Sullivan's – founded by Michael Meade, Dan Smithwick and Alan Quane is located in Kilkenny, in the heart of the city where Irish craft brewing has been a mainstay for over 800 years. It has quickly become a premium Irish craft brewery of choice for beer enthusiasts all over the world. Sullivan's was founded in 1702, thrived until shortly after World War I, and was re-launched in 2016. Sullivan's Maltings Red Ale was named "Best Ale in the World" (2017-18) at the International Brewing Awards in Burton-on-Trent, known as the "Oscars of the Beer Industry" (out of 1,200 beers).
Sullivans began an aggressive fundraising round, requiring support from South East BIC in building out their investment toolkit – financial model, pitch deck, investment summaries etc – along with introducing them to potential investors. Having accessed private investment, South East BIC commenced work on Sullivan’s application to Enterprise Ireland for HPSU investment which was successful allowing Sullivans focus on exporting and capacity building.
With a future focus on exporting, the business have their sights on new markets in the US, UK and Canada and have set their sights on expanding into their own commercial brewery, subject to further funding.
