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Galway Bay Breweries

12467…19

Comments

  • #92
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    Seaneh wrote: »
    Thought it was a decent beer, think Sweetmans Intergalactic and The Troubled Hooker colab were both better though.

    Think the sweetmans blows all Irish ambers I've had so far out of the water tbh.

    Is sweetmans only available in their Dublin pub?


  • #93
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    jh79 wrote: »
    Is sweetmans only available in their Dublin pub?

    No idea tbh, it's a seasonal though so limited supply either way.


  • #94
    slayerking
    Registered Users Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭slayerking


    Seaneh wrote: »
    Full Sail and Bay Ale are both still cheaper than anything besides sweetmans beers in Dublin at €5.10 a pint, full sail being a 5.5% abv ipa is pretty good value.

    Not at all. Just had a few chocolate truffle stouts, 4.90 a pint and many other porterhouse beers are around that price. Beerhouse on capel has many pints sub 5 euro. And like you said, Sweetmans sell their beers at a good price - they brew them so you'd kinda expect that, no distribution expenses.
    There's other bars also in dub with sub 5 euro pints. I personally just don't bother going near the GBB pubs often coz they are expensive, but you'd expect them to be better value for the house beers considering they brew the beers. They are house beer after all.


  • #95
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh



    Not at all. Just had a few chocolate truffle stouts, 4.90 a pint and many other porterhouse beers are around that price. Beerhouse on capel has many pints sub 5 euro. And like you said, Sweetmans sell their beers at a good price - they brew them so you'd kinda expect that, no distribution expenses.
    There's other bars also in dub with sub 5 euro pints. I personally just don't bother going near the GBB pubs often coz they are expensive, but you'd expect them to be better value for the house beers considering they brew the beers. They are house beer after all.


    I'd rather pay €5.10 for a full sail or €5.20 for a Kinnegar or Blacks beer in a GBB puB than €4.90 for a porterhouse or eight degrees beer in another pub with nothing close to the selection of international beers to be honest.

    And as said earlier, in terms of improvement of quality of product, expansion in range and distribution nobody is spending more money than GBB in Ireland.
    A year after more than doubling their output and building a new brewery they are again in the process of building a new brewery to more than double their output.

    There is a reason they (GBB) are the fastest growing brewery in the country, they have one of the most talented brewery teams. Chris from GBB and Sam from Kinsale are the two most promising brewers in the country and making the most interesting beers, by a long, long way. Chris, especially considering his age (youngest head brewer in Europe), is doing an amazing job since taking over a brewery from someone who was making terribly mediocre beers on a tiny scale.


  • #96
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    Oh, Liam from St. Mel's in Longford (formerly of O'Hara's) should be making some seriously interesting stuff when he gets going in the next few months too.


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  • #97
    slayerking
    Registered Users Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭slayerking


    Seaneh wrote: »
    I'd rather pay €5.10 for a full sail or €5.20 for a Kinnegar or Blacks beer in a GBB puB than €4.90 for a porterhouse or eight degrees beer in another pub with nothing close to the selection of international beers to be honest.


    Porterhouse actually have an amazing selection. I had a Kirkstall Three Swords on cask in there. Havent seen that anywhere else. They have a massive selection in the fridge. Rogue chocolate stout was tempting.
    Seaneh wrote: »
    And as said earlier, in terms of improvement of quality of product, expansion in range and distribution nobody is spending more money than GBB in Ireland.
    A year after more than doubling their output and building a new brewery they are again in the process of building a new brewery to more than double their output.

    There is a reason they (GBB) are the fastest growing brewery in the country, they have one of the most talented brewery teams. Chris from GBB and Sam from Kinsale are the two most promising brewers in the country and making the most interesting beers, by a long, long way. Chris, especially considering his age (youngest head brewer in Europe), is doing an amazing job since taking over a brewery from someone who was making terribly mediocre beers on a tiny scale.

    In fairness, Galway brewery beers were soo bad when they started, and since they got the new brewer, they have brewed some really great beers - very impressive but there are so many other great breweries making cracking beers. In general, we are seeing an amazing revolution in brewing in Ireland. I'm finding it hard to keep up to be honest, GGB are just one of those breweries.

    And back to Sweetmans, their beers are excellent. They have brewed an IPA called intergalactic, and its really great.

    The thing that gets me is that they are house beers, that's it. Good or bad, they are house beers. You'd expect them to charge house beer prices considering they brew them themselves.


  • #98
    slayerking
    Registered Users Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭slayerking


    Seaneh wrote: »
    Oh, Liam from St. Mel's in Longford (formerly of O'Hara's) should be making some seriously interesting stuff when he gets going in the next few months too.

    Being a Longford man and knowing Liam, I cannot wait to see what this brewery does.


