Caffreys

Jeanious

Does anyone know a place in the whole country where ya can get Caffreys (either on tap, cans whatever?) I know they sell it in England and Ausria would ya believe, but never in me life have i seen it here.
Supposed to be really nice too so id be interested to find a source.

kenmc

ONeills suffolk street used do it.
Found it gave me a terrible headachy hangover after only 1 or 2 even. Think it tasted nice though, but have avoided like the plague after a couple rough ones.

westtip

kenmc wrote:

ONeills suffolk street used do it.
Found it gave me a terrible headachy hangover after only 1 or 2 even. Think it tasted nice though, but have avoided like the plague after a couple rough ones.

Caffreys was an ersatz (pretend/false/created) irish ale invented by what was then Bass Brewers back in the 1980's, launched into the UK market, in a an attempt to create a new sector (the Irish Ale Sector), the brand had no heritage (similar marketing story although far more successful would be Baileys Irish Cream - which did in itself create a whole new sector in the Spirits market) it was reasonably succesfull- it was targetted at the lager drinker who might consider switching to Ale, or even the Guinness drinker switching to Ale, what we used to call in brands marketing the "portfolio drinker" Chilled to a depth you couldn't distinguish its taste, the creamy head (the theatre of the brand), created by Nitrogen dispensation rather than CO2 was an attempt to con the lager drinker they could get the guinness experience in an ale that behaved like a lager when it came to taste delivery (the brief to the brewers was to have a red ale of little distinguishing flavour). the brief to the advertising agency who launched it was to pack it full of Irish "authenticity". Consumers fell for it hook line and sinker. How do I know all this? - I worked on the brand it the late 1980s, we used to call Caffreys the great con beer, not quite an ale, not quite a lager and not quite a stout but appealing on occassions to all three drinkers. Not sure how it is doing now - never seen it over here in Ireland, which would explain the marketing con trick, think it was here for a while, but somehow this "authentic" irish beer appearing from nowhere didn't succeed. By the way in session tests it used to give a fierce hangover, after just three pints, which is not unusual with nitrogen injected beers, it was also packed full of chemicals. Does this help?

Mines a pint of Pedigree please. Naturally brewed naturally best

Pepe LeFrits

Seems to be sold in all the O'Neills in London, anyway. I quite like the stuff.

trance2004

Used to work in one of the O'Neills pubs in London and we had Caffreys there.
I wish I could get few cans over here.

amp

It used to be my primary beer for a while, but it was merely a stage in my journey to being able to drink an entire pint of guiness. The journey was a success:

Heiniken->Caffreys->Kilkenny->Guinness

Haven't drunk it in a while but I remember a vague hint of pond water. And, at the time, I did not think this an adverse quality. I will not attempt to give comments about it's hangover qualities as I usually switch to something stronger as it becomes harder to hold pints in the traditional upright fashion.