Crean's lager

Bunk Moreland

Are there any plans to bring Creans to Northern Ireland? I'm a huge fan of the beer and would to see it on tap in Newry, get it in to the Canal Court Hotel! Also can I buy Creans online to be delivered?

Prop Joe

Seen these the weekend..

irish_goat

BeerNut wrote: »

With respect Xav, I don't think you answered the question asked by me, grimbergen and Confab.

Is any Crean's brewed outside Ireland?

Got chatting to someone very much involved with Creans the other day. He had been telling the group of us about the fact that they went for 330ml bottles as opposed to most other micros and then the conversation went something along the lines of.

Me: Now you'se don't have a bottling line down there do you?
Him: Nope.
Me: So it's bottled elsewhere?
Him: Yes.
Me: And then I noticed it says "brewed in EU" on the bottles.
*he twigged what I was getting at here*
Him: Yes, it does.
Me: Cause I've heard rumours it's been brewing elsewhere.
Him: Yes, I've heard those as well and that's all I'm saying.

Then he laughed and I knew that was all I was getting out of him.

Best guess I've heard is that it's made in Belgium.

In other news, Aer Lingus are going to start selling Crean's on their flights.

BeerNut

irish_goat wrote: »

Best guess I've heard is that it's made in Belgium.

That's not the country I've been hearing from everyone else. We should start a sweepstake.

Colonel Sanders

FFS would it kill them to just bloody say where it's brewed

I'm guessing they're not breaking any laws however. Was offered a bottle at the weekend by my brother in law who told me "it's brewed in Dingle". I told him I wasn't so sure! Stuck to Leann Follain in any case

upforit101

I've heard it's being brewed by Tennants in Scotland.

Ravelleman

Until the mystery is resolved, I think I´ll just stay away from Crean´s altogether. I think they´re being disingenuous and it´s insulting.

BaZmO*

Ravelleman wrote: »

Until the mystery is resolved, I think I´ll just stay away from Crean´s altogether. I think they´re being disingenuous and it´s insulting.

At this stage I think it's quite obvious. If the beer was solely brewed in Ireland you'd be sure as hell they'd say so.

Colonel Sanders

BaZmO* wrote: »

At this stage I think it's quite obvious. If the beer was solely brewed in Ireland you'd sure as hell they'd say so.

Agreed. Tbh the "brewed in the EU" is surely a give away. I'd have thought "brewed in Ireland" would be a positive (well certainly not a negative) in other countries.

The O'Hara's pub in Kilkenny says it only has Irish beer on draught (well that's what the bar man told me when I was in). They might need to take the Crean's tap out.

Colonel Sanders

BaZmO* wrote: »

At this stage I think it's quite obvious. If the beer was solely brewed in Ireland you'd sure as hell they'd say so.

Agreed. Tbh the "brewed in the EU" is surely a give away. I'd have thought "brewed in Ireland" would be a positive (well certainly not a negative) in other countries.

The O'Hara's pub in Kilkenny says it only has Irish beer on draught (well that's what the bar man told me when I was in). They might need to take the Crean's tap out.

Ravelleman

BaZmO* wrote: »

At this stage I think it's quite obvious. If the beer was solely brewed in Ireland you'd sure as hell they'd say so.

This I know. All the more reason to stay away from it, given that its very purpose was apparently to provide a 'fresh' Irish lager. More meaningless marketing, of course.

Regardless of all this, I actually find it to be a pretty underwhelming product in its own right.

bladebrew

This may sound silly,but what the hell are they doing in dingle so? Are the brewing it then sending it abroad to be bottled? How does it get out of dingle? I'm assuming by truck, so they harp on about freshness then let the beer travel around for while outside Ireland? Or are they brewing it elsewhere?
I'm not buying it again until I have answers! I'm a big fan of leann follain so il put there bottles in front of creans in the off licence:)

Lucena

bladebrew wrote: »

This may sound silly,but what the hell are they doing in dingle so? Are the brewing it then sending it abroad to be bottled? How does it get out of dingle? I'm assuming by truck, so they harp on about freshness then let the beer travel around for while outside Ireland? Or are they brewing it elsewhere?
I'm not buying it again until I have answers! I'm a big fan of leann follain so il put there bottles in front of creans in the off licence:)

Maybe they're brewing in Dingle and getting extra brewed in Belgium or wherever until they get up to full capacity. Maybe.

Maybe they just want to be able to sell the whole Irish angle and so they need a presence in Ireland, a wee brewery that people can go and visit in Dingle, get their photos taken in front of the vats, sniff the hops etc. thus showing everyone it's as Irish as Saint Patrick.

I was going to say that if they're not being up front about this, they'll quickly lose the support of craft beer drinkers in Ireland, but I'm guessing long-term this wouldn't be their primary target market, so it wouldn't matter too much. Do Heino drinkers care where Heino comes from?

Still I'm sure Xav'll be along in a bit to explain the situation. Until then, let's keep our support for breweries we know are brewing in Ireland.

Prop Joe

Just a quick question,How big is there brewery volume wise? Like how many kegs a week? I have visited there but would not be up to speed on the technical side of things,I think they had 8 Vats last i remember,What would they produce roughly?

upforit101

Lucena wrote: »

Maybe they're brewing in Dingle and getting extra brewed in Belgium or wherever until they get up to full capacity. Maybe.

Maybe they just want to be able to sell the whole Irish angle and so they need a presence in Ireland, a wee brewery that people can go and visit in Dingle, get their photos taken in front of the vats, sniff the hops etc. thus showing everyone it's as Irish as Saint Patrick.