  • #99
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    slayerking wrote: »

    And back to Sweetmans, their beers are excellent. They have brewed an IPA called intergalactic, and its really great.

    It's an Amber and I said earlier it's the best Amber I've had from an Irish brewery so far. I just wish it wasn't limited edition!

    Hit jackpot one night when the staff were selling us pitchers of it (2.5 pints) for €10 (same price as a pitcher of their other beers), 7.2% abv (I think) between me and two other lads, we were trollied after 3 or 4 pitchers!


  • #100
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    slayerking wrote: »
    Porterhouse actually have an amazing selection. I had a Kirkstall Three Swords on cask in there. Havent seen that anywhere else. They have a massive selection in the fridge. Rogue chocolate stout was tempting.


    In fairness, Galway brewery beers were soo bad when they started, and since they got the new brewer, they have brewed some really great beers - very impressive but there are so many other great breweries making cracking beers. In general, we are seeing an amazing revolution in brewing in Ireland. I'm finding it hard to keep up to be honest, GGB are just one of those breweries.

    And back to Sweetmans, their beers are excellent. They have brewed an IPA called intergalactic, and its really great.

    The thing that gets me is that they are house beers, that's it. Good or bad, they are house beers. You'd expect them to charge house beer prices considering they brew them themselves.

    I agree and disagree with a lot of things here.
    Sweetmans is in a weird position in regards to overheads so they can charge less than Porterhouse or GBB for "house" beers. They are also actually made in house and not produced elsewhere and shipped to the pub (like porterhouse and GBB). They also don't have to worry about margins quite as much as they charge extortionate prices for just about everything else, have their weird ownership thing going on and have a teeeny selection.

    And again, the GBB beers which are expensive are the ones which are expensive to make and sale. Stormy port is 5.8%, B@S uses a lot of expensive additions (cocoa, lactose) and OFAF is 8.5% and rammed full of expensive hops, it's not like they are pulling the prices out of their arses, they are making a margin which they feel keeps them competitive and also allows them to further expand without getting into massive debt.

    And it's working, so either the people in this thread complaining are wrong, the market is wrong or GBB is wrong and to be honest, I don't think it's the latter two.


  • #101
    slayerking
    Registered Users Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭slayerking


    Seaneh wrote: »
    I agree and disagree with a lot of things here.
    Sweetmans is in a weird position in regards to overheads so they can charge less than Porterhouse or GBB for "house" beers.

    Dont understand what you mean, how are they in a weird position? City centre pub... The most central craft beer pub of all. I dont know what overheads they have, do you?
    Seaneh wrote: »
    They are also actually made in house and not produced elsewhere and shipped to the pub (like porterhouse and GBB). They also don't have to worry about margins quite as much as they charge extortionate prices for just about everything else, have their weird ownership thing going on and have a teeeny selection.

    What do they charge extortionate prices for? Their food/menu is very good value.
    Seaneh wrote: »
    And again, the GBB beers which are expensive are the ones which are expensive to make and sale. Stormy port is 5.8%, B@S uses a lot of expensive additions (cocoa, lactose) and OFAF is 8.5% and rammed full of expensive hops, it's not like they are pulling the prices out of their arses, they are making a margin which they feel keeps them competitive and also allows them to further expand without getting into massive debt.

    Cocoa, lactose are both pretty cheap to be honest, much cheaper than hops. Fair enough, OFAF prob costs a bit with all those hops - its a great beer but its definitely not 6.50 off licences price expensive. That's just crazy.
    Seaneh wrote: »
    And it's working, so either the people in this thread complaining are wrong, the market is wrong or GBB is wrong and to be honest, I don't think it's the latter two.

    The fact that there is a need for a thread about their prices says it all. Need I say more.


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  • #102
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    slayerking wrote: »
    Dont understand what you mean, how are they in a weird position? City centre pub... The most central craft beer pub of all. I dont know what overheads they have, do you?



    What do they charge extortionate prices for? Their food/menu is very good value.



    Cocoa, lactose are both pretty cheap to be honest, much cheaper than hops. Fair enough, OFAF prob costs a bit with all those hops - its a great beer but its definitely not 6.50 off licences price expensive. That's just crazy.



    The fact that there is a need for a thread about their prices says it all. Need I say more.

    Paid 7.15 for OFAF in McCambridges last weekend!


  • #103
    BeerNut
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 11,776 Mod ✭✭✭✭BeerNut


    jh79 wrote: »
    Is sweetmans only available in their Dublin pub?
    They're planning to wholesale the Red but the rest will be on-site only, from what I've heard.

    My beer blog | The Twitter | My other beer blog



  • #104
    slayerking
    Registered Users Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭slayerking


    jh79 wrote: »
    Paid 7.15 for OFAF in McCambridges last weekend!

