Galway Bay Breweries

Lovely Bloke · 03-04-2014 2:31pm

drumswan wrote: »

You are mad, there isnt a single beer in the ratebeer top 50 sold in 500ml bottles for example

that's great, look, I don't never get them, I just prefer the other type.

Ravelleman · 03-04-2014 3:05pm

Regardless of what anyone says, it is quite disappointing that the prices have gone up so much in recent months.

I'm not sure it's anyone's job here to stand up for the virtues of capitalism or the intricacies of Galway Bay's business model. I find this quite typical of the forum though. Whenever price increases are questioned, we get the usual 'if the market supports it' response. I, for one, have been alienated somewhat by their price increases and price gouging. I can accept changes due to tax increases and inflation but I'm not convinced it all results from this. I can get Fran Well pints in the Gingerman for €4.20 every day of the week (though their prices have gone up by 70c too in recent months). Galway Bay stuff is generally €1 more expensive.

Of course, from history, we know that capitalism is capable of great excess. I'm not sure how the small producer and artisan necessarily fit in here because they are not generally considered capitalists in the true sense. Historically, 'craftspeople' have been quite threatened with either extinction or proletarianisation by big business.

Ideally, money would be socialised to some degree but that won't happen here. In the meantime, I'll just drink in other pubs. In fact, I actually changed my drinking venue for this evening because of the prices in ATG, before I read the thread, so it goes to show.

drumswan wrote: »

You are mad, there isnt a single beer in the ratebeer top 50 sold in 500ml bottles for example

A cursory glance has revealed at least one - Russian River Pliny the Elder, which is sold in 500ml bottles.

snowblind · 03-04-2014 3:07pm

BaZmO* wrote: »

But the great thing about capitalism is that you don't have to complain, you just vote with your feet. That's when those damn capitalist really sit up and pay attention!!

Not exclusively in capitalism! In my utopian society one could do that too...:rolleyes:

If we were just voting with our feet and not complaining at all, the internet would be a very quiet place indeed. The fact that a company has the right to choose their pricing, doesn't necessarily mean that one would have to accept it without talking about it at all.

But as I said, I don't see a problem in this particular case. I don't see GBB prices as specifically high compared to (for example) UK, Finnish or Italian craft beer prices at all. Plus the stuff is often super fresh. edit: and their newest beers I find are much nicer than anything I've tried from Fran Well.

When it comes to bottle sizes, I don't have a favourite. For sub 6% beers I would prefer a 0.5l size, but also there are a bunch of beers on the top shelves in bombers and wine sized bottles that are very complex, sour and/or strong flavoured, and sometimes I'd love to buy them in 0.33l sizes for private consumption. But essentially if all beer was sold in 0.5l cans I'd be pretty happy. I think we might need some lessons from North Korea on how to attain such uniformity of production :pac:

03-04-2014 3:22pm

drumswan wrote: »

Its €5.75 for 400ml

Yeah I should have pointed that out but still thought it was reasonable considering I paid €7.50 in Cassidys later for a 330ml bottle of my name is Vladimir

matrim · 03-04-2014 3:26pm

One thing that people aren't taking account of is the vast improvement in both quality and consistency from Galway Bay in the last 2 or 3 years.

I can only judge based on when the pubs went to Dublin, but when I started going I gave the GB beers a go and didn't think they were great, sure they were cheap but poor. When I went to the pubs it was to see what other beer they had and I think after the initial try the only times i got the GB beers were when I got the free beer bat in Black Sheep for being in the cinema.

Then over the last 2 years, after they changed brewer, the quality of the beers has increased to the point where I would go just for one of the GB beers. This includes the regulars like Stormy Port as well as the newer beers like Foam and Fury and even Buried at Sea.

snowblind · 03-04-2014 3:43pm

Yeah a year ago I hadn't been too impressed with any GBB beers. It seems to me that the price hike has come with improved quality and in the case of OFAF and 200 Fathoms, bringing a couple of styles to a level unseen before in Ireland. I'm sure the production costs for higher quality products can also be a part of becoming more expensive.

alastair · 03-04-2014 5:43pm

upforit101 wrote: »

Your argument is all over the place
It's clear your mind is made up and this isn't the forum for discussing this.
I don't want to derail the thread.

