Production output 300 million litres Founded 1869, Lidcombe, Australia Parent organization Lion | Headquarters Sydney, Australia Acquisition date 1985 | |
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Owner Mitsubishi keiretsu (through Kirin Holdings) Founders James Matthew Toohey, John Thomas Toohey | ||
Tooheys is a brewery in the suburb of Lidcombe, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It produces beers and ciders under the Tooheys and Hahn Brewery trademarks, and is part of the Lion beverages group which was acquired by the Japanese Kirin Company in 2009.
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History
Tooheys dates from 1869, when John Thomas Toohey (an Irish immigrant to Melbourne) obtained his brewing licence. Toohey and his brother James Matthew ran pubs in Melbourne (The Limerick Arms and The Great Britain) before moving to Sydney in the 1860s. They commenced brewing Tooheys Black Old Ale in a brewery in the area of present-day Darling Harbour. By 1875, demand for their beer had soared and they established The Standard Brewery in inner-city Surry Hills. In 1902, the company went public as Tooheys Limited, and commenced brewing lager (the present-day Tooheys New) in 1930. In 1955, the brewery moved west to Lidcombe. In 1967, Tooheys bought competitor Miller's Brewers located in Taverner's Hill, closing that brewery in 1975.
In 1980, NSW-based Tooheys merged with Queensland's Castlemaine Perkins to form Castlemaine Tooheys. Bond Corporation purchased Castlemaine Tooheys in 1985.
Castlemaine Tooheys were represented as the appellants in the landmark 1990 case of Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia, heard by the High Court of Australia. Since the brewery operated outside South Australia, but sold its products there, a South Australian Act Amendment, imposing a substantial refund value for non-refillable bottles produced in other states, was ruled to be inconsistent with section 92 of the Constitution of Australia. Due to the significant discriminatory and protectionist financial impacts that they faced, Castlemaine Tooheys successfully invalidated the law.
Lion Nathan acquired a 50% stake in Bond's Natbrew Holdings in 1990, and took total ownership in 1992. Production of Hahn-branded beers was moved from the Camperdown Hahn Brewery to Tooheys, some time between 1993 (Lion's acquisition of Hahn) and 1999 (when Hahn Brewery was renamed Malt Shovel Brewery).
Products sold under the Tooheys trademark are brewed at Tooheys Brewery. Home-brew kits are distributed by Lion and produced at Canterbury Brewery. As of 2015, the Tooheys brand was the major sponsor of rugby union in New South Wales and Queensland, and sponsored the Melbourne Cup in 2002 and 2003.