasys are reputed to have made their money from smuggling. The first Deasy brewery was located near Boyle Street (now Asna Street) but does not survive today. Under Timothy’s son, Rickard, the brewery business flourished and moved to a new site on the western edge of the town in c.1807.

This “new” brewery is located just off Emmet Square, conveniently sited beside the River Feagle which supplied water for the brewing process. Up until at least the 1840s, the brewery derived its power from horse wheels but later steam engines were employed when the brewing process became more mechanized.

Dr Caen Harris (archaeologist) has determined that Deasy’s Brewery is the earliest surviving example in Ireland of a courtyard maltings where the layout favoured access to horse-drawn wheeled transport, which brought in raw materials and transported the finished products out to customers. The spacious quadrilateral courtyard was surrounded by maltings to the south (with possibly two malting kilns) and a barley store to the north, with a malt store to the east. The tallest building with large imposing chimneys was a brewhouse (seen in the photo above). The courtyard layout was not uncommon at the time especially in Cork, though by the second half of the 19th century this arrangement had been largely abandoned in Ireland.

First Prize at the Chicago World Fair

Deasys brewed porter, stout and later ale. They won many awards over the years, including first prize for its “Wrestler” porter in the Chicago World Fair in 1893. This was pronounced “Wrastler” locally and was a dark top-fermented beer made with roasted malt. At this time, the brewery was owned by R. Travers, T.W. Wright and T.J. Canty (managing director).

The brewer, Patrick J. Graham, is credited with being responsible for achieving the top prize at the World Fair. In recognition of his skill, the company presented him with an inscribed gold watch.

A Southern Star report in January 1894 details how their porter was made. It notes that a Steel’s masher machine was used. Mashing involves combining the ground grain with water and then heating it. The machine would have been an essential piece of equipment, which eliminated the need for manual mixing of the mash with paddles and allowed for better temperature control. Deasy’s Brewery was clearly engaging with modern technologies, while pre-industrial practices persisted in most other breweries in country towns and villages in Ireland.

>>> READ MORE: Clogagh: a small West Cork community transformed by the Revolution

The sweet liquid extracted from the mashing machine is called “wort”. The wort was conveyed to a cylindrical vessel called a “copper”, where it was boiled with dried hops and sugar over a very hot fire. The sugar added to the flavour, colour and body of the drink, while the boiled hops provided the bitter taste. The 1894 newspaper article suggests that the coppers at Deasys had conical caps and according to Dr Harris this is the earliest known reference to the use of conical-capped coppers in an Irish brewery.

The wort had to be cooled quickly so that fermentation could begin. The coolers, as well as other equipment in the brewery, had been erected by Clonakilty-man Timothy O’Leary. The 1894 report also mentioned that Deasy & Co. made their own casks and that a new cooperage would soon be built. Imported English oak was used for barrel-making. Soon after winning the gold medal in Chicago, the firm added a bottling plant to their business on Sovereign Street (now Pearse Street). Deasys also had several tied houses in West Cork, which were public houses that were required to sell only Deasy’s products.

A support local stance

As well as Wrastler, Deasys brewed “Amber Ale”, “Clonakilty XX Stout” and “Clonakilty XXX Stout”, which were relatively cheap in comparison to other brands. Workers were supplied with two drinks daily at 12 noon and 4 pm. In its heyday, Deasys was the largest employer in Clonakilty, often with two or three generations in a single family working there.

During the 1890s, Patrick O’Driscoll – future brother-in-law to Michael Collins – was working for the firm as a bookkeeping clerk. It is often said that Wrastler was Collins’ drink of choice. His sister Mary Collins Powell claimed that when he was released from Frongoch internment camp in Wales after the 1916 Rising, he spent three weeks drinking Wrastler on a “Frongoch stomach”.

>>> READ MORE: Who was Michael Collins’ mother? Mary Anne O’Brien explored

Not only was Deasy’s Brewery the largest employer in the town, but they also tried to source the raw materials locally. They regularly boasted that their stout was made exclusively from locally sourced barley. An ad in the Southern Star in 1925 declared:

“We are the only brewers in West Cork. We buy only West Cork barley, so helping the local farmer. All our employees are West Cork men, so helping the local workingmen. It is up to you to help us.”

In 1934, Deasys again had cause to celebrate. There were 818 entries at the Brewers’ Exhibition in London in which Deasys had three entries from which they managed to secure two prizes: one for bottled stout and another for draught stout. They were the only Irish company to receive any prize at the exhibition. In 1935, they again secured prizes at the Brewers’ Exhibition in London and again they were the only Irish company to do so.

The demise of Deasy & Co.

Just a few short years later after their big wins, Deasy & Co. ceased its brewing operation in 1940. The owners blamed increased taxes and rising costs, while the Southern Star blamed centralization and monopolization. This closure did not, however, result in major unemployment as the company redeployed the brewery workers into the bottling and mineral water departments. They also diversified into soft drinks and juices.

By 1950, Deasys had built a new bottling and mineral water manufacturing plant on Lamb Street (now Deasy’s Car Park). By this time, the company was a Guinness agent and Guinness porter was being bottled in the Clonakilty plant and from there distributed throughout Cork and Kerry. In 1999, the plant was taken over by United Beverages, a Guinness subsidiary, which essentially sounded the death knell for the Clonakilty company. Soon, they closed the production lines for the mineral drinks. Deasy & Co. finally closed in 2001, after 200 years in operation, with United Beverages claiming that the bottling and distribution operations were no longer economically viable.

In 1941 the former brewery complex had been sold by public auction (though the backyard was retained by Deasy & Co.). Since the mid-20th century, this complex has been in the ownership of the O’Regan family of Shannonvale Foods. Some conservation work was undertaken on the brewery’s large imposing red brick chimneystacks over the past couple of decades. While Deasys remains one of the best-preserved courtyard breweries of the period in Ireland, unfortunately in 2019 two of its iconic chimneystacks were demolished. Given its designated status as a protected structure, it is anticipated that they will soon be re-erected.

If you or one of your family members worked for Deasys & Co., we’d love to hear from you in the comment section below. 

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