St. Mel’s Brewery in Longford was founded in 2013 by Liam Hanlon and Eoin Tynan. Hanlon is the brewer and Tynan the sales and business manager. The pair have been busy during lockdown. “Pre-lockdown 60 per cent of our business was to pubs and restaurants, but we were lucky as we didn’t have a lot of beer in cask and were able to divert it to bottles and cans,” Hanlon says.
“We have also recently got a brewers’ licence, we are only the third or fourth brewery to do so, and that allows us to sell our beers directly to the public. It is going really well with lots of locals dropping in to the brewery. We are a local brewery and have always received big support in Longford for which we are very grateful. This new licence will be very important in the future, allowing us to produce small-batch beers and all sorts of once-off brews.”
Demand for cans
“We will continue with bottles, but there is a demand for cans.” They have three new canned beers, all named for answers to someone offering you a beer. There is a light lager called “Go On So”, a pale ale “I Will, Yeah” and a bock lager, “Ah Sure Lookit”.”
In 2018 they took on an investor, Padraic O’Kane, owner of Fire restaurant in the Mansion House and Sole on South William Street. “We have a very good partnership, and make a beer for Fire, a 5 per cent pilsner, and are currently developing one for Sole. We also do bespoke beers for restaurants like The Oarsman in Carrick-on-Shannon and The Helix in Dublin.”
I tried the new range of canned beers. All were good, the standout for me being the delicious malty, honeyed and rounded Ah Sure Lookit Spring Bock Lager, although I suspect the juicy pale ale – I Will, Yeah, will be very popular too. St. Mel’s beers are widely available through independent off-licences, O’Briens and some Costcutter, Carryout, SuperValu and Centra stores.
