Beer in Northern Ireland


Beer in Northern Ireland has been influenced by immigration, especially from Scotland and the drinking habits in Ireland until the partition of Ireland. Whiskey drinking was always a tradition with Guinness from Dublin being a strong influence in the style of beer drunk in the 19th and 20th centuries. Brewing traditions almost ceased to exist as smaller breweries closed, or were taken over, and then the large breweries in turn closed down their facilities. The Campaign for Real Ale was founded in 1971 however it was 10 years before the first new brewery, Hilden Brewing, opened its doors.
Most microbreweries in Northern Ireland find it difficult to sell beer in draught form due to the local tied-pubs issues, where most pubs are owned by Diageo, C&C Group or Molson Coors Brewing Company.

History

The Celtic tradition of brewing beer almost certainly existed in Ireland from before 1,000 BC using barley. The Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate, in a 1,600-year-old poem, described Celtic beer as smelling “like a billy goat.” Historically Ireland produced ale without the use of hops, as the plant is not native to Ireland, which led in the 18th century to importing quantities of hops from England.
During 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 about 600,000 barrels of beer were brewed annually in Ireland. In the 1760s the Royal Dublin Society offered prizes to brewers who used the most Irish hops and those that produced the most Porter.
During the interwar period in Northern Ireland, "many drinkers preferred whiskey to beer."
The Caffrey's Ulster Brewery, established in Belfast in 1897 and taken over by Bass in 1974, closed in 2004, so ending big company brewing in Northern Ireland. Stout is the most preferred beer in Northern Ireland, with lager second and bitter beer as a distant third preference. Guinness, brewed in Dublin is still a popular stout beer in Northern Ireland.
Hilden Brewing Company claims to be Ireland's oldest microbrewery, founded in 1981.
In 2007 Clotworthy Dobbin, produced by Whitewater Brewing Company was judged one of the best 50 beers in the world.
The number of microbreweries in Northern Ireland has significantly increased in recent years, from 5 in 2012 to 30 in 2017.
In 2020 Craft Breweries called for a change in the law stopping them selling they produce directly to the customer on site, having to incur additional costs using a third party for sales.

List of Northern Ireland breweries

BreweryTownCountySinceContract Brewed?
Ards GreyabbeyCounty Down2011
BaronscourtNewtownstewartCounty Tyrone2018
BarrahooleyRandalstownCounty Antrim2014Co-located at Hillstown
Beer HutKilkeelCounty Down2017
Black MountainLisburnCounty Antrim2016
BoundaryBelfastCounty Antrim2015
BullhouseNewtownardsCounty Down2016
ClanconnelCounty Armagh2008Rye River, Co Kildare
ClearskyCounty Tyrone2013Hilden
CloughmoreCounty Down2014Whitewater
Dopey DickDerryCounty Londonderry2016
FarmageddonComberCounty Down2013
Fermanagh Beer Company DerrygonnellyCounty Fermanagh2009
Glens of Antrim AleBallycastleCounty Antrim2014
Heaney FarmhouseBellaghyCounty Londonderry2016Co-located at Boundary
HerculesBelfastCounty Antrim2014
HildenLisburnCounty Antrim1981
HillstownRandalstownCounty Antrim2014
KnockoutBelfastCounty Antrim2015
LacadaPortrushCounty Antrim2015
LecaleArdglassCounty Down2018
LooplandBelfastCounty Antrim2018Knockout
MashDownBanbridgeCounty Down2018
Mourne MountainsWarrenpointCounty Down2015
Night Cap BeerBelfastCounty Antrim2015Sadlers, Stourbridge
NorthboundDerryCounty Londonderry2015
O’Connor Craft BeerGreysteelCounty Londonderry2015
SamuelsBelfastCounty Antrim2017Knockout
SheelinBellanaleckCounty Fermanagh2013
Station WorksNewryCounty Down2013
Walled City BreweryDerryCounty Londonderry2015
When We Are Giants/SailortownBelfastCounty Antrim2015Carrig, Co Leitrim and Knockout, Belfast
Whitewater BreweryCastlewellanCounty Down1996