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HISTORY SNAPSHOT
For over 100 years Ireland had seen a steady decline in its local brewing culture with the industry becoming dominated by a small number of large
internationally owned breweries. During this time Ireland's brewing industry entered an unfortunate period of consolidation, takeover and mergers
until all that was left by the1980s were three large multinational brewing corporations operating six breweries. On-going consolidation within that group
means that by the end of 2013 only two of these breweries will still be operating. However, a revitalisation of Irish brewing is now well underway with the
development of a flourishing craft beer sector. O’Hara’s is honoured to have been at the forefront of this development since 1996, and we welcome
the many new independent breweries set up in the past few years by like-minded colleagues passionate about brewing more flavoursome
beers and making them available all over Ireland and beyond (there are now over 20 craft breweries on the island of Ireland and several
more in the pipeline).
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1996 CARLOW BREWING COMPANY ESTABLISHED
In 1996 O’Hara’s Carlow Brewing Company signed a lease on the nineteenth century “Goods Store” in Carlow town within the local railway
station grounds. Fortunate that our family roots are in County Carlow with its rich arable land and limestone-rich hard water supply which
is particularly suited to brewing Irish stouts and ales, the location was ideal. With a passion for craft beers and a budget just big enough to
scope out our initial brewing plant, we set out on our mission to change the brewing landscape in Ireland - to revert it back to a country
where flavoursome beers would once again be the standard beverage in every town!
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1998 LAUNCHING OUR FIRST BEERS
In a market totally dominated by international mainstream breweries with strong control on the distribution channels, the outlook was
daunting but we pressed ahead. Having restored the old Goods Store and sourced and commissioned our new 15HL brewhouse, we set about
developing and launching our first two beers - O’Hara’s Irish Red (formerly known as Moling’s Red Ale) and Curim Gold Celtic Wheat Beer.
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2000 GROWTH AND MARKET CHANGE
The success attracted international attention and over the next couple of years the company continued to grow our customer base abroad.
With our three core brands on board, we commenced bottling and exporting our beers in bottle and in keg.
While the home market was gradually growing, it was still proving difficult at first for a new craft beer brand to make significant inroads given
the “closed” nature of the market at that time. The retail off-trade sector was the first to open up to craft brews and specialty imports,
providing a welcome outlet for O’Hara’s and also opening up the opportunity for more and more customers to sample and get excited about
more flavoursome beers. Some specialist craft beer bars also arrived on the scene and their great success has been followed by many more
bars now stocking Irish craft beers on draught and bottle.
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2005 REACHING CAPACITY AND REVIEWING
Sales continued to gain momentum and in 2005 we expanded our capacity by adding additional fermentation vessels, allowing us to
add more brews to our daily schedule. By end of 2006/2007 we were again approaching the limits of our capacity and it was clear that if we
wanted to continue to grow and realise our aims a more dramatic solution was needed - which meant moving the brewery to a new location
that would allow us to increase capacity significantly and also provide space for potential future growth.
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2008 10TH ANNIVERSARY BREW
During the intervening years at the Goods Store, we introduced some seasonal and limited edition brews including a Winter Warmer Red Ale, our Druid’s
Brew Celtic Stout and the much acclaimed once-off limited edition O’Hara’s Celebration Stout, a special brew launched to mark our 10th year of brewing.
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2009 PREPARING FOR THE MOVE / THE GOODS STORE IPA
Behind the scenes a lot of planning went into scoping out not only a new facility but a brewery plant that would match our ambitions as well as
our budgets and provide the flexibility we needed for the future.
However, before departing the old premises, we had one final task! In August 2009 we decided to brew something different as our last brew at the old
Goods Store - a cask-conditioned and dry-hopped IPA, which we called The Goods Store IPA. This brew was intended as a once-off to mark the occasion,
but the reaction was so positive that we repeated the cask versions a few more times in our new facility and later added kegs and bottles – and changed
the name O’Hara’s Irish Pale Ale, which is now one of our most popular beers.
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2009 THE MOVE - OUR NEW BREWERY
In September 2009 we underwent a major expansion project moving our production to a new purpose built premises in our hometown of
Bagenalstown, County Carlow. With this move came a lot of challenges maintaining supply without interruption but thankfully all came together well.
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2009 NEW FERMENTATION TANKS
We invested in a new custom-built 70HL brewhouse which is a direct scale up of our original 15HL brewhouse and additional 150HL fermentation tanks
to increase capacity further. Our original 15HL fermentation tanks moved with us and are still in use today for new trial brews.
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2011 INCREASED KEGGING CAPACITY
This year saw further expansion with the installation of a new automated kegging line to facilitate the growing appetite for O’Hara’s craft beers on draught at
home and abroad.
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2011 NEW FERMENTERS ADDED
This year also saw the addition of more fermentation and conditioning vessels to further increase our brewing capacity.
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2012 LICENCED TO DISTILL
While we continued to expand our brewing capacity further with more new tanks in 2012, we also embarked on a new adventure with the installation
of a boutique distillery in the brewery. The first spirit was laid down in oak barrels on the 1st of November 2012 and will store for a minimum
of 3 years before its earliest release date as a true single malt Irish whiskey.
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2012 ADDING SEASONAL BEERS
In recognition of the growing demand for craft beer styles we launched our first winter seasonal, O’Hara’s Winter Star, on draught. In 2013, we added seasonal beers
to our 50cl bottle range.