    WOW


  • #105
    ben.schlomo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,972 ✭✭✭✭ben.schlomo


    Seaneh wrote: »
    I agree and disagree with a lot of things here.
    Sweetmans is in a weird position in regards to overheads so they can charge less than Porterhouse or GBB for "house" beers. They are also actually made in house and not produced elsewhere and shipped to the pub (like porterhouse and GBB). They also don't have to worry about margins quite as much as they charge extortionate prices for just about everything else, have their weird ownership thing going on and have a teeeny selection.

    And again, the GBB beers which are expensive are the ones which are expensive to make and sale. Stormy port is 5.8%, B@S uses a lot of expensive additions (cocoa, lactose) and OFAF is 8.5% and rammed full of expensive hops, it's not like they are pulling the prices out of their arses, they are making a margin which they feel keeps them competitive and also allows them to further expand without getting into massive debt.

    And it's working, so either the people in this thread complaining are wrong, the market is wrong or GBB is wrong and to be honest, I don't think it's the latter two.
    What are your thoughts on the pulling of the loyalty card? As a regular drinker in their various pubs im sure you enjoyed the odd free one.


  • #106
    BaZmO*
    Registered Users Posts: 18,625 ✭✭✭✭BaZmO*


    From what I've heard (from a reliable source), the reason for the high cost for OFAF was to do with the fact that they brewed it first and then worked out their margin afterwards giving a ridiculous retail price, hence the €6.70 initial cost. After the backlash they brought the price down.


  • #107
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    ben.schlomo wrote: »
    What are your thoughts on the pulling of the loyalty card? As a regular drinker in their various pubs im sure you enjoyed the odd free one.

    When did this happen got my card stamped and a free only a couple of weeks ago in the cottage gal way, is it a case of no new cards and honouring what's out there?


  • #108
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    slayerking wrote: »
    Dont understand what you mean, how are they in a weird position? City centre pub... The most central craft beer pub of all. I dont know what overheads they have, do you?



    What do they charge extortionate prices for? Their food/menu is very good value.



    Cocoa, lactose are both pretty cheap to be honest, much cheaper than hops. Fair enough, OFAF prob costs a bit with all those hops - its a great beer but its definitely not 6.50 off licences price expensive. That's just crazy.



    The fact that there is a need for a thread about their prices says it all. Need I say more.

    Sweetmans weird position is in relation to their ownership situation, their overheads are not comparable anywhere not being run as a going concern.

    Their other beers are very expensive, a pint of heineken or guinness is more expensive than any of the GBB beers and they sell a lot more guinness and heineken than they do their own beers. Their cocktails and spirit and mixer combos are also expensive, again bigger sellers than the house beers.

    Cocoa nibs are not cheap, not in the quantities you'd use in commercial brewing, and neither are speciality grains or chocolate.
    The beers they can make for less money, they sell for less money. Full Sail and Bay Ale being examples of this. Full Sail is 5.5% abv and selling for €5.10 in Dublin and €4.55 in Galway.

    Said I said earlier, stormy port is more expensive now than it was because it is higher in abv (attracting more duty) and the new recipe is just more expensive to make, more hops, more grains, etc. It's not the same beer at all in reality in anything besides the name.

    And If you paid €6.50 for a OFAF in an off licence you overpaid by up to a Euro. It is available for €5.70 in most places and I've seen it for €5.50 once or twice. And that price isn't set by GBB, it's set by Noreast who I think were the wrong choice as a distribution agent but I'm sure the owners of GBB picked the deal which was best for them, and seeing as they have had to expand consistently their operations due to demand for bottles since they started selling them, I would think it's kind of hard to question their decisions so far.
    Even at €5.70 they are selling a lot of OFAF, which isn't surprising seeing as it's easily the best beer an Irish brewery has produced so far.

    Again, this thread isn't evidence of anything, they are the fastest growing operation in the country and are struggling to meet demand, they set a price based on market demand and their costs and by all visible measures that price is not too expensive as they are expanding in terms of both capacity, distribution and physical presence on a regular, extremely impressive basis.


  • #109
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    Not sure how the business side works but can GBB set a Max price for the offy sales ? 7.15 is a bit much.


  • #110
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    ben.schlomo wrote: »
    What are your thoughts on the pulling of the loyalty card? As a regular drinker in their various pubs im sure you enjoyed the odd free one.

    I enjoyed the off complimentary beer for a full card and appreciated it, but they didn't ever have to offer the cards in the first place and are well within their rights to decide to stop offering it.
    If they reintroduce it I'd be happy but it really doesn't bother me. Using the card means you are limited in choice, without the card you are more likely to drink/try other beers (well, I am anyway) and their pubs (mostly) have a very good range.
    Today on my way home from college I had a glass of Founders All Day IPA (just as good as the bottles) and a bottle of Founders Imperial Stout (fantastic beer). If the loyalty cards were still in place I'd probably have just had a stormy port or a full sail instead, which is no bad thing, but I like variety.

