A new Louth brewery.

Losty Dublin · 10-01-2015 1:57pm #1

Saw mention of this just now; it's impossible to keep tabs on the amount of new beers that are either just coming out or about to launch onto the market. At this stage there can't be too many counties in Ireland that don't have a brewery.

http://talkofthetown.ie/tag/great-northern-brewery/

oblivious · 10-01-2015 5:01pm

72 breweries active in the country, westmeath and leitrim I think are the only two without a brewery

Ronan|Raven · 10-01-2015 5:58pm

oblivious wrote: »

72 breweries active in the country, westmeath and leitrim I think are the only two without a brewery

Carrig are in Drumshanbo in Leitrim

oblivious · 10-01-2015 6:52pm

ah okay keep forgetting there there!! maybe it was cavan

Losty Dublin · 10-01-2015 8:16pm

Just for pig iron and within the 26 counties this is one brewery per county based on the little that I know.

Carlow; O'Hara's.
Cork; Franciscan Well.
Donegal; Kinnegar.
Dublin; Five Lamps.
Mayo; Mescan.
Leitrim; Carrig.
Monaghan; Brehon.
Waterford; Dungarvan;
Kildare; Trouble Brewing.
Kerry; West Kerry.
Galway; Independent Brewing.
Longford; St. Mels.
Louth; Jack Cody.
Meath; Brú.
Sligo; White Hag.
Roscommon; Black Donkey.
Offaly; Bo Bristle.
Clare; Burren Brewery.
Wexford; Doyle's
Wicklow; Wicklow Wolf.
Tipperary; White Gypsy.
Limerick; Limerick Lady. I've not seen it yet and I believe it's brewed under licence.

From my list it appears that Cavan, Westmeath, Laois and Kilkenny currently have no brewery's to speak of. Doubtless some of the Beoir lads will know better than I and I'd happily welcome their input here.

sofireland · 11-01-2015 3:55pm

Laois, 12 Acres are putting one in, but currently under contract @ 9 White Deer
Kilkenny, have Costellos but i believe thats brewed under contract @ Trouble.

Ravelleman · 11-01-2015 4:32pm

sofireland wrote: »

Kilkenny, have Costellos but i believe thats brewed under contract @ Trouble.

I really enjoyed this at the RDS over the summer.

JONJO THE MISER · 12-01-2015 6:39am

Out of interest anyone know how much it costs to set up a micro brewery?

Lovely Bloke · 12-01-2015 7:38am

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Out of interest anyone know how much it costs to set up a micro brewery?

5 figure sum.

JONJO THE MISER · 12-01-2015 8:07am

That is not too bad actually, read you can get one installed for around 50k.
Is there much profit i wonder or is it more for the love of doing it and a lifestyle choice.

Lovely Bloke · 12-01-2015 9:00am

I'd say the CapEx in the first year or two is huge, and there are so many new Irish beers appearing on the market lately that is must be nigh on impossible to build up any kind of repeat business or loyal following, outside of your own friends, family and local area.

Now, for lads in rural Ireland, supplying a dozen or so pubs probably isn't an issue, if the buy-in is there from the locals and publicans, but it's not as easy to do in Dublin I'd imagine.

Also, I just don't understand the market properly if I decry every new Irish brewery coming to market with an Irish Red Ale - the most boring of styles, with little to no differentiation from one brewer to the next. They all taste the same, with maybe a comment like "this is slightly more hoppy, but meh".

dregin · 12-01-2015 11:43am

oblivious wrote: »

72 breweries active in the country, westmeath and leitrim I think are the only two without a brewery

Who's in Cavan??

yknaa · 12-01-2015 11:55am

dregin wrote: »

Who's in Cavan??

None afaik, Cavan and W'meath await!

n97 mini · 12-01-2015 12:48pm

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

but it's not as easy to do in Dublin I'd imagine.

Yet most seem to rely on certain Dublin pubs to shift stock. Someone said to me recently there is little room left on the bars for new taps and even less on the shelves in the offies for new bottles.

oblivious · 12-01-2015 12:54pm

n97 mini wrote: »

Yet most seem to rely on certain Dublin pubs to shift stock. Someone said to me recently there is little room left on the bars for new taps and even less on the shelves in the offies for new bottles.

Possibly the phase is for those to open there own pubs or even as a COOP among like mined breweries

Ryath · 12-01-2015 12:57pm

n97 mini wrote: »

Yet most seem to rely on certain Dublin pubs to shift stock. Someone said to me recently there is little room left on the bars for new taps and even less on the shelves in the offies for new bottles.

