Shamrock Stout, West End Brewery Brisbane

A brewery was started by Albert Lanfear and George Nicol in 1886, and two years later the partners formed the West End Brewing & Malting Co. Ltd. It was reported that two men were suffocated in a well at the West End Brewery on 3 December 1889. The well was 65 feet deep, and when the men climbed down to test the depth of water they were overcome by foul air. Doctors succeeded in saving the rescuers, who were also overcome by fumes, but the first two men were beyond recovery.

The brewery was rebuilt in 1890, having suffered from floods that washed away the rear section of the building and 500 hogsheads of beer. After reconstruction the West End Brewery Ltd was formed to take over the assets of the brewery and also the wine-and-spirit business, all of which had been the property of the partners Lanfear and Nicol.

During 1906 the defunct North Queensland Brewing Co. Ltd at Mareeba was taken over with the idea of reopening it as another West End brewery, but the plan was abandoned.

Business and profit gradually declined, and in 1913 there was an unsuccessful attempt to take over the West End Brewery to form the proposed Co-operative Brewery of Queensland. A few months later the buildings were purchased by the Brisbane Bottle Exchange Co.