William Cairnes was an adventurous brewer, who in 1825 had established a family brewery in Drogheda. Having captured local markets in Drogheda, Navan, Dundalk and north county Dublin, William Cairnes in 1851 firmly set his sights on Ireland’s big apple – Dublin. The spacious warehousing and storage facilities of 52 Middle Abbey Street were the ideal location to launch his sales campaign on the Dublin beer market. Within weeks no. 52 had been modified to suit his needs and William Cairnes began transporting hogsheads and pipes (two hogsheads) of ale and beer to Abbey Street where it was bottled or sold directly in hogshead form to Dublin publicans.