Now that you've thrown your tuppence out there eh? For what it's worth I'm another who thinks your points were wellll off the mark.

alastair · 03-04-2014 5:48pm

upforit101 wrote: »

It's everybody's business, He writes a blog and defends certain businesses to the hilt. I'd like to know in the name of transparency whether the person's opinion is 100% independent or not

He's got no responsibility for transparency whatsoever - he's not a publically funded service or a charity, you're not a shareholder in his business, and he's not running an advertising medium.

Colonel Sanders · 03-04-2014 7:51pm

Whatever the cause of the price increases (not just with GBB) I'm simply drinking less the last while as a result

I don't go to the pub much so if the odd time I do I end up spending an extra €1 per pint it's not a massive deal but any time I bring others to the GBB pubs they always comment on pricing. And not all are typical Bud/Heineken drinkers

BeerNut · 04-04-2014 7:38am

upforit101 wrote: »

Can you confirm or deny that you receive any inducements (in the form of free beer(s) from the cottage group/Galway bay brewery?

I can; I don't.

You buy the product they sell at the price they set, or you don't. Same goes for every other brewery, pub or consumer product.

Ruben Remus · 04-04-2014 11:47am

Ruben Remus · 04-04-2014 11:51am

BeerNut wrote: »

You buy the product they sell at the price they set, or you don't. Same goes for every other brewery, pub or consumer product.

Right. So there should never be any discussion about price or value in relation to beer?

Lovely Bloke · 04-04-2014 1:03pm

Ruben Remus wrote: »

Right. So there should never be any discussion about price or value in relation to beer?

the very fact that this thread exists says otherwise

AlanDeGenerous · 04-04-2014 1:17pm

Pretty sure that was sarcasm.

squonk · 04-04-2014 4:35pm

I'm one of those who started a previous thread about GBB and their pricing policy. I too had noticed that their prices had gone up. I was a Salt House regular in Galway and saw the regular beers like the ale and full sail go up from €3.90 to €5 which was one of the reasons I made my original post.

It really doesn't look like anything has changed with GBB in the intervening time. I'm in LImerick so I'm not near any GBB pubs anymore but hearing that they've dropped the loyalty cards is pretty poor.

I know their quality has improved and Buried At Sea is a great beer and OFAF is excellent. I too wasn't pushed about the original offerings but they've improved over time. I do think they're looking to maximise their return on the beers. I couldn't blame them but the prices they're charging are on the higher end of the Galway price spectrum. I used to be able to get a pint of Hooker for €3.90 or even €3 in some pubs but that'd doubtless gone up now.

Reading this thread I'm getting a sense that a lot here are circling the wagons. I know nobody is being forced to go to the GBB pubs however you can't just glibly excuse it eithe with an 'If you don't like it, don't buy it' argument. If they were forced to increase costs because of their work on increased quality, then that is somewhat understandable but they've looked like they were price gouging before (especially as they have a very large foothold in the market). Costs and quality concerns could have been used to defend against that contention however ending the loyalty card scheme makes the appearance of price gouging as clear as day.

Colonel Sanders · 04-04-2014 9:14pm

Noticed in ATG (assuming the other GBB pubs are the same) that draft Brewdog beers now only come in 2/3rd pints

Cost €5 IIRC

Lovely Bloke · 05-04-2014 11:24am

Colonel Sanders wrote: »

Noticed in ATG (assuming the other GBB pubs are the same) that draft Brewdog beers now only come in 2/3rd pints

Cost €5 IIRC

no, the cost €6

Also costing €6 in ATG are "guest beers" in 2/3 pint glasses - including some sub 5% beers, which is taking the piss a bit - but I didn't buy any.

cunnifferous · 05-04-2014 5:26pm

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

no, the cost €6

Also costing €6 in ATG are "guest beers" in 2/3 pint glasses - including some sub 5% beers, which is taking the piss a bit - but I didn't buy any.