    Those two beers cost me a whopping total of €11.50 by the way (€4.50 and €7 respectively), great value considering one of them was a 10.5% imperial stout, especially compared to the likes of the not all that special nordic imports that people on here have no problem waxing lyrical about and paying through the nose for.


  • #111
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    jh79 wrote: »
    Not sure how the business side works but can GBB set a Max price for the offy sales ? 7.15 is a bit much.

    what was 7.15?


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  • #112
    BeerNut
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 11,776 Mod ✭✭✭✭BeerNut


    jh79 wrote: »
    can GBB set a Max price for the offy sales ?
    Doubt it. Noreast is the distributor, and even they can only recommend. If people buy it at €7.15 then that's the price.

    My beer blog | The Twitter | My other beer blog



  • #113
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    Seaneh wrote: »
    what was 7.15?

    OFAF in McCambridges 2 weeks ago


  • #114
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    jh79 wrote: »
    When did this happen got my card stamped and a free only a couple of weeks ago in the cottage gal way, is it a case of no new cards and honouring what's out there?

    Honouring what's there anyway if you have a full card, I know that, but not sure about getting stamps anymore in other bars, if you can I need to dig out one or two cards with a few stamps on them!
    I was also told in the Brew Dock that if you had two cards with a combined 10 stamps they would accept that as a full card for a pint/fried chicken wrap, but alas the 2 I have had a combined total of about 5 stamps.
    The Cottage might still be running the offer independently or something though?


  • #115
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    jh79 wrote: »
    OFAF in McCambridges 2 weeks ago

    That would be something to take up with either McCambridges or Noreast, that's outrageous over charging! Like I said, €5.70 is the normal price in most offies.

    http://www.drinkstore.ie/Galway-Bay-Brewery-Of-Foam-And-Fury-Double-IPA-500ML-799439089228/


    edit:
    Looking at the drinkstore link, the multiple buy discount is pretty decent. 5.50 each if you buy 2 and 5.20 each if you by 12 (still a big initial outlay though).


  • #116
    jh79
    Registered Users Posts: 8,215 ✭✭✭jh79


    Seaneh wrote: »
    That would be something to take up with either McCambridges or Noreast, that's outrageous over charging! Like I said, €5.70 is the normal price in most offies.

    http://www.drinkstore.ie/Galway-Bay-Brewery-Of-Foam-And-Fury-Double-IPA-500ML-799439089228/

    Only ones in Galway as far as I know .


  • #117
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    BaZmO* wrote: »
    From what I've heard (from a reliable source), the reason for the high cost for OFAF was to do with the fact that they brewed it first and then worked out their margin afterwards giving a ridiculous retail price, hence the €6.70 initial cost. After the backlash they brought the price down.

    I know the initial 6.70 price was a fault on noreast's end. They had a price list error when the first deliveries were made, they corrected it within a few hours.
    So either noreast actually made an error or chanced their arm but GBB haven't changed their price they sell to noreast at all.


  • #118
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    jh79 wrote: »
    Only ones in Galway as far as I know .

    Get on to O'Briens, they stock some of the beers, if you ask for it enough times they will get it.


  • #119
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    One think I really wish BGG pubs did do was proper growler fills.
    They charge the same price for a growler fill as they do per ml in the pub, that's taking the piss more than a little.
    Their licence (every bar licence) includes off sales, they have the ability to offer growler fills during off sales hours for considerably cheaper than they have to change for a pint but don't offer the option, and besides being prohibitive price wise is shooting themselves in the foot by closing a possible revenue stream. They should take the example of Sweetmans and Mulligans who both offer growler fills for considerably cheaper than their per pint prices.


  • #120
    Ravelleman
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 3,635 CMod ✭✭✭✭Ravelleman


    Seaneh wrote: »
    It's €5 for 2/3 of brewdog beers. Reason for the price change is the suppliers (four corners) raised the price. GBB bars were charging €6.80 for 5am and punk, price increase would have put both up by about 50c each per pint so they decided to go with smaller servings instead.

    5am Saint can still be had for €6 a pint in at least one other pub in the city centre though. :confused:


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  • #121
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    Ravelleman wrote: »
    5am Saint can still be had for €6 a pint in at least one other pub in the city centre though. :confused:

    Old stock or just operating on tiny margins.

    One pub in Galway (Town House) was selling 5am for 5.50 per pint while punk was 6.30 per pint last summer too, which was weird, maybe 5am is cheaper to buy than punk (I doubt it) or maybe people are being advised to sell it for less?


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