I was going to say that if they're not being up front about this, they'll quickly lose the support of craft beer drinkers in Ireland, but I'm guessing long-term this wouldn't be their primary target market, so it wouldn't matter too much. Do Heino drinkers care where Heino comes from?

Still I'm sure Xav'll be along in a bit to explain the situation. Until then, let's keep our support for breweries we know are brewing in Ireland.

Too right; Not being upfront about where it's brewed is disingenuous at best.
It's a bit like those supermarkets pretending that some of the chickens they sell are from Ireland when in reality they come from outside of the country (often outside of the EU) and are only repackaged here.
Is it tantamount to "Food Fraud"?

Ravelleman

upforit101 wrote: »

Too right; Not being upfront about where it's brewed is disingenuous at best.
It's a bit like those supermarkets pretending that some of the chickens they sell are from Ireland when in reality they come from outside of the country (often outside of the EU) and are only repackaged here.
Is it tantamount to "Food Fraud"?

I always think of food labels as indications of where the last industrial process on the ingredients occurred. Supervalu sell baked beans that are apparently Irish but I'd be shocked if any of the ingredients they actually use - beans, tomatoes (or sauce), sugar, even the aluminium of the can - were Irish in origin.

Lucena

Ravelleman wrote: »

I always think of food labels as indications of where the last industrial process on the ingredients occurred. Supervalu sell baked beans that are apparently Irish but I'd be shocked if any of the ingredients they actually use - beans, tomatoes (or sauce), sugar, even the aluminium of the can - were Irish in origin.

There's some sort of rule that a certain percentage of the value of a product has to be added in the country for it to count as coming from there. (Sorry can't be more vague!) How that works in reality, I don't know.

the beer revolu

I was in Bradley's today and noticed Crean's on the shelf with all Irish beers.
I mischievously pointed out to them that the bottles are marked as brewed and bottled in The EU and told him about the discussion here and Dingle Brewer's question dodging worthy of a slippery politician. He was not impressed and is sending off an email as a retailer looking for clarity.
Oh what fun!!

Knifey Spoony

the beer revolu wrote: »

I was in Bradley's today and noticed Crean's on the shelf with all Irish beers.
I mischievously pointed out to them that the bottles are marked as brewed and bottled in The EU and told him about the discussion here and Dingle Brewer's question dodging worthy of a slippery politician. He was not impressed and is sending off an email as a retailer looking for clarity.
Oh what fun!!

I was just in Bradley's myself. Must have just missed you.

Nice to see that the lads that own the store care so much about their beer!

grimbergen

I did the tour of the brewery a few weeks back while down there on holidays. Personally I like the product but as somebody said above they're disingenuous in how they label and market the product. One local told me that they kegs are filled there but the bottling is done elsewhere, he thought it might be Bulmers but I think it's quite clear that it's done outside Ireland.

Keedowah

Feel disappointed now. Thought their brew was ok'ish, but it was local... shame they aint being honest about everything.

Prop Joe

Well i guess this question will be asked plenty at the RDS this weekend

Chrome.ie

the beer revolu wrote: »

I was in Bradley's today and noticed Crean's on the shelf with all Irish beers.
I mischievously pointed out to them that the bottles are marked as brewed and bottled in The EU and told him about the discussion here and Dingle Brewer's question dodging worthy of a slippery politician. He was not impressed and is sending off an email as a retailer looking for clarity.
Oh what fun!!

It's common knowledge in the drinks business where production is carried out and Bradleys would already be well aware of this......Don't believe for a minute that he doesn't know.
Why is everybody coming down so hard on Creans when Molsen Coors are Producing,Bottling and keging all Franciscian Well products in the UK and nobody seems to mind.
I am a genuine supporter of Irish Craft Beer and for me it must be 100% Irish.

irish_goat

Chrome.ie wrote: »

It's common knowledge in the drinks business where production is carried out and Bradleys would already be well aware of this......Don't believe for a minute that he doesn't know.
Why is everybody coming down so hard on Creans when Molsen Coors are Producing,Bottling and keging all Franciscian Well products in the UK and nobody seems to mind.
I am a genuine supporter of Irish Craft Beer and for me it must be 100% Irish.

Is that confirmed? It wouldn't be all the FW products, the brewery in Cork is definitely still running.

Chrome.ie

The brewery in Cork is producing draught for the brewpub and a cork pub group. They also do the limited editions like Jameson Stout etc.
All product sold through Molsen Coors is produced in UK.

matrim

Chrome.ie wrote: »

Why is everybody coming down so hard on Creans when Molsen Coors are Producing,Bottling and keging all Franciscian Well products in the UK and nobody seems to mind.

That's the first I've heard of that. Have you any details?

Last I heard Fran Well were preparing to move to a bigger brewery in Cork

drumswan

Chrome.ie wrote: »

The brewery in Cork is producing draught for the brewpub and a cork pub group. They also do the limited editions like Jameson Stout etc.
All product sold through Molsen Coors is produced in UK.

Oh dear. Have you got a source for this?

Chrome.ie

drumswan wrote: »

Oh dear. Have you got a source for this?

I have a contact working in a bonded warehouse in Dublin who has confirmed that FW kegs are coming through from Uk.

drumswan

No doubt if true this suddenly wont be a problem for Irish beer geeks because its Fran Well.

BaZmO*

drumswan wrote: »

No doubt if true this suddenly wont be a problem for Irish beer geeks because its Fran Well.

Not a problem if they're upfront about it.