€6 for a 2/3 pint of sub 5% beer? It would want to be made with the tears of Jesus for that price.

Khomeini · 08-04-2014 4:33am

snowblind wrote: »

Not exclusively in capitalism! In my utopian society one could do that too...:rolleyes:

If we were just voting with our feet and not complaining at all, the internet would be a very quiet place indeed. The fact that a company has the right to choose their pricing, doesn't necessarily mean that one would have to accept it without talking about it at all.

But as I said, I don't see a problem in this particular case. I don't see GBB prices as specifically high compared to (for example) UK, Finnish or Italian craft beer prices at all. Plus the stuff is often super fresh. edit: and their newest beers I find are much nicer than anything I've tried from Fran Well.

When it comes to bottle sizes, I don't have a favourite. For sub 6% beers I would prefer a 0.5l size, but also there are a bunch of beers on the top shelves in bombers and wine sized bottles that are very complex, sour and/or strong flavoured, and sometimes I'd love to buy them in 0.33l sizes for private consumption. But essentially if all beer was sold in 0.5l cans I'd be pretty happy. I think we might need some lessons from North Korea on how to attain such uniformity of production :pac:

When have you ever tasted Korean beer?

It's lovely.

dregin · 08-04-2014 8:11am

This is what pisses me off the most about GBB prices:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/drinkers-on-duty-as-microbrewers-enjoy-excise-cut-25953591.html

They enjoy massive tax breaks and still charge through the nose for their beers.

drumswan · 08-04-2014 9:13am

I look forward to all the new craft bars opened by people in this thread seeing as how its so easy so

Zebra3 · 08-04-2014 9:39am

dregin wrote: »

This is what pisses me off the most about GBB prices:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/drinkers-on-duty-as-microbrewers-enjoy-excise-cut-25953591.html

They enjoy massive tax breaks and still charge through the nose for their beers.

I'm no expert, nor am I here to defend any micro, but at a guess those "massive tax breaks" still leave them with a massive uphill struggle while competing against the likes of Diageo.

BaZmO* · 08-04-2014 9:45am

Zebra3 wrote: »

I'm no expert, nor am I here to defend any micro, but at a guess those "massive tax breaks" still leave them with a massive uphill struggle while competing against the likes of Diageo.

From that link it says that Messrs save €25K a year from the tax break. Hardly earth shattering.

upforit101 · 08-04-2014 10:37am

BeerNut wrote: »

I can; I don't.

Fair enough I'll take your word for it. Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it difficult to believe you.

BeerNut wrote: »

You buy the product they sell at the price they set, or you don't. Same goes for every other brewery, pub or consumer product.

If only it was that easy, it's not like the vast majority of pubs are craft beer emporiums is it?

BeerNut · 08-04-2014 11:13am

upforit101 wrote: »

it's not like the vast majority of pubs are craft beer emporiums is it?

It's not, though it's not like Galway Bay Brewery has a monopoly on craft beer outlets either. It's a competitive market and there's always another option for someone who doesn't want to pay what GBB (or anyone else) asks.

Saruman · 08-04-2014 12:01pm

The way I see it is that while GBP have put up their prices over the last few years, so have many others. Even Sweetman's have put up their prices, though at €4.50 a pint for their own stuff, it's still great value and they have one beer still at €4.

GBP have some bargain beers from time to time, there is usually a €4 bucket of beer.

In Dublin, GBP are far from a monopoly.

