Breo - ahead of its time?

RE*AC*TOR

For those that do not remember Breo - it was a white beer, not too dissimilar to Hoegaarden. I would say to what is currently on the market it is most like Kronenburg Blanc.



It was discontinued in 2000, however, since then there has been an explosion in both the range of beers available in Ireland and also in the interest in unusual beers. Hoegaarden is now widely available in pubs on draught and in bottle.

In the late 90s the choice of beers on tap was mostly Guinness, Carlsberg, Heineken, Budweiser, Miller (to some extent), and Harp. I would argue that Breo was too different at this point to be accepted. Couple this with the insistence that it be served at about 3 degrees (extra cold) and also the low uptake meant the beer lingered longer in the taps conspired against any kind of popularity.

I reckon the reintroduction of Breo now would be met with a much warmer response.

JIZZLORD

i always wondered about this stuff, i'm too young to have ever had the stuff. i'm kinda interested now

BaZmO*

Yeah definitely. I loved this when I tried it for the first time, most of it free too as they were promoting in the pub I was in at the time.

I love Hoegaarden and often wondered, when drinking it, why they didn't try to relaunch Breo. It'd probably be more successful than the endless Guinness promotions.

microgirl

I really liked Breo. I was terribly disappointed when they stopped it. However, I'm not sure I'd drink much of it now as my palate has been even more educated and even Hoegaarden now I won't usually touch. Not enough hops.

blah

Looking at the range of beers available nowadays, it seems strange that this one didn't survive. You consider with all the effort guinness put in to advertising that they should have been able to make it work. Could be time for a relaunch\rebranding.

ChuckProphet

totally agree with u there. i thought breo was top notch when it came out used drink it quite a bit. it baffles me why people drink muck like bud, heineken, carlsberg :eek: then or nowadays. It'd have to be guinness or bulmers for me if there was no quality brews.

c - 13

I half jokingly mailed Guinness recently enough to see if there were any plans to re-release this back onto the market given the current trends towards this sort of drink. The consensus from them was a resounding no. Ill see if I can root out the emails for the laugh.

gucci

Interesting point you have raised reactor, i cannot comment on the taste comparison as i was too young at the time also. I don't really see why should re-launch it though as it would be tough market to penetrate now as Hoegarden etc has made such a move in.
Would people choose a "new" beer or a foreign beer which has a reputation. Probably marketeers can make comparisons and raise statistics for both. The brand widening of Guinness special brews is probably the safer option than a new style of beer. (in the same sort of way you get Kit-Kat mint instead of a brand new named bar!)
Maybe they started selling it a little too early, before ireland had grasped the cheap flight and city break culture, where people often taste the different type of beers. Guinness have always seemed a little hasty in removing poor performing new products from the Irish Market, Hudson Blue, Cashels and Kilkenny (which is pretty successful in the foreign market from what i can see)

BeerNut

Yes, it was ahead of its time, but I don't think it was all that good. It was much bitterer than most other wheat beers, lacking the spice of Hoegaarden and chums as well as the fruitiness of Erdinger and Co. The James's Gate Wildcat Wheat was better, though in fairness it was the first wheat beer I ever tasted.

gucci wrote: »

I don't really see why should re-launch it though as it would be tough market to penetrate now as Hoegarden etc has made such a move in.

Didn't stop Heineken setting loose Coors Light, or InBev inflicting Beck's Vier on us. If the market can support as many locally-made lagers, it can handle another wheat beer.

gucci wrote: »

The brand widening of Guinness special brews is probably the safer option than a new style of beer.

This has quite spectacularly proved not to be the case. Different stouts by Guinness (the Brewhouse series) failed; different styles branded by Guinness (St. James's Gate series; Breó) failed. Personally, I think a new style and a new brand are what's required. Lots of industrial brewers run mostly-independent microbreweries on-site. It'd be nice for Diageo to do something like that. They have the space for it.

gucci wrote: »

Guinness have always seemed a little hasty in removing poor performing new products from the Irish Market, Hudson Blue, Cashels and Kilkenny (which is pretty successful in the foreign market from what i can see)

Kilkenny's still around. But yeah, they don't give new lines much of a chance.

White Horse

Yes, I remember it well. I also remember some awful hangovers. What did they put into the stuff?

Awful name, no-one knew if it was pronounced "bro" or "bri-oh".

