began in 1854, when James Jeremiah Murphy (1825–97), aided by his four brothers, sold off his distillery and undertook the purchase, for £1,300 (2,472 US dollars), of the buildings of the Cork Foundling Hospital in Cork, Ireland. Named after a local Holy Well, the site became known as the Lady’s Well Brewery and began brewing in 1856 under the official name of James J. Murphy & Co. The brewery was a rapid success and by 1861 produced 64,000 hl (54,538 US bbl) of beer, peaking at 229,000 hl (195,146 US bbl) in 1900. In its heyday, the brewery was a major competitor to Guinness and produced Murphy’s porter, XX stout, and a blend of the two, called Single stout. The brewery’s robust growth was protected by the tied house system, in which a duopoly in Munster Province was shared with Beamish & Crawford. See tied house system. A malthouse was built in 1889. This later became the brewery offices and was almost destroyed by a burst vat in 1913. Murphy’s was affected by the Irish civil war because four tied pubs in Cork were destroyed by fire in 1920 through UK government action. In 1921 Murphy’s was first bottled and in 1924 the first advertising campaign began. In 1953 Lt Col John Fitzjames, the last direct descendent of the founder, became chairman, retiring in 1981. In 1965 Watney Mann took a 30% share (rising to 51% in 1967) but sold to TST, the state rescue agency, in 1971 when production was down to 18,000 hl (15,339 US bbl). Murphy’s went into bankruptcy in 1982 and was taken over by Heineken the following year, when the brewery was renamed Heineken Brewery Ireland Ltd. A year later Murphy’s Irish red ale was developed for the export market. The first exports were to the United States in 1979.

See also beamish & crawford, ireland.