A toast to our on-farm breweries
Approach the local county enterprise board for advice on supports, research, training and legislation. On-farm micro-breweries have the advantage of convertible buildings, and the potential to service their region with a distinct product. Capital expenditure will most likely be at least €30,000, and could be up to €150,000. Second-hand equipment, including casks, sometimes become available, though less so in Ireland than in Britain. There are generous tax reliefs for micro-breweries producing up to 20,000 hectolitres.
If you are interested in brewing in east Cork, Rupert Hugh Jones’s microbrewery on three acres is for sale at Rathaha Upper, Ladysbridge. Jones hopes to upscale his brewing business and move down the road to Shangarry to grow hops and brew beside Ballymaloe, where his mother-in-law Darina Allen runs the cookery school.
“We built the pilot brewery and grow hops on the farm. We also do our own malting,” he says.
“When we move to Shanagarry, we hope to grow hops and barley in a sheltered environment, out the front of the cookery school.” He hopes to construct all-purpose buildings where he can malt in a loft, have tastings with local artisan foods, and his own beers and ciders. “We will also need a drying area and kilning area for roasting.”
A challenge will be his preference for organic production methods: “Hops are chemical-intensive crops, sprayed up to 16 times in a short growing season. I managed to source some seeds that suit organic production, from the department’s seed bank.”
* Longueville House in Mallow recently launched a cider, from their own orchard.
Longueville House Apple Brandy was first developed by the late Michael O’Callaghan in 2000, when he planted 20 acres of Dabinett and Michelin cider apples. The cider he made was distilled into a brandy. Now, Michael’s son William has taken over, but with bottling at the cider stage to produce the new Longueville House Cider.
* The Nohoval Brewing Company in Co Cork is believed to be the first commercial craft cider maker in the Republic. Their Stonewell Medium Dry Irish Craft Cider is available in selected pubs and restaurants.
