Micro Brewery Beers to help pull our country out of Recession?

drunkmonkey

Nearly every pub stocks the same beer, Heineken, Carlsberg etc there all imported and owned by huge multinationals and add nothing of Value to the economy, pub or venue.
How many Americans know what a Blarney Blonde is?
Can the Blarney Blonde or Rebel Red even compete with the Multinationals here in Ireland when you have big 2 that will reward publicans not to serve the local brew, a society unwilling to try new things and politicians not willing to tackle the drinks industry. After the Brian Cowen affair will any Irish politician ever have a drink again?

We should be drinking more Irish beer than were importing/exporting foreign beer, instead we've got the mix all wrong and it looks like we'll never have another Guinness on our hands. We don't even own Guinness any more, hell were lucky there's still Guinness employees here.

Beer will drive our Exports forward and create sustainable local industries. We can't compete with China on the Manufacturers price of a pair of socks but we can make sure there's a 100% Irish beer waiting for them when they get home.

For anyone interested this NY Times article on our cousins in Greece and the effect the big 2 have over there. Ireland's problem is probably worse.

Politicians, The Government and you should all be involved in trying to reverse what the current monopoly. In less than 100 years we have went from over 200 breweries to about 12.
I've never seen a politician say we need more beer in this country but we need it now more than ever.

I'll be asking all canvassers what they drink and casting my vote accordingly.

the groutch

yeah, great idea, drink our way out of a recession :rolleyes:

RachaelVO

You know that's not the worlds worst plan! In fact there is a huge amount of substance behind it. It wouldn't necessarily have to be for beers, but the development of what we're know for too (Whiskey). There has to be something we can bring to a worldwide market that can only come from Ireland.

I like you're way of thinking!

Focalbhach

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I've never seen a politician say we need more beer in this country but we need it now more than ever.

I wouldn't say "more beer"... different beer, certainly :pac: I'll happily point any canvassers who ask in the direction of our finest brewers!

squonk

Are you the guy from the FrontLine last night who tried to set up a microbrewery for cider but wasn't allowed, by any chance?

[Jackass]

Well I'd buy anything Irish.

In the interest of transparency, I presume you're in the industry of small local brew, "Drunk Money"?

Well, I'd certainly try your beer if it was in my local pub, and most importantly, if pubs pushed a "value line" of beer, promoted by being local too, they would be able to buy in a lot cheaper and sell a lot cheaper whilst also retaining a better profit margin than for every pint of Heineken they sell, for example.

The drinks industry is just another industry that was corruptly protected by the previous Government too, and which subsided to absolute blatant greed.

It's amazing how some places in Dublin can make a profit off selling a vodka and mixer for 2 euro on big nights of the week (when the social scene died down and they were desperate to pull in whatever is left of the market share), yet the same drink cost about 8 or 9 euro during the boom.

It's depressing really.

Cookie_Monster

The problem there is

German & Danish beer is nice
Irish beer is not

kraggy

The only thing I drink these days is Galway Hooker.

It's an ale that's brewed by a couple of lads from here in Galway. It's sold in the pubs I happen to drink in thankfully. I love it.

I'd be really glad if there were more of those local beers/ales in the towns/cities of Ireland. Certainly beats the big beers.

ednwireland

local pub here selss red hugh lovely stuff, problem is if you sell too much diageo will pull your other stuff,didnt wetherspoons pull out of here because here because they couldnt get guiness

and i couldnt get galway hooker when i was in galway !

Jaysoose

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The problem there is

German & Danish beer is nice
Irish beer is not

Your so wide of the mark, try going up to against the grain on wexford street and drinking some of the lovely irish beers they have on offer.

The heino's and budweisers that get drunk here are pee-water compared to some irish craft beer.

i will give you some german beer is good but denmark give us tuborg so im not buying that one.

hobochris

The worst that could happen is an Irish version of dutch gold....

RobbieTheRobber

OP, just thought i would point out that those beers you named "Heineken, Carlsberg etc there all imported" are not imported for the irish market.

Heineken is brewed in Cork
And Guinness\diageo brew both carlsberg and budweiser here as well.



We do import some bottles of these brands but these are labeled as imported.

alejandro1977

OP

Can you cite any behaviour of monopolistic practices? The pubs that currently stock micro brews don't seem to be punished...

There are microbreweries here but IMHO their biggest barriers are cultural - the plebs prefer to drink p1ss - I love Galway Hooker too.

It's easy to say "the government should do this or that" -

I would like to see microbreweries succeeding - I've considered starting one myself - but the last thing we need is another quango

jmayo

squonk wrote: »

Are you the guy from the FrontLine last night who tried to set up a microbrewery for cider but wasn't allowed, by any chance?

