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The St. James’s Gate Brewery is where it all began. Today it is the largest stout-producing brewery in the world and the lead plant in the production of Guinness special ingredient.
In the last couple of decades, Diageo has spent €350 million transforming the Guinness brewery into a world-class facility. Occupying 56 acres on the banks of the River Liffey, the brewery produces the equivalent of 12 million kegs of Guinness annually for the domestic market and for export to Europe, the USA and around the world.
St. James’s Gate is also the headquarters of Diageo Ireland, where around 1,200 people work in areas including sales, marketing, quality and customer service. Read more about St. James’s Gate.
Waterford
The Mary Street brewery has been in existence since 1792. An investment of €40 million has created a state-of-the-art special ingredient plant to produce Guinness Flavour Extract, the essence of Guinness. The essence is exported to the 50 countries where Guinness is brewed.
A state-of-the-art research centre carries out comprehensive analysis before the extract is distributed to Guinness breweries abroad. This rigorous process ensures draught and packaged Guinness is consistent and of the highest quality wherever it is consumed around the world. Read more about the Waterford Brewery.
Dundalk
Dundalk is the second-largest brewery in Ireland after St. James’s Gate, consisting of a brewhouse capable of producing lagers and ales. Nowadays Harp, Satzenbrau, Macardles Ale, Smithwick’s, Carlsberg and Warsteiner are brewed in Dundalk.
In 1988, the brewery took over the franchise to brew Carlsberg in Ireland. There are about 80 people employed at the Dundalk brewery across a range of disciplines including production, supply, customer service, technical and quality control. Read more about the Dundalk brewery.
Kilkenny
St. Francis Abbey Brewery has long and historic links with Kilkenny and is Ireland’s oldest operating brewery, stretching back to the 14th century. John Smithwick first began brewing here in 1710 and the name of one of his beers, Smithwick’s ale, has been a familiar part of Irish life for over three centuries.
The brewery also brews Budweiser, one of Ireland’s best-selling lagers, under license from Anheuser-Busch in the USA. Since the early 1980s there has been substantial capital investment in the site in terms of plant, equipment, technology and modern manufacturing systems.
In a further affirmation of its status, in 1993 the brewery gained accreditation for the ISO 9002 quality standard. It is capable of producing over 2.4 million kegs a year. Read more about the St. Francis Abbey brewery.
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