No 1 Watergate, new bar.

catbear

Just saw an ad for this new pub which supposedly opened Stephens night, anyone been?

kikel

catbear wrote: »

Just saw an ad for this new pub which supposedly opened Stephens night, anyone been?

There was a sign above the door alright before christmas. It is where Ana Conda, O Cheallaighs, the Nixon on watergate, etc, etc, etc was.

Good luck to any business starting out but that place has always struggled to keep a long term tenant.

Maybe when the medieval mile is complete there will be a flood on new people coming to Kilkenny. :pac:

Absolute Zero

Its another craft beer pub I believe. Think ill stick with the Worlds end for now.

Realt Dearg Sec

Absolute Zero wrote: »

Its another craft beer pub I believe. Think ill stick with the Worlds end for now.

It'll have to differentiate itself from its neighbour the brewery corner so. Think it'll struggle too, not sure what it is about that building but the pubs in it have all been subpar. Ana conda was packing them in when I was younger, used to always be mobbed but then it just lost custom. Same thing happened with the widow mcgraths, used to pack them in before they opened the restaurant, pretty soon afterwards it was a ghost town.

I'm typing this over a pint in cleeres. Not likely to budge, either.

kikel

Place is called the Abbey Bar.

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=973137559391299&ref=page_internal&_rdr#!/profile.php?id=973137559391299&ref=page_internal

TrustedApple

Seen there facebook page and photos of what beer it has just seems to be your run of the mill bar with no craft beer from what i can see. Just your standard stuff.

Any time i am up that end of the town its always the brewery corner for me. As they have a fantastic mix of beers to be drinking only place that i can think of in Kilkenny that has something different to drink then your Budwisser and the likes

catbear

Brewery Corner is brilliant for the beer choice. just wish it were a bit more comfortable.
Other pubs selling one of the diagio derivatives does not make a Craft Beer bar.

I reckon that a lot of the roaring business done by pubs in general during the concrete tiger was demographically driven, McWilliams book "the popes children" explained it very well.

Now the smaller cohort in their 20s partonise very establishments and the pubs that specialise create their hardcore. I been told that a lot of the Pumphouse crowd simply moved to Billy Byrnes.

TrustedApple

Thats true about the Brewery Corner its not a very comfy pub at all its very cold nearly every where you sit but still one of my fave pubs to go out to in Kilkenny they all so have boardgames to play as well. A proper pub where you can have the chats, a date or watch a match.

I have been told by a few pub owners around Ireland that diagio pays them by giving them really good deals on beer or hoildays to just stock there stuff and not to have any craft beer in the place at all. Heineken Ireland got caught there a few months back and where in the news over it as well.

Its very true with Billy Byrnes the hipster crowd used to love the pump house now they all head to Billy Byrnes. I know this because i was dating one of them over the summer .....

patrickc

Brewery Corner is O'Haras brewery's bar

TrustedApple

patrickc wrote: »

Brewery Corner is O'Haras brewery's bar

:eek: you don't say ?. I was allways wondering why there was so many O'Haras taps in the place

catbear

They have a few other beers from other craft brewers there too, I think they had a few on tap the last time I was there.

I have to say that O'haras stout (not the leann fallean or whatever it's called) has replaced Guinness as my number one beer. Whenever I see it on tap or bottle in any other pub I usually go for it although i think the Left bank charged me €5.50 for a bottle when a pulled pint in brewery corner only costs €4.40!

I wonder if that's another tactic of diagio trying to influence the competition. In the UK the campaign for real ale (CAMRA) has had a real impact and hopefully a champaign to offer more than the increasingly nasty cheap crap can grow.

I would say paying extra for quality is worth it but O'Hara's in their own bar matches the competition and with their loyalty cards actually beats it.

I do hate though how everytime a smoker goes out the back the cold blows through the bar, maybe they could put a double door there.

Sky King

Best of luck to Abbey Bar. They'll need it. It's not an easy business to make work these days. Hopefully they can make a good go of it where others have failed. It's a nice little spot there with a great beer garden which I have always liked.

Regarding the craft beer - I Highly doubt Diageo give much of a fk about craft beer. it's a tiny fraction of the market and they are the dominant player in Ireland. Even in other countries - markets with an established craft beer industry - the market share is under 10%. If anything the big breweries are happy about it, because it is making beer acceptable as a sophisticated drink - one that is an accompaniment to food etc and not just something to drink 9 pints of to get smashed. More people talking about and drinking beer. Good for their industry.

In fariness O'Hara's have lead the way for a long time and muct be reaping the rewards of a buoyant industry nowadays. Fair play to them. For a long long time if somone asked for a pale ale in a pub people would look at you like you had two head, or you had notions about yourself. Thankfully choice and variety is becoming much more common.

The flip side is that the craft beer market is entirely saturated now and half of the people making don't have a clue what they are doing and are are brewing a sh!t product on sh!t equipment. Market is full of eejits. It's a real pity because some of them make really nice stuff. But people new to craft beer get a pint of muck and it tastes like ass and they are turned off craft beer for life over it.

Even worse are the hipsters that are drinking badly brewed crap and don't know any different.

kikel

Are most of them brewing their own? I don't personally have a clue of the market but heard from another source that most of these start ups are not actually doing the brewing. They are outsourcing their recipes to the bigger breweries who have the equipment.

Sky King

A lot of them are brewing themselves. Almost all I have come across are in fact.

Though you're right - there are a few 'virtual brands' that are contract brewed.

catbear

The technology for brewing has improved massively since the days when Smithwicks employed 500 in Kilkenny. Plus they can import most of their ingredients from Europe, in the past they would have had to process them from their raw state. The stink that used to make around the brewery is something I don't miss.

Realt Dearg Sec

catbear wrote: »

The technology for brewing has improved massively since the days when Smithwicks employed 500 in Kilkenny. Plus they can import most of their ingredients from Europe, in the past they would have had to process them from their raw state. The stink that used to make around the brewery is something I don't miss.

I loved the smell from the brewery, I miss it fierce to be honest when im visiting home.

citykat

catbear wrote: »

The technology for brewing has improved massively since the days when Smithwicks employed 500 in Kilkenny. Plus they can import most of their ingredients from Europe, in the past they would have had to process them from their raw state. The stink that used to make around the brewery is something I don't miss.

+1. That Hops smell was revolting.