That guy did have a point though. (sorry bad pun)
He wanted to setup a mico cider brewery and of course our rules make it harder.
Look at small towns/villages in Brittany/Normandy and they have small cider setups who then flog the stuff off to tourists and the locals.
Actually some of it is pretty nice stuff.

Why can't we do that rather than import ciders form the UK or Sweden ?
Why do we drink foreign beers, which even though they are brewed here the value goes to some multinational whose HQ is elsewhere ?

28064212

alejandro1977 wrote: »

OP

Can you cite any behaviour of monopolistic practices? The pubs that currently stock micro brews don't seem to be punished...

There are microbreweries here but IMHO their biggest barriers are cultural - the plebs prefer to drink p1ss - I love Galway Hooker too.

+1. Why protect microbrews? Why not (for example) home-produced soft drinks? Should the government have stopped Coca-Cola coming in to protect Cavan Cola?

If there's demand for it, microbreweries will succeed. If there's not, they won't. Same as any industry. Protectionism doesn't work

Rented Mule

The idea has merit OP. Of course you're going to want to expand this to all Irish made products .....but it is a start.

ArtSmart

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/travel/18journeys.html

interesting article bout it from the new york times above (pretty big one too)

as part of Ireland's food tourism (yes, such a thing does exist and doing very well thank you) it has a definite place.

the Brits have improved their whole microbrewery thing pretty well in recent years as far as i know.

yup, i like it!

found these bout the uk success

http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/business-features/micro_breweries_are_tapping_in_to_the_thirst_for_real_ale_1_674603

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11323119

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8513072.stm

maynooth_rules

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The problem there is

German & Danish beer is nice
Irish beer is not

Actually no. Yes on German but Danish beer is piss. Its just that Carlsberg is everywhere, people begin to think it is good and nice. It is far from it. Three of the biggest lagers here are Dutch, Danish and American :rolleyes:. If our pubs were stocking on quality it would be just German and Belgian lagers

kraggy

ednwireland wrote: »

local pub here selss red hugh lovely stuff, problem is if you sell too much diageo will pull your other stuff,didnt wetherspoons pull out of here because here because they couldnt get guiness

and i couldnt get galway hooker when i was in galway !

Galway
The Bierhaus, Henry Street
The Roisin Dubh, Dominick Street
Munroe's Tavern, Dominick Street
The Blue Note, William Street
Massimo, William Street
Tigh Neachtain, Cross Street
Townhouse Bar, Quay Lane
Sheridan's on the Dock, The Docks
NUIG, College Bar
The Cottage, Lower Salthill
Twelve Hotel, Barna
Lohans Bar and Restaurant, Salthill
Bar No. 8, The Docks
The King's Head, High Street
Home Kegs
The Huntsman Inn, College Road
The Salthouse, Raven Terrace
The Spanish Arch Hotel, Quay Street
The Skeff Bar, Eyre Square
Tigh Coili, Mainguard Street
The Malthouse Restaurant, High Street
Connemara Gateway Hotel, Oughterard
The Western Hotel, Prospect Hill
The Oslo Bar, Salthill

Dublin
The Bull and Castle, Christ Church, Dublin 2
The Porterhouse, Temple Bar, Dublin
The Porterhouse, Nassau St, Dublin
Anseo, Camden Street, Dublin 2
Ryans of Parkgate Street, Dublin 7
The Palace, Fleet Street
O'Neills, Suffolk Street
Lucan County Bar, Lucan
Cassidy's Bar, Westmoreland Street
Pygmalion Bar, South William Street

Elsewhere
The Bierhaus, Pope's Quay, Cork
Tobergal Lane Café, Sligo Town
Scholars, University of Limerick
The Oarsman, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim
Gleeson's Townhouse, Roscommon
The Olde Castle Bar, Donegal Town

http://galwayhooker.ie/flash/site/locations/

magick

I live in Cali and Micro Brews are every where here. Its a refreshing change from the big Breweries, plus they try to source their ingredients from local farmers. They organize days out, such as fair days for local cities. Personally Id love to see more like Micro Breweries in Ireland.

adamski8

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The problem there is

German & Danish beer is nice
Irish beer is not

And what is it that makes German/danish beer so nice and not irish beer?

