John Smithwick, an Irish resident of Kilkenny, first entered into the brewing business in 1705. By 1710, having impressed his business partners with his brewing acumen, the brewing lease was entrusted to his name. Over the next few decades, John quietly built up a considerable brewing business, prevented by penal laws discriminating against Irish Catholics at the time from attaching his name to his achievements.
At the dawn of the 19th century, when the penal laws were repealed, the Smithwick family was finally able to take credit for their part in helping to establish Kilkenny as a brewing center of Ireland. Edmond Smithwick took over the brewery in the 1800’s, and quickly established an export trade with England, Scotland, and Wales, growing the business exponentially in the middle 19th century. A monumental figure in Kilkenny, Edmond was elected mayor four times and helped the city through the famine of the middle decades of the 19th century by establishing soup kitchens for the needy. In 1900 James Smithwick took over the business, and helped guide the brewery through the first wave of public house buyouts which restricted the brewery’s ability to export to Britain. In 1930 Walter Smithwick took the reins and helped the brewery negotiate the material shortages of WWII, and by 1949 the brewery was producing 51,540 barrels per year. The following decades saw the brewery expand into the American market, develop a brewing partnership with Guinness, bring automation to their brewery, and continue to increase their output. In 2010 the brewery celebrated their 300th anniversary of John Smithwick’s first brew, and released their first new brew of the 21st century, Smithwick’s Pale Ale.