In the lead-up to Electric Picnic, you may have seen David Walsh-Kemmis’ tongue-in-cheek social media posts about being unable to serve his beer at the festival, despite being located just on the other side of the field in Stradbally, Co Laois. Like many independent brewers, it frustrates him to see international brands offer sponsorship for large events and then gain exclusivity to the event’s beer sales.
On the bright side, over the years David has been consistently recognised for his approach to agri-tourism, sustainability and the quality of his beers, which are made in the brewery on his family’s 1,087ac farm.
Ballykilcavan beers are made with barley grown on-site and water from the farm’s 18th century well.
In recent years, David’s focus has been on combining his output with agri-tourism. He regularly welcomes groups of visitors to their historic farmyard.
“We started the brewing company back in 2017 to diversify our tillage farm, because I couldn’t see a viable future in farming at that stage,” he explains.
“The brewery and farm go hand-in-hand. We’re very busy with tours and events, and part of the reason that people want to visit is because it is set on our 13th generation family farm [in use since the 1600s]. We get a lot of overseas visitors, and the hook is the whole package of the farm – the family history and the brewery.”
David also grows hops, making him, it is believed, one of only two brewers in Ireland (the other being Wicklow Wolf) to successfully grow hops each year.
A notoriously challenging crop for our Irish climate, David grows enough hops for one seasonally available beer: his Fresh Hopped Pale Ale, and they are harvested in early October each year. A key ingredient for any well-made beer, hops add flavour, stability and often impart fruity aromas. Irish-grown hops are not considered the best in the world (America’s Pacific Northwest region holds that title), but this doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely special.
“We planted the first hop rhizomes here in 2016, the year before we started brewing,” David says. “They didn’t produce many hops in year one, but by 2017 we had enough to do a small batch of beer. By 2018, we had enough for a full 1,000L brew.
“They’re very susceptible to moulds and mildew and there are no chemicals cleared to spray them with, so we use organic treatments [like copper sulphate] to try and keep them healthy. They are hungry plants, as well. Every year, they grow from ground level up to 8m, so we apply seaweed extract and plenty of manure for nutrition.”
It’s easy to purchase imported hops or hop pellets to add to beer. If they are challenging to grow, why go through the hassle?
David says despite any challenges, the process is rewarding – especially considering the barley and water for his beer are also produced on-farm. His Fresh Hopped Pale Ale is a true product of his environment: an easy-drinking beer with a low-to-medium bitterness and some earthy or floral notes.
“The flavour of that one beer changes every year, depending on the weather during the growing season,” he quips. “But if we were French wine makers, we’d call that terroir and be very proud of it. I’m happy to take that approach.”
Aside from their Fresh Hopped Pale Ale, David and his team recently launched a new limited-edition beer, ‘Number 16’ in the Clancy’s Can range.
“It’s named after the Clancy family, who have spent four generations working at Ballykilcavan,” David says.
“It’s a 5% IPA [India Pale Ale], with a strong, bitter backbone and tropical fruit and pine notes [coming from the sort of hops that we just can’t grow in Ireland].”
Our Brewery
Nestled along the scenic Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, Our Brewery was founded in 2021 by Jonathan and Deborah Mitchell. This brewery is letting heritage and their natural environment drive innovation as they attempt to “bridge the gap between wine and beer” – a model which is working amazingly well for Deborah, Jonathan and head brewer Michael Bateson.
Our Brewery emerged from Deborah and Jonathan’s original business, Get ‘Er Brewed, which sold home brewing kits and equipment. They transformed the equipment showroom into a working brewery and have since dedicated their time and efforts into making beers that are inspired by history, creativity and experimentation.
They use traditional techniques – including ‘wild’ fermentation, which uses natural yeasts and bacteria found in the air to ferment some of their beers – and carefully sourced ingredients to create their product line.
Their range was highly ranked at the 2025 Great Taste Awards, with 11 awards given to a number of their beers. Of these awards, three of their beers took home the highly coveted three-star ranking and two of those were nominated for the Golden Fork award – the ultimate accolade, judged by the Guild of Fine Food.
Of the over 14,000 entries to the Great Taste Awards, fewer than 2% achieved a three-star ranking, making this level of recognition extremely special for Deborah, Jonathan and their whole team.
