Breheny Bros Brewery Warrenheip Brewery Poster

Irishman William Kenna had worked at the Phoenix Brewery, Warrenheip, for twenty years, and also at the Queen’s Head Brewery, Geelong,
for two years, before starting his own brewery at Warrenheip in 1887. This was a bold move for Kenna, since his neighbour, the Phoenix Brewery, was well established, and there were also many large breweries just a few kilometres away at Ballarat. William Kenna, however, was not deterred, and built quite a large brewery on the crown of a hill. He had ample fresh spring-water, and his long experience of brewing in the area ensured a quick acceptance of his beer among the locals, many of whom he had known for years.

In 1898 William Kenna was saddened by the loss of his sixteen-year-old son, Leonard, from influenza. Earlier, he had lost another son through pneumonia, and before that three other adult members of his family had died in prevailing epidemics. Five sons died within a span of eight years. 

In 1891 the Breheny Brothers joined the firm, which then traded as Breheny Bros & Kenna. William Kenna died in 1910, and two years later his widow sold her interest in the brewery to the Brehenys. By 1914 brewing had ceased, and the company diversified into grain-distilling and whisky and gin production. Federal Distillers took over in 1922, and in 1932 a merger with the Distillers Company of Edinburgh saw the formation of United Distillers Limited.

The Breheny family are without doubt the most influential family in Australian Brewing history which included establishing four ‘Breheny Bros’  Breweries between 1891 and 1930 around Australia: Sale, Bendigo, Warrenheip in Victoria and Toowoomba in Queensland. In total 22 Brehenys worked as brewers in breweries across all states of Australia between 1864 and 2022. Some members of the Breheny family found the original Breheny Bros Breweries recipe books from c1920 and recreated the old beers with the brewing expertise of Burnley Brewing. This poster was produced to promote these new/old beers.