alejandro1977

http://www.dungarvanbrewingcompany.com/
these guys aren't whining looking for Government Support


http://www.dungarvanbrewingcompany.com/find_us/stockists.html

in Dublin alone

Dublin:
Against the Grain, Wexford St
Anseo, Camden St
Bowes, Fleet St
Bull and Castle Beerhall and Gastropub, Christchurch
Celtic Whiskey Shop, Dawson St
Cobblestone Pub, Smithfield
Deveney's Off License, Dundrum
Deveney's Off License, Rathmines
Drinkstore, Stoneybatter
The Exchequer Gastropub, Exchequer St
Fallon and Byrne Restaurant, Exchequer St
Foggy Dew, Temple Bar
Hole In The Wall, Blackhorse Avenue
Jus de Vine, Portmarnock
Le Bon Crubeen, Talbot St
L Mulligan's, Stoneybatter
Martin's Off License, Fairview
McHugh's Off Licenses, Malahide Road and Kilbarrack Road
Moloughney's Restaurant, Clontarf
O'Neill's Bar and Restaurant, Suffolk St
Palace Bar, Fleet St
Porterhouse Central, Nassau St
Porterhouse, Temple Bar
Redmonds Off license, Ranelagh
Sweeney's Off License, Glasnevin
The Temple Bar Pub, Temple Bar
The Village Venue, Wexford St
Whelan's Off License, Wexford St

Cool Mo D

It's not going to bring us to an economic boom or anything, but trying to take advantage of Ireland's heritage and reputation as brewers and distillers is a great idea, and should be encouraged.

There already are a few Irish microbreweries making excellent beer, even if it's not widely available. The outgoing government even brought in tax relief for micro brewed beer.

Ireland's beer culture is rubbish compared even to places like England, Germany, Belgium and even the USA. Almost every pub in the country has the same set of uninspiring and dull beers on tap.

alejandro1977

Cool Mo D wrote: »

It's not going to bring us to an economic boom or anything, but trying to take advantage of Ireland's heritage and reputation as brewers and distillers is a great idea, and should be encouraged.

There already are a few Irish microbreweries making excellent beer, even if it's not widely available. The outgoing government even brought in tax relief for micro brewed beer.

Ireland's beer culture is rubbish compared even to places like England, Germany, Belgium and even the USA. Almost every pub in the country has the same set of uninspiring and dull beers on tap.

forgot about that - 2003 finance act actually.

ALCOHOL PRODUCTS TAX RELIEF FOR MICROBREWERIES. Certificate of eligibility under Section 78A of the Finance Act 2003. Brewery Warehousekeeper Details ...
www.revenue.ie/en/tax/excise/forms/apt3.pdf

Focalbhach

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The problem there is

German & Danish beer is nice
Irish beer is not

May I ask which Irish beers you don't like?

Overheal

drunkmonkey wrote: »

How many Americans know what a Blarney Blonde is?

Is that a brew from Dogfish Head?

:pac:

Micro/Craft Brewery is great. Great. Like I said: Dogfish Head. And yeah, Samuel Adams in a way. But to save the Recession? Thats very optimistic. Brewery is not going to save the country. I doubt it would even make a dent in GDP. Not knocking it but don't expect miracles. Sam Adams itself is a mainstream beverage but they advertise on their "little op" mantra, that they only make up about 1% of the domestic beer market. Followed by Dozens if not Hundreds of craft breweries, like Dogfish Head.

Also what the first replier said: I recall an AH thread the other day "I have 10 euro left of my dole, whats the best way to get ****faced on it?" - now might not be the best time to encourage shall we say, more discretionary spending. Though using Guinness as an example it would make for fine export.

Boskowski

Hey. Here's the answer to our economic woes. Drink more, drink local. You couldn't make it up...

RandolphEsq

Fantastic idea OP! The scum at Diageo will operate their shady bribery tactics if such a move comes out but it is brilliant.

We can drink ourselves out of this recession!

Cookie_Monster

So much for tongue in cheek comments

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Actually no. Yes on German but Danish beer is piss. Its just that Carlsberg is everywhere, people begin to think it is good and nice. It is far from it.

There are others apart from Carlsberg, and anyway Tuborg is about the nicest beer around. Only here is it sold as a cheapo beer, and is more popular than Carlsberg in Denmark.

adamski8 wrote: »

And what is it that makes German/danish beer so nice and not irish beer?

The taste

Leto wrote: »

May I ask which Irish beers you don't like?

I can't think of one I really like that much at all to be honest, Smithwicks is ok (if you mean to take "beer" as all encompassing definition)

RandolphEsq wrote: »

We can drink ourselves out of this recession!

"Lets session through the recession" was the slogan for a prospective Dalkey councillor in the last locals
He didn't do very well

Jaysoose

Boskowski wrote: »

Hey. Here's the answer to our economic woes. Drink more, drink local. You couldn't make it up...

