Brewing Up A Storm

When brothers Barry, Padhraig & Brian wanted to increase capacity and to make their brewery tour ready, they were delighted that they chose to raise the funds with Linked Finance.

Brothers Barry, Padhraig, & Brian O’Neill established O Brother Brewing in 2014.

This independent brewery operates out of Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, but the story of how the O’Neill brothers began brewing goes way back to 1997, when the three men worked in their uncles off-license.

It was here that Barry, Padhraig, & Brian acquired a taste for lesser-known beers, all of which had different brewing styles and tastes, something which was against the norm at that time.

In the years that followed, the brothers began brewing their own beers using modest home-kits, with varying degrees of success. The passion grew and it was something that the trio enjoyed working together on.

Flash forward then to 2011, the brothers all had very different careers. That year, and after a visit to the Irish Craft Beer Festival, the trio discussed the growing craft beer market in Ireland and how Irish tastes were changing.

They decided that this was a movement they wanted to be a part of and plans for O Brother began fermenting. The brothers rented a small space in an industrial unit, setting up a 100 litre pilot brewery and going to work.

The early days were full of steep learning curves. After consulting other craft beer brewers, researching various techniques and methods, and of course countless test batches, the brothers finally had beers they were proud of.

Pretty soon O Brother Brewing beers were stocked nationwide, in a number of well-known and independent outlets, and the brothers were receiving inquiries from the UK, Italy, France and Spain.

With its reputation quickly growing, so too was demand. This brought about its own problems, O Brother simply didn’t have enough brewing capacity to meet demand.

The brothers wanted to solve this problem fast, and to also make the brewery fit for public tours. Luckily enough, they had heard of a company that specialises in providing business loans, this was Linked Finance. 

 

“The idea of P2P lending really appealed to us. Promoting our business and the hassle-free process was great, it is the future of business finance.”

Padhraig O’Neill
O Brother Brewing

 

The P2P lending platform would allow Barry, Padhraig, and Brian access to a quick, reliable source of finance. One that did away with any needless red-tape, and offered the flexibility of no early settlement fees.

O Brother would also be given the added advantage of the promotional aspects to the loan. Not only would the business be presented to thousands of lenders in the Linked Finance community, but they also received a lot of free PR, appearing in newspapers and on radio shows.

Thanks to raising the funds on the P2P platform, Barry, Padhraig, & Brian were able to meet their growing demand, and make their brewery tour friendly. The O Brother brand has grown tremendously and the trio are now big fans of Linked Finance.

““I was delighted with the outcome of the loan, its speed, effciency, and the ability to present our business to thousands of local lenders was brilliant. Our lenders have become our customers..” 

Barry O’Neill
O Brother Brewing

 

 

If you've got plans to take your business to the next level, talk to Linked Finance. We can provide business loans of up to €300,000 to Irish SMEs. Fill in the form to apply now...