The three-star awards were for three of their barrel-aged beers: the Untamed Wild Aged Ale, the Razma Keptinis Beer and the Low Land Oud Bruin Brown Ale. These beers, like many of Our Brewery’s offerings, are unique in flavour and methodology. The Razma Keptinis is based on a Lithuanian brewing method which involves baking the mash in a wood-fired kiln prior to brewing. The beer is then aged in rum barrels for 18 months.
The Untamed Wild Aged Ale, meanwhile, is aged for 27 months in Limousin oak and instead of brewer’s yeast, is made using their wild fermentation technique.
Similar to those brewing beer in the republic, Jonathan says that the licensing issues they face as independent brewers in Northern Ireland is their biggest continuous challenge.
“This is beyond anything we imagined,” he adds. “We set out to brew world-class beer as a genuine passion project. To have our work recognised is both humbling and exhilarating. These awards belong to our whole team and the community who have supported us from day one.
“We operate in one of the most challenging licensing environments in Northern Ireland. Hopefully, this achievement not only highlights the quality of beer being brewed here, but also sparks conversations about much-needed licensing reform.”
Whitefield Brewery
Cuilan Loughnane of Templemore, Co Tipperary is a pioneer of the Irish independent beer scene. Brewing since the early 1990s, he has seen his fair share of ups and downs within the industry. When he and wife, Sally, launched Whitefield Brewery in 2009, they combined a realistic business model with Cuilan’s creativity and years of experience.
Amidst the more recent challenges facing independent brewers, Cuilan and Sally have chosen to focus inward. They have always enjoyed close relationships with local pubs and shops. With the post-COVID economic downturn, they made the decision to focus on supplying their local community, and avoid increasing production in order to keep their business at a manageable scale.
Far from stifling innovation, this move has enabled Cuilan to focus on what he loves most: experimenting with flavours, brewing techniques and finding new and better ways to operate.
It has also meant working specifically with one local tillage farmer, Tim Connolly, to grow their barley.
“Working with Tim has been a genuinely rewarding experience,” he tells Irish Country Living. “Tim brings a wealth of experience and care to his work. This partnership has not only strengthened our local supply chain; it’s deepened our commitment to sustainability and community. Tim’s farm is now an integral part of our brewing story.
“In the wine industry, you have a clear connection between the winery and the vineyard, but in the brewing industry that connection disappeared many years ago,” he continues.
“As part of our ethos of being a local brewery, it would be a bit of a mockery if our malt was coming from the United Kingdom or Holland [as, in many cases with small breweries, it does, as price dictates]. The biggest aspect for Tim was the financial implication of growing barley for us. We discovered that by paying slightly more for our malt, it had little implication on the final price of our product. We could afford to pay Tim a guaranteed set price for his barley regardless of the current market price.”
While they use Tim’s barley in all of their beers, Cuilan developed their pale ale, Eastwood, entirely around Tim’s barley crop. This past year, they asked Tim if he would consider growing Hunter barley – a variety which was once grown in Ireland specifically for brewing beer. He agreed and they are now reaping the benefits of this first harvest. This crop will be used in their ales and stouts for 2026.
“The last true variety of barley grown in Ireland with the brewer in mind was Hunter, in 1959,” Cuilan says. “We asked Tim how he would feel about growing a variety that had died out in the late 60s. He took up the challenge like a child in a sweet shop.”
All of this innovation has come from a place of continuously needing to differentiate in an industry where larger beer brands dominate pub taps and where new licences are non-existent.
It’s difficult for any small business to exist within our current economic climate, but for small independent breweries in Ireland it has become nearly impossible.
“Post-recession, the craft beer industry managed to get 5% of the market, but post-pandemic we lost a lot of business and really struggled to regain market share,” Cuilan says.
“Unless we can evoke change in Government circles, the future of small independent breweries is, unfortunately, not in a great place.
“Things like working closely with Tim [to develop a premium product] will hopefully boost business. We also have planning permission to build a space at our brewery to bring locals to us, for tours and tastings.”
See whitefieldbrewery.ie, ballykilcavan.com and ourbrewerygeb.com