Encouraging local business is a bad way to help get out of recession?...

oblivious

One of the biggest Craft brewing places in the world, Oregon, where around 12-15% of their GDP is now derived for craft brewing.

spider guardian

Never mind all them daft remarks about sessioning our way out of the recession, people are going to drink so why not encourage people to drink local brews and keep money in the domestic economy?

Amazing that there is no popular Irish pale lager, but then in a lot of people's minds mass produced = p1ss.

Maybe the cultural aspect of drinking to get drunk and not to sample the taste is somewhat to blame

28064212

spider guardian wrote: »

Never mind all them daft remarks about sessioning our way out of the recession, people are going to drink so why not encourage people to drink local brews and keep money in the domestic economy?

How are you going to do that? Import taxes? Protectionism doesn't work, and Heineken and Diageo are already brewed here anyhow. Tax break for micro-breweries? Already exists. What exactly are the pro-micro-brewery crowd looking for?

oblivious

spider guardian wrote: »

Amazing that there is no popular Irish pale lager, but then in a lot of people's minds mass produced = p1ss.e

Also economies of scale that craft brewers can't match

spider guardian

28064212 wrote: »

How are you going to do that? Import taxes? Protectionism doesn't work, and Heineken and Diageo are already brewed here anyhow. Tax break for micro-breweries? Already exists. What exactly are the pro-micro-brewery crowd looking for?

I wouldn't be so quick to lump myself into the "pro-micro-brewery" crowd, the only beer I drink is heineken or carlsberg. Some variety in pubs would be nice, in other countries you can get good local brews for a good price. Any tradition we had for local breweries is long-gone, that's if it existed at all.

How am I going to encourage people to drink local brews? No-one is seriously advocating protectionism, there would be war! The best the government can do is continue to offer incentives and then it is up to individuals to produce the goods and the publicans to support them.

Budding brewers aren't exactly ten-a-penny these days, it's hard to see how any local scene can get off the ground. Pint-o-heino there ken

cavedave

spider guardian
Any tradition we had for local breweries is long-gone, that's if it existed at all.

It did but diageo have succeeded in erasing most of the knowledge that it existed.

Budding brewers aren't exactly ten-a-penny these days, it's hard to see how any local scene can get off the ground.

Set up in the last two years Dungarvan, the Oslo, Trouble Brewing, Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne, Clanconnel Brewing Company, Inishmacsaint Brewing Company and White Gypsy (list here). Most of these are in rural locations that where jobs are not ten a penny. Also worth mentioning is the Porterhouses expansion to Manhattan and China.

Boskowski

Jaysoose wrote: »

Encouraging local business is a bad way to help get out of recession?...

I suppose. I just found it to be funny that it was related to drink. Bit like the 'Legalize Marihuana to get out of the recession' thread.

Jaysoose

Boskowski wrote: »

I suppose. I just found it to be funny that it was related to drink. Bit like the 'Legalize Marihuana to get out of the recession' thread.

Its always easier to come up with dismissive remarks than be constructive and contribute i suppose.

Lots of quality craft brewers in ireland and across the border porviding jobs, this can only be a good thing.

Formosa

Smithwicks is Irish and delicious but most people turn their nose up at it.

kraggy

Formosa wrote: »

Smithwicks is Irish and delicious but most people turn their nose up at it.

Smithwicks is owned by Diageo.

Krusty_Clown

kraggy wrote: »

The only thing I drink these days is Galway Hooker.

It's an ale that's brewed by a couple of lads from here in Galway. It's sold in the pubs I happen to drink in thankfully. I love it.

I'd be really glad if there were more of those local beers/ales in the towns/cities of Ireland. Certainly beats the big beers.

Isn't Galway Hooker actually brewed in County Roscommon (around a mile from Roscommon Town). I guess Roscommon Hooker just doesn't have that same ring top it.

I do like the idea about drinking our way our of the recession.

oblivious

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Isn't Galway Hooker actually brewed in County Roscommon (around a mile from Roscommon Town). I guess Roscommon Hooker just doesn't have that same ring top it.

Yes, but Guinness is an English company

BeerNut

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Isn't Galway Hooker actually brewed in County Roscommon

Yes but it's still, as kraggy says, brewed by a couple of lads from there in Galway.

Losty Dublin

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Isn't Galway Hooker actually brewed in County Roscommon (around a mile from Roscommon Town). I guess Roscommon Hooker just doesn't have that same ring top it.