And the temperature; my gums nearly froze the first time I drank it.

loyatemu

it was similar to a wheat beer, but it wasn't as nice as the real thing.

also they marketed it as a sort of "white guinness" which was plainly ludicrous.

can't imagine anyone drinking it in preference to hoegaarden or erdinger, so not much point in relaunching it.

oh, and it was pronounced "Bro"

oblivious

It was ok, but I don’t remember it was something I could not drink all night.

Guinness where just following a trend on the content with the rise of German wheat beer that had shed the “old woman’s drink” in the late 80’s and 1990’s

Got to love the marketing “naturally brewed” as a posed to what?

I would rather see the St. James's Gate series making a come back and thought its wheat beer was also better

gucci

BeerNut wrote: »

Y
Didn't stop Heineken setting loose Coors Light, or InBev inflicting Beck's Vier on us. If the market can support as many locally-made lagers, it can handle another wheat beer.

yes but i wouldnt see the point of pitching a lager that just has that generic/safe taste a-la vier and coors, i thought bréo was something different, i guess i cant comment as i havent tasted it

BeerNut wrote: »

This has quite spectacularly proved not to be the case. Different stouts by Guinness (the Brewhouse series) failed; different styles branded by Guinness (St. James's Gate series; Breó) failed. Personally, I think a new style and a new brand are what's required. Lots of industrial brewers run mostly-independent microbreweries on-site. It'd be nice for Diageo to do something like that. They have the space for it.

I didnt realise the Brewhouse series was such a flop, apologies i hadnt really looked into it.

Blisterman

I'd love to try this. I'm a big fan of white and wheat beers, but this was just a few years before my time.

They should bring it back as a sort of microbrew, in limited quantities.
The big brewers in england seem to do this all the time, and I think it's great.

BaZmO*

gucci wrote: »

I didnt realise the Brewhouse series was such a flop, apologies i hadnt really looked into it.

There was a programme on BBC2 last year about how Guinness is losing the market share fight.

There was an interesting fact on the show too. It was that out of a pint of Guinness, Lager, Milk and Orange Juice, Guinness had the least amount of calories.
It'd make you wonder why they don't push that side more when it came to marketing Guinness, especially when you consider how calorie conscious people are nowadays.

A quick Google (might be open to correction though) came up with the following numbers:

Guinness 170
Lager 221
OJ 249
Milk 378
Coke 239

Sorry for going off topic but I thought it was interesting enough.

oblivious

BaZmO* wrote: »

There was a programme on BBC2 last year about how Guinness is losing the market share fight.

There was an interesting fact on the show too. It was that out of a pint of Guinness, Lager, Milk and Orange Juice, Guinness had the least amount of calories.
It'd make you wonder why they don't push that side more when it came to marketing Guinness, especially when you consider how calorie conscious people are nowadays.

A quick Google (might be open to correction though) came up with the following numbers:

Guinness 170
Lager 221
OJ 249
Milk 378
Coke 239

Sorry for going off topic but I thought it was interesting enough.

and the feck all between Guinness and bud, but Guinness is a a fairly light beer.

but its been marketed over the years as something that give you strenght

BeerNut

Blisterman wrote: »

The big brewers in england seem to do this all the time, and I think it's great.

This is because drinkers in England expect variety. Drinkers in Ireland want their Guinness/Heineken/Miller, and don't want it messed with, and don't want anything else. The pubs have very little incentive to offer anything else, and the brewers even less.

Even though the Brewhouse series all tasted almost identical to bog-standard dull old Guinness, I always made a point of ordering them to do my bit to encourage variety in the Irish beer market. Or at least retain my right to complain about the lack of it

BaZmO*

oblivious wrote: »

and the feck all between Guinness and bud, but Guinness is a a fairly light beer.

Yeah but Bud is p1ss!

oblivious wrote: »

but its been marketed over the years as something that give you strenght

Good point, but it's not being marketed like that any more. I just think they are missing a good opportunity.

gucci

BeerNut wrote: »

Even though the Brewhouse series all tasted almost identical to bog-standard dull old Guinness, I always made a point of ordering them to do my bit to encourage variety in the Irish beer market. Or at least retain my right to complain about the lack of it

Yeah to be honest i only had the last one (North star i think?) and i wouldnt be able to really tell the difference between it and not so good guinness. if you get my drift.very little difference.

Miguel_Sanchez

I used to love Breo - any pub in Galway that had a tap for it never seemed to have any kegs so I never got to drink it on draught. But I remember there was an offer where you got a 5 pound voucher for Golden Discs with every 6-pack of bottles so I used to buy those a lot!

jdivision

I like most of the foreign beers available now but didn't like Breo. I seem to remember an aftertaste from it that was unpleasant.