Ballykilcavan Brewery

Craft beer from our family farm
The Griffin is the symbol of the Walsh family. We have installed a new craft brewery on our family farm near Stradbally, Co. Laois. The farm has been in our family for 13 generations since 1639, and setting up a brewery is one of the things we are doing to secure it for future generations. We will also be adding a visitor centre, taproom and walks and trails around our farm and 400 acres of woodland.
At Ballykilcavan Brewing, we believe in using the best quality ingredients we can get our hands on, and we believe that the best way to control that quality is to grow our own. 100% of the barley we use to make our beer is sourced from our farm. Our pale ale malt is malted by Minch Malt in Athy on their Robert Boby Malting plant, which produces an ale malt specifically designed for craft brewers. Our crystal malt is micro-malted by Maltbox, and our amber and chocolate malts are roasted in small batches in a custom designed micro-roaster for maximum freshness.
Almost all speciality malts used commercially in Ireland are imported from outside the country. Many of them are excellent, but we believe that Irish beer should use excellent Irish ingredients wherever possible. With our maritime climate, we grow some of the best malting barley in the world in this country, with a longer growing season to allow the barley to develop flavour, mouthfeel and texture. Why not use it to make our beer?