Royal Dutch update

grenache

Royal Dutch is currently unavailable in many off licences/supermarkets around the country. You might find it in an odd few places but these seem to be few and far between.

I got the following information from my boss last week who was in touch with a Comans rep, the importers of said beer. the story goes like this:

Irish company Comans bought the exclusive import rights to several European value beers, including Royal Dutch, Dutch Gold, etc some time in the last decade. A couple of months back, it came to the attention of Comans that a freight ship was docked in Cork port, full of Royal Dutch! Comans knew nothing about it, and upon investigation discovered the stock belonged to Aqua Blue, a beer importer based out of Cork itself.

Comans were, unsurprisingly, furious with Royal Dutch, as they had paid for exclusive import rights. RD had broken that contract by selling to another Irish importer.

So basically Comans told them to do one , and stopped importing the lager. As all offies were getting Royal Dutch from Comans, either directly or indirectly, there is now a huge shortage, as Aqua have only just began to import the product. Another company called Kelly's in Tipp Town are importing the silver can.

I can also assume that some businesses are unwilling to deal with Aqua, for fear of pi$$ing off Comans.

So thats all that I've heard. I am in no way a fan of RD but I know many folk on here are.

Condatis

Comans can be ruthless when dealing with competitors.

grenache

Condatis wrote: »

Comans can be ruthless when dealing with competitors.

Well in this particular case they are well entitled to be annoyed. Exclusive rights should be just that - exclusive.

gbee

A far better reaction from Comans would have been to drop the price and give out free cases.

Now, like bootleg stuff, Kelly's can charge a premium.

rubadub

gbee wrote: »

Kelly's can charge a premium.

They can try, I doubt people will pay any more than usual, they would just switch to another cheap beer -RD is quite similar to lots of the cheap beers out there, I doubt they have very loyal customers.

Tesco have bavaria 24 for €20 at the moment.

RD were a little different a while ago as one of the few cheaper beers at 5%, but I think most of it is 4.3% now.

grenache

rubadub wrote: »

They can try, I doubt people will pay any more than usual, they would just switch to another cheap beer -RD is quite similar to lots of the cheap beers out there, I doubt they have very loyal customers.

Tesco have bavaria 24 for €20 at the moment.

RD were a little different a while ago as one of the few cheaper beers at 5%, but I think most of it is 4.3% now.

We were getting the 5% one right up until it disappeared. We also had the silver 4.3% can, i think that's the one you are thinking of.

The thing i don't understand is those people who walk out of the shop when they see we have no RD in stock - admitedly these are few enough. RD is a poor enough drink. Surely if you'll drink it, you'll drink any auld $hite!

It's like a homeless man turning down a free dinner because he's been given fish and chips instead of bacon and cabbage!

rubadub

grenache wrote: »

We also had the silver 4.3% can, i think that's the one you are thinking of.

Yeah the silver one, I had still seen the other, I thought it was maybe changing over to 4.3% from the main supplier but others might have got 5% intended for another market. Just like heineken, my local eurospar often has 5% & 4.3% Heineken cans at the same time, the 5% being cheaper too, it has Glasgow info on it so it must be a grey area import.

grenache

rubadub wrote: »

Yeah the silver one, I had still seen the other, I thought it was maybe changing over to 4.3% from the main supplier but others might have got 5% intended for another market. Just like heineken, my local eurospar often has 5% & 4.3% Heineken cans at the same time, the 5% being cheaper too, it has Glasgow info on it so it must be a grey area import.

Yep my boss mentioned Comans going mad about the presence in shops of the silver Royal Dutch cans too. It's clearly not a product being imported by Comans. From the looks of it they were "royally" fcuked over by RD, if you'll excuse the pun.