The Malting Company of Ireland (MCI) was established in 1858, laying the foundation for over a century and a half of excellence in malt production. MCI can trace its heritage back to the old floor maltings of Beamish & Crawford, located in the heart of Cork city, along the banks of the River Lee.

In 1797, Joseph Reeves was granted a lease for the lands where the River Lee Porter Brewery was established. This brewery operated until 1813, when it was purchased by Beamish & Crawford. By 1831, Beamish & Crawford had constructed the most significant portions of the existing six- and seven-storey buildings on the site of the original mills.

In the mid-1800s, the Irish whiskey industry faced significant challenges due to the temperance movement of the 1830s and the Great Famine of the 1840s. In response to these difficulties, James Murphy, the owner of the Midleton Distillery, proposed merging several local distilleries in the 1860s.

In 1867, the Cork Distilleries Company was established by amalgamating four distilleries in Cork: Daly’s, the Green, North Mall, and Watercourse. In 1868, James Murphy’s Midleton Distillery joined the company. The Cork Distilleries Company operated until 1966 when it merged with John Powers & Son and John Jameson & Son to form Irish Distillers.

The imposing scale of the Lee Maltings buildings is a testament to Cork’s industrial heritage and forms one of the city’s most significant surviving historic industrial sites. The roughly dressed sandstone and limestone walls, some with ashlar limestone quoins, are a notable feature, along with the segmental-arched window openings and red brick dressings. In 1968, University College Cork purchased the property from Beamish & Crawford; it is now the site of the Tyndall National Institute. The buildings are still affectionately referred to locally as the Lee Maltings.

Due to the growing demand for premium malted grains, the Malting Company of Ireland relocated from the city centre to a purpose-built facility in Ballincollig, Cork, in 1965. During this time, the company transitioned from traditional floor malting to drum malting. The new Boby Drum processing plant allowed the Malting Company of Ireland to adopt the latest technologies of the era, helping the company to evolve and maintain its trusted name in Ireland’s malt industry.

In the late 1990s, two of Ireland’s largest co-operatives, Tirlán and Dairygold, entered a joint venture with IAWS, purchasing a stake in the Malting Company of Ireland (MCI). Together, Dairygold & Tirlán handle almost 50% of the Irish grain crop. All of MCI’s barley is grown under contract with Irish farmers, allowing full traceability from farm to customer. MCI takes great pride in our close working relationship with growers across the country. Our ongoing commitment to forging strong relationships with the local Irish farmers is at the heart of our business.

The Malting Company of Ireland relocated to its current site in the Togher Industrial Estate in 2000. There, we established an architecturally designed state-of-the-art plant, expanding our malt production capacity to 32,000 metric tons (MT).

In 2024, MCI announced plans to upgrade the Togher production plant, increasing its malt production capacity to 52,000 MT using cutting-edge equipment and processes. This investment aligns with the Irish Government’s Food Vision 2030, which aims to promote low-carbon, value-added tillage crops, such as malting barley.