County Galway almost reaches up as far as Roscommon town, believe it or not so it may well be as close as can be. Galway's not all Connemara, ya know

The main issue these MB beers have is that Irish drinkers are conservative in outlook and generally unwilling to risk a new beer, it's impossible to get a good dedicated supply stream into lots of bars thus getting the brand out there plus the drink trade has been going towards home/volume drinking more and more in the last 10 years; all in all it's a big big ask. Porterhouse knew this back in 1996 when they opened in town with the knowledge they'd have the patronage in a pub on site and were able to expand into the right places but this shows as much astute knowledge of the pub trade as the brewing one. Get the product wrong at any stage and you are wasting yout time.

BeerNut

Losty Dublin wrote: »

it's impossible to get a good dedicated supply stream into lots of bars

That's not true the way it was four or five years ago. The new generation of brewers and the new generation of speciality beer bars are much more fastidious about these things than the like of Biddy Early and Dublin Brewing Company were at the turn of the century.

You will very rarely find a Hooker or Trouble tap with no beer in it.

Losty Dublin

BeerNut wrote: »

That's not true the way it was four or five years ago. The new generation of brewers and the new generation of speciality beer bars are much more fastidious about these things than the like of Biddy Early and Dublin Brewing Company were at the turn of the century.

You will very rarely find a Hooker or Trouble tap with no beer in it.

Meant to say almost, sorry. I do remember the days of the likes of No 1 Brew, D'arcy's and Beckett's having taps and signs up in several Dublin pubs only for there to be no beer in them half the time. Soon enough, they got found out when pubs simply didn't make the sales and got rid of them.

drunkmonkey

Interesting little wiki piece on Bacardi & Cuba, I was very surprised it's not made in some way there. I'll be having a Havana Club this week:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacardi#Bacardi_and_Cuba_today

Could the same be said of Guinness today? Not only does it advertise it's self as Irish, it uses Irish symbols such as Brian Boru's Harp in it's branding but there's nothing Irish about it only it's heritage, a lot of American's & African's would be very surprised by this.

Don't get me wrong Guinness has done a lot for our worldwide profile but we have to ensure that new Visitors and countries around the world know there is more than one Irish Beer, one which can be made here and sent all over the world. I believe there is 10-15% of GDP to be made in this sector.

As I see it there is currently a lot of dry counties around the country and a lot of empty pubs that need to reinvent themselves as brew pubs.

Antrim - The Hilden Brewing Company
Armagh - Dry
Carlow - The Carlow Brewing Company
Cavan - Dry
Clare - Dry
Cork - The Franciscan Well Brewery
Derry - Dry
Donegal- Dry
Down - Cloncannel Brewing Company
Dublin - The Porterhouse Brew Company
Fermanagh - Dry
Galway - The Oslo Microbrewery & Bar
Kerry - West Kerry Brewery
Kildare - Dry ( The birthplace of what is now Guinness)
Kilkenny - Dry
Laois - Dry
Leitrim - Dry
Limerick - Dry
Longford - Dry
Louth - Dry
Mayo - Dry
Meath - Dry
Monaghan - Dry
Offaly - Dry
Roscommon - The Galway Hooker
Sligo - Dry
Tipperary - White Gypsy Brewery
Tyrone - Dry
Waterford - The Dungarvin Brewing Company
Westmeath - Dry
Wexford - Dry
Wicklow - Dry

Hope I haven't left anyone out but as you can see it's pretty poor state for a country that's ranked number 1 drinkers in the world. A nation that loves beer by all accounts.

noby

Trouble Brewing in Kildare; Messrs Maguires in Dublin; Whitewater in Down. I may have missed someone, but I'm tired.

Oh and there's no 'i' in Dungarvan (and that's not a saying *smilie*)

oblivious

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I it's pretty poor state for a country that's ranked number 1 drinkers in the world. A nation that loves beer by all accounts.

Quantity not quality, they lover crap beer.

BeerNut

drunkmonkey wrote: »

a lot of empty pubs that need to reinvent themselves as brew pubs.

Have you ever been to a brewpub where they're not really into beer and are just doing it to have a cheap source of stock and/or a gimmick? It's not pretty and it's more harmful to the cause of independent breweries than any number of multinational beer factories.

It's not enough to just set up a brewkit, you have to be interested in beer. Our problem is that, despite one of the highest per capita beer consumption rates in the world, Irish drinkers (and publicans!) aren't really interested in beer. They're more interested in brands.

BeerNut

noby wrote: »

I may have missed someone, but I'm tired.

Inishmacsaint in Fermanagh. Also, I think we can officially add Metalman in Waterford too: first beer being brewed today.