Event Name: ‘Innovate Drogheda’ - Brewing & Distilleries

Launch of a Series of 4 events celebrating Drogheda’s Industrial & Entrepreneurial past with it’s present and future entrepreneurs. Drogheda has been producing entrepreneurs for hundreds of years, is still doing so, and The Mill was opened in 2014 to encourage and support new and existing businesses in the Drogheda region.

Drogheda Millmount Museum will talk about past Breweries & Distilleries in Drogheda, focusing on the history of William Cairnes Brewery.

Geoff Fitzpatrick of Jack Cody brewery will talk about why he set up a micro-brewery in 2014, and the challenges / opportunities in the sector.

At one time, Drogheda had 18 Distilleries and 9 Breweries in the region. In 1825 William Cairnes founded Cairnes Brewery Drogheda. The brewery gave employment to almost 200 workers for over 150 years and was famous for its ales and stout. The Brewery closed in 1960, bringing to an end the brewing industry in Drogheda.

Drogheda hasn’t had a brewery since William Cairnes closed its gates in 1960 but on August 15, 2014, Geoff launched his new business, Jack Cody’s Brewery, in the Boyne Business Park in Greenhills.