Meet the price-busting Wexford pint of stout that's become a hit in the UK

Sunday World

06-05-2025

'We are probably the only pub outside Dublin or Cork not selling Guinness, Murphy's or Beamish and still surviving.'
An Irish pub which began brewing its own price busting pints of stout for €4.50 has proved such a success it has now won a deal serving it in one of the UK's biggest brewery chains.
Brennan's bar in Enniscorthy Co Wexford is selling its own brand stout alongside O'Hara's Red Ale and Carling lager for a tasty €4.50.
So popular has Brennan's Irish Stout being that not only is it now stocked in T&R Theakston Brewery's pubs in the UK but last week it was the only Irish beer to win a gong at the London Beer Awards.
Brennan's pub in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford
'I created Brennan's Irish Stout a few years ago during lockdown and then it ended up going on sale here when Guinness and Murphy's stopped brewing,' owner Peter Brennan tells the Sunday World.
'We brew in Ireland, this is the homeplace for the beer. We are contract brewing at the moment, and are planning to build a small brewery in Wexford.
'Our stout is in between Murphy's, Beamish and Guinness. It's that kind of taste.
'It's now on sale in other bars in Wexford, and some in Cork and Dublin, while it has also recently gone nationwide in the UK across the country thanks to Theakston.
'We are a small family business, and we just want to build slowly and strong. You have to have to pick the right pubs and build slowly.'
Punters enjoying a pint of Brennan's
Theakston is the 16th largest brewer in the UK, and also one of the oldest.
Peter grew up in nearby Courtown Harbour before moving to England in the 1980s, where he worked and in pubs in the Midlands area.
'We used to run the Peaky Blinders pubs, the Garrison, the Old Crown, the Marquis of Lorne,' he notes. 'The programme kind of made the Garrison famous.'
Peter's mother Ellen is a native of Enniscorthy, owning the former pub the Boolavogue Inn in the 1970s.
His dad Pat was from Sandymount in Dublin and also worked in the pub trade, while his granddad was a cooper.
Peter Brennan and his wife Bernie raise a glass
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'My mother and father used have the Holiday Inn and the Mariner in Courtown many years ago,' he adds. 'My dad sadly passed away, but my mum still helps out at the age of 82.
'I came back to Ireland just over 20 years ago.'
He is married to wife Bernie and they have two daughters, Emer (18) and Lily (13).
'We took over the pub called The Tavern about a year ago, and it's over 100 years old,' he maintains.
'When we opened we never installed Guinness, we just sold Brennan's stout. We are probably the only pub outside Dublin or Cork not selling Guinness, Murphy's or Beamish and still surviving.
Enjoying a pint of Brennan's
'I like to support other craft breweries, so we have beers from like the Wicklow Wolf, Wicklow brewery. We have a brewery from Cork we work with. We have another brewery from Dublin.'
While he has the trio of pints for €4.50 – which match the same prices the pub last week we featured and which we suspect is Ireland's cheapest seller of Guinness and Heineken at €4.50 a pint, McNulty's of Creeslough Co Donegal – he also has more expensive brands.
'We have a craft cider, Fallen Apple, that's €5.80,' he confirms. 'Then we have Heineken and Coors for €5.80. Then we have Wicklow Wolf for €5.80
'Spirits are around €6, and a small bottle of wine €6.75. We also have a selection of bottles of beer, including Miller, Birra Moretti and Erdinger for €4 a bottle, while a bottle of Estrella is just €3.'
He admits the prices go down well with locals and visitors alike.
'It's a mixture of locals and tourists as well,' he points out.
'One of our loyal customers, Michael 'Spider' Nolan, comes in every day to drink Brennan's stout and then goes around the other pubs of Enniscorthy and then comes back to us to get one last Brennan's and then his taxi home.'
They also lately teamed up with local Enniscorthy butchers M&M Meats to produce pork and leak stout sausages, and won a gold medal at a recent national meat awards.
Peter admits he finds the prices in some Dublin pubs 'exorbitant' – a prominent couple in Temple Bar are now charging €11.45 for pints of lager, and €10.45 for Guinness.
'We were up there last week, it was amazing, it would blow your mind,' he complains.
'You go to some bars, the price of wine can be absolutely crazy for my wife. You can kind of expect to pay that bit extra. But if you cross the river you would get cheaper pints.
'I think that's a bit harsh (laughs), but they're getting away with it. €10.45 for a Guinness, it's a lot isn't it?
'But they're running a great show at the same time, they have a lot of staff, they bring in a lot of employment., They have big overheads with rates and insurance, there's music a lot of the time
'It's very hard in this industry. I'm in it over 30 years and it's not easy out there. Some people are too overpriced though.'