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2012 AN IRISH NATURAL BLONDE
Reacting to the popularity for blonde beers on the Irish market and brewed to the European blonde style, O’Hara’s Natural Blonde approaches a cross
between a pilsner and a blonde with the smoothness of a blonde ale and the bite that is notably stronger and lasting.
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2013 A CRAFT LAGER WITH FLAVOUR
With the increased capacity we now have the space and flexibility to explore our passion for new beer styles and brewing techniques. In 2013 we added a
further two brews to our core draught range, O’Hara’s Double IPA and O’Hara’s Helles Craft Lager.
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2013 BREWERY CORNER - CRAFT BEER BAR
In April 2013 we embarked on another adventure and opened the doors to our own craft beer pub, serving only independent Irish craft beers
on tap. Brewery Corner is located 24km from our brewery, in the heart of Kilkenny city in an area with a long tradition of brewing and
distilling. The full O’Hara’s beer range is available at all times alongside guest draught beers and ciders from other independent Irish craft
brewers and a wide range of quality imports in bottle. Brewery Corner is an experience for the craft beer enthusiast and a great place to learn
what craft brewed beers are really about – taste the flavours.
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2013 BREWERY CORNER CROWNED CRAFT BEER BAR OF THE YEAR
The Oscars of the Irish bar industry were held in Dublin on the 8th of October to celebrate the best of Irish hospitality. And our Kilkenny pub Brewery Corner won Best Craft Beer Bar of the Year!
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2014 AMBER ADVENTURE RELEASED
Brewed with the body of an American Amber Ale, and hopped and dry hopped with four different New Zealand varieties, the result was a satisfying and sessionable amber ale bursting with southern hemisphere hop aroma.
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2015 FALLING APPLE RELEASED
After nearly 20 years of brewing craft beer, we made the decision make our first foray into the cider market with Falling Apple Cider. Made with 100% Irish Apples, this medium dry cider holds a fine balance of sweet, dry and bitter flavours.
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2015 BARREL AGED LEANN FOLLAIN WINS AT IRISH WHISKEY AWARDS
There was great celebrations with the news of yet another accolade for our multi-award-winning Barrel Aged Series after winning the ‘Best Irish Whiskey Barrel Aged Irish Craft Beer’ at the recent Irish Whiskey Awards.
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2015 COLLABORATION WITH STARR HILL
Foreign Affair was our first ever US Collaboration brew and is a US style Red IPA. This limited edition beer is bursting with flavour and was on sale in Ireland just in time for the July 4th celebrations!
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2016 BREWERY CORNER NAMED CRAFT BEER BAR OF THE YEAR
Our bar ‘Brewery Corner‘ was named ‘Craft Beer Bar of the Year’ in 2016. This is a wonderful achievement for the team in Kilkenny who have put themselves on the map with their ongoing dedication to providing a first class craft beer experience with unmatched customer service, food, entertainment and feel good vibes.
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2016 BREWERY EXPANSION
This year has seen the addition of 4 new fermentation vessels which have been installed outside the brewery walls in our courtyard. These giant new tanks combined have added on approximately 100,000 litres to our final output which was a massive boost for us and of course our customers.
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2016 OPSESSION, NOTORIUS, FREEBIRD, IMPERIAL STOUT, FESTHALTEN, STYRIAN WOLF RELEASED
2016 was our busiest year yet in the brewery with the release of 6 new beers including the fourth in the Hop Adventure Series and a limited edition Imperial Stout.
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2016 FIRST CANS
Another first for us this year was the release of our range of cans. To coincide with festival season we brought cans of our Irish Pale, OPsession and Falling Apple cider to off licence’s around the country.
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2016 KNOCKANSTOCKAN
O’Hara’s were the official drinks sponsor of this year’s KnockanStockan Festival which takes place in Blessington Lakes, Co. Wicklow in July, and we kept the performers and crowds in attendance happy by serving up refreshing Irish craft beer and cider throughout the whole weekend, both on draught and for the first time ever in cans!
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2017 ACQUISITION OF CRAIGIES
We added another string to our bow with the acquisition of Craigies Cider. The sale includes Craigies cider production equipment, which will allow us to bring all cider production in-house to our brewery in Bagenalstown.
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2017 SPANISH INVESTMENT
We were delighted to officially announce the details of the investment by Hijos de Rivera into Carlow Brewing Company. Hijos de Rivera is an independent, family-owned company based in Galicia, Northern Spain, and currently, comprises 6% of the Spanish beer market, and is most well known for its Estrella Galicia beer brand and Maeloc cider brand.
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2017 URBAN BREWING
Urban Brewing officially opened its doors to the public on 30th August 2017. Dublin’s newest craft brewery, bar and restaurant saw a long time dream of the brewery team being fulfilled.
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OUR TRADEMARK - OUR HERITAGE AND OUR FUTURE
Our trademark represents the Celtic warrior’s sword and shield, a symbol of endurance and distinctiveness. Brewing is our heritage and we
want to preserve that legacy.
Today, there has never been a more exciting time to be part of the craft beer scene in Ireland. With craft beer supporters like Beoir.org and
the annual Irish Craft Beer and Cider Festival event, the virtues of Irish craft beer are now available to a wide audience. Craft beer consumers
are becoming more numerous, more confident and more adventurous than ever before, leading to demand for a wide variety of flavours and
styles. Pubs and off-licenses are playing their part and many now stock a broad range of Irish craft beer to meet customer demand.
O’Hara’s Brewery/Carlow Brewing Company is an independent Irish family owned brewery located in the heart of Ireland's historical malt-growing “Barrow Valley” region.