I should say for transparency that Beoir members get .50c vouchers (20 of them) for Galway Bay Beers in the pubs so for us, their own beer isn't as expensive. That said, I don't always buy a GB beer when in one of their pubs so I pay the same as everyone else for other beer.
I do find them expensive sometimes but no more so than many places in the city centre (Dublin) and I know where I would rather be drinking.

slayerking · 08-04-2014 5:37pm

I personally find them pretty expensive, so I almost never go there now. I actually still have all my Beoir vouchers intact - I should probably use them actually!
In the same vein, bottled OFAF is just a crazy price in off licences, so I haven't touched it. It's a lovely beer, but not worth that money imo. I'll happily buy two other Irish craft beers or an interesting import instead with my money!

If you find them expensive, take your custom elsewhere.

BeerNut · 08-04-2014 5:42pm

slayerking wrote: »

I personally find them pretty expensive, so I almost never go there now. I actually still have all my Beoir vouchers intact - I should probably use them actually!

Full Sail in AtG and The Black Sheep is €4.60 a pint with a voucher, which I reckon is very decent value. Though I don't think I've had a pint of it since I used my last one.

BaZmO* · 09-04-2014 12:34am

How have you done the maths if you don't know what a business's overheads are? You're just taking a wild guess.

What if after all the costs are taken into consideration the business is coming out with a 5% profit. Is that acceptable? How about 10%? Or even 20%?

Should a business have to list their profit margins on a board before a purchase is made?

BaZmO* · 09-04-2014 12:41am

Tube wrote: »

I said nothing about overheads, only gross margin on product.

Either way you're still just guessing. Just like the rest of us you haven't a clue what their costs are.

BaZmO* · 09-04-2014 12:52am

Tube wrote: »

Do you understand what gross margin is? If I buy a keg and the cost per pint is €1.90 and I sell it for €5.30, the gross margin is €3.40. If I can brew and it costs €0.90 per pint and I sell for €4.20, the gross margin is €3.50.

Do you understand what speculation is?

Tube · 09-04-2014 12:53am

Conversation going nowhere. G'night.

BaZmO* · 09-04-2014 8:53am

Tube wrote: »

Conversation going nowhere. G'night.

Nice of you to delete all your posts. :rolleyes:

Lovely Bloke · 09-04-2014 11:22am

BaZmO* wrote: »

Nice of you to delete all your posts. :rolleyes:

haha, lol

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 9:32pm

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

no, the cost €6

Also costing €6 in ATG are "guest beers" in 2/3 pint glasses - including some sub 5% beers, which is taking the piss a bit - but I didn't buy any.

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. They ate considering just dropping draught brewdog beers altogether though.
Bottles and cans of brewdog beers haven't changed price though.

Re: stormy port price increase, it's now 5.8% abv and a totally reworked recipe, price increase reflects the increase in production costs and duty.
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.

Re: salt house, as far as I know they still offer Porterhouse Plain @ €4 per pint while full sail and bay ale are 4.55. Again, they still offer great value for money even if stormy port (the same beer UN name only) is more inexpensive than it was.

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 9:35pm

Oh and Bay Ale recently got a total recipe change too so expect a much better, malt forward red ale from that tap soon (if not already pouring).

slayerking · 11-04-2014 9:42pm

He's back

jh79 · 11-04-2014 9:44pm

What do ye think of the American Amber? I I'm a fan , great stuff .

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 10:15pm

jh79 wrote: »

What do ye think of the American Amber? I I'm a fan , great stuff .

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.

oblivious · 11-04-2014 10:18pm

slayerking wrote: »

He's back

Guess whos back

jh79 · 11-04-2014 10:19pm

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?

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 10:20pm

jh79 wrote: »

Is sweetmans only available in their Dublin pub?

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

slayerking · 11-04-2014 10:26pm

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.

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 10:47pm

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.

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 10:51pm

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.

slayerking · 11-04-2014 11:08pm

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.

slayerking · 11-04-2014 11:09pm

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.

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 11:23pm

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!

Seaneh · 11-04-2014 11:39pm

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.

slayerking · 11-04-2014 11:51pm

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.

Galway Bay Breweries

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