Our History

A family business from the start, it all began in 1856 when James J. Murphy and his brothers sold their first business, the Midleton Distillery, to found the Lady’s Well brewery on Leitrim Street, Cork City.

A true entrepreneur, James J. guided our brewery to success for its first forty years, overseeing the building of the New Malt house in 1889 where we are still headquartered today.

Brewery celebrates its Golden Jubilee by taking all of the workers and their families on an excursion to Killarney.

In 1978, Murphy’s Brewery launched Heineken® into the Irish market with immediate success, gaining 9% share of the draught lager market in its first year.

Murphy’s Brewery becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of HEINEKEN N.V.

In 1989 Heineken® became the Number 1 lager in Ireland, a position we still hold & cherish to this day.

150^th celebration of Murphy’s Brewery.

Another great Cork brewing dynasty Beamish & Crawford was acquired by HEINEKEN giving us another 216 years of brewing expertise.

160^th celebration of Lady's well Brewery. The company continues to innovate and lead the way in the Irish market with our ever growing drinks portfolio.