The story of Murphy’s Brewery began in earnest in 1854, when James Jeremiah Murphy sold his distillery and, along with his four brothers, bought the Cork Foundling Hospital in Cork, Ireland. They converted the buildings into a brewery, which opened in 1856 as Lady’s Well Brewery, named after a holy well near the property.
Known officially as James. J. Murphy & Co., the brewery quickly grew, and by 1906, it was the second biggest brewery in Ireland, giving Guinness some hearty competish. Murphy’s Stout owed much of its success to the tied house system. Under this system, about 200 pubs in and around Cork were allowed to serve beer only from Murphy’s.
The last in the line of James. J Murphy’s direct descendants oversaw the final phase of the brewery until retiring in 1981. In 1982, the brewery filed for bankruptcy, and was acquired by Heineken. Heineken continues to operate the brewery as Heineken Brewery Ireland Ltd. Despite the numerous and sometimes drastic changes since the brewery’s inception, Murphy’s Stout is still brewed at the same location.