Fraciscan Well facility to double brewing capacity

The Franciscan Well is set to more than double its brewing capacity as demand for its beers exceeds all expectations.

The Cork brewery, now backed by Canadian beer giant Molson Coors, has ordered a number of extra tanks for its brewing facility in the Marina Commercial Park following unprecedented demand for beers in the UK and Ireland.

Currently, its brewing facility in the Marina Commercial Park, which opened last September, is capable of brewing 35,000 hectolitres (hl) of beer per annum. The new order of tanks will boost this to 75,000hl.

In comparison, its original brewery on the North Mall has a capacity of just 1500hl.

Founder Shane Long said: “We built another brewery, a much, much bigger facility down the docks, but that has already reached maximum capacity for tank space. We have more tanks on order but because of the growing industry, we have a waiting time of about six months, so it will be the early part of next year before we are ready again.”

The brewery also plans to launch a limited run of bottled beers in off-licences in September with plans to increase this further in 2017 when brewing capacity increases.

Franciscan Well beers, which include Shandon Stout and Chieftain IPA, can be found in 10 countries, including in more than 1,000 bars in Ireland. Another 10 new markets will be added next year.

Mr Long said: “We’ll be expanding to another 10 next year. We actually had to pull back the reins because Ireland and the UK got so big for us.

“We have a product called Chieftain that has surpassed all expectations forecast-wise. We have to be very careful on activating new markets because the Irish market got so big for us — we didn’t see this coming.”

It is a tremendous success for the award-winning brewery which defied all odds by starting out in the craft beer market in the 1990s.

Initially a two man operation, more than 20 staff are now employed between the bar and brewery.

When Mr Long founded the Franciscan Well 18 years ago, there were 11 microbreweries in Ireland. Just three survived.

Now, the craft beer market is worth more than €40m nationally, with industry analysts anticipating even further growth in the coming years.