There's loads of room in bars for new taps most would have extra Guinness and Heineken taps that are rarely or never used.

willabur · 12-01-2015 12:59pm

It is great to see so many people getting into the industry and having choice is always a win for the consumer. I do think though that many will suffer from such a conservative approach of producing Pale Ale, Red Ale and a Stout as it will be very tough to stand out from the crowd.

squonk · 12-01-2015 1:00pm

Aside from Independant in Galway, there's also Galway Bay Brewery and Galway Hooker.

I haven't heard of a large amunt of the list above let alone sampled theie wares but are we starting to get to a saturation point for micro brewerys here? Doubtless the tax incentives fromt he last budget will incentivise a lot of people to get into the area but surely then the market becomes limited since you might do OK in your own county, finding bar space beyone the county border could be tough, and get tougher.

More local craft beer is always welcome but it's hard to keep up with the new entrants when the early adopters like Porterhouse, GBB, Dungarvan and Trouble are so well established now.

oblivious · 12-01-2015 1:14pm

squonk wrote: »

More local craft beer is always welcome but it's hard to keep up with the new entrants when the early adopters like Porterhouse, GBB, Dungarvan and Trouble are so well established now.

Galway Hooker is the original of the new wave microbreweries (2006) and i bet they would argue its till a fight for space and punters :P

Porterhouse 1996 as a brewery

Losty Dublin · 13-01-2015 3:58pm

squonk wrote: »

I haven't heard of a large amunt of the list above let alone sampled theie wares but are we starting to get to a saturation point for micro brewerys here?

Irish Craft beers and cider represent less than 1% of the alcohol market in Ireland; there's a long long way go before anything close to saturation point is reached, if ever.

Ipso · 13-01-2015 4:10pm

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Irish Craft beers and cider represent less than 1% of the alcohol market in Ireland; there's a long long way go before anything close to saturation point is reached, if ever.

Doesn't it depend on how much the craft share of the overall market grows to?
If it stagnates then I woukdn't like to beca new entrant.

Losty Dublin · 13-01-2015 4:28pm

Ipso wrote: »

Doesn't it depend on how much the craft share of the overall market grows to?
If it stagnates then I woukdn't like to beca new entrant.

If these reports are anything to go by then the world is their Oyster (Stout.)

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/irish-microbrewers-tapping-into-the-craft-beer-market-30783204.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/irish-craft-beer-market-on-course-for-sales-of-more-than-15m-1.1919087

http://www.abfi.ie/Sectors/ABFI/ABFI.nsf/vPagesABFI/Media~Newsroom~irish-brewers-association-welcomes-irish-craft-beer-and-cider-festival!OpenDocument

squonk · 13-01-2015 4:32pm

I think there's a very sizeable percentage of the population out there who only kake it out occasionally for the odd beer and will just want the old reliables in that case. I couldn't blame them. I'm out far more often and also have a taste for many different beers. I'd imagine the craft market will be a slowly growing one. I'll be a craft guy for life so I'll expect it in my old man pubs once I'm an old man. For now though I'd imagine it'll more the 20-40 year old segment who are getting the exposure to craft. I'd say the younger people are the more they'll be inclined to drink craft and the more prevalent the beers will become which will have a knock on effect on those coming behind.

What I'm trying to say is that perhaps we're reaching a saturation point now where the number of brewers is outstripping the inherent supply of drinkers? In 3-5 years time 72 might be not enough to service the size of the market by then.

lk67 · 14-01-2015 11:27am

squonk wrote: »

More local craft beer is always welcome but it's hard to keep up with the new entrants when the early adopters like Porterhouse, GBB, Dungarvan and Trouble are so well established now.

Don't forget Carlow and White Gypsy. Two of the very first.

schemingbohemia · 14-01-2015 11:48am

squonk wrote: »

I think there's a very sizeable percentage of the population out there who only kake it out occasionally for the odd beer and will just want the old reliables in that case. I couldn't blame them. I'm out far more often and also have a taste for many different beers. I'd imagine the craft market will be a slowly growing one. I'll be a craft guy for life so I'll expect it in my old man pubs once I'm an old man. For now though I'd imagine it'll more the 20-40 year old segment who are getting the exposure to craft. I'd say the younger people are the more they'll be inclined to drink craft and the more prevalent the beers will become which will have a knock on effect on those coming behind.

What I'm trying to say is that perhaps we're reaching a saturation point now where the number of brewers is outstripping the inherent supply of drinkers? In 3-5 years time 72 might be not enough to service the size of the market by then.

Sorry but this makes no sense whatsoever. You've been informed that Craft accounts for 1% of the Irish beer market yet you think we've reached saturation point? There will undoubtedly be casualties as breweries that aren't producing what the punters want and have poor business plans will go to the wall, but so far I can't think of any breweries that have gone bust.

I'd further say that craft is perhaps more prevalent in the over 30 market, maybe that's skewed by the pubs I drink in and the off-licences I buy from.

A new Louth brewery.

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