Ireland has a worldwide reputation for stout. The Beamish & Crawford brewery, founded in 1792 in Cork, was the first Irish brewery to brew stout and porter on a large scale, creating the product and tradition on which Ireland's 'stout' reputation was to grow. This book traces the growth and development of porter and stout brewing in Ireland and tells the story of over two centuries of Cork's most iconic brewery and the people who worked there. The firm's extensive archive has enabled the writing of the most complete brewery history yet produced in Ireland. Here is a unique insight into an iconic brewery and the wealthy families who ran it, leaving indelible marks on Cork's social, cultural and political landscape, as well as its economy. William Beamish and William Crawford, the brewery founders, were two of Cork's great merchant princes who made fortunes in the 1780s, exporting agricultural produce and importing wine, tea, coffee and London porter. Their story is also told here using their letters and account books, sources hidden for over two hundred years.