Supporting craft breweries

30-03-2021 09:16AM

prionnsias wrote: »

Just had one of the white hag salted caramel pastry stout, it would hardly be called a beer, sweet as hell. They do have a lot of nice beers but too many novelty beers

I poured both that and the Black forest one a couple of weeks ago. Nice for a sip or two but imo a full can is undrinkable.

The shamrock shake went the same way. Utterly vile.

MonkstownHoop · 30-03-2021 09:50AM

They got the salted caramel in my local last year and served it by the pint! And it was delicious and I had 4!

Macy0161 · 30-03-2021 10:46AM

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

I got nutthin from it... It was ok, it was a lager, with berries and bucky. I'd probably be more inclined towards lagers now than when I had it, even if lagers still aren't high in preference.

Passenger · 31-03-2021 10:33AM

Just received my Yards & Crafts delivery. Impressively packaged and also included a little hand-written note of gratitude.

ciaran76 · 31-03-2021 10:47AM

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

Wasnt too bad actually.

MidlanderMan · 31-03-2021 10:54AM

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

It was ****e.

Basq · 31-03-2021 09:26PM

Just having a can of Festa Nuda from White Hag.

It's one of my favourites from them they did in a small batch a year or so back.

It's delish!

Insect Overlord · 31-03-2021 10:28PM

Basq wrote: »

Just having a can of Festa Nuda from White Hag.

It's one of my favourites from them they did in a small batch a year or so back.

It's delish!

I've ordered a growler of the stuff for the weekend. Not cheap, but it's a big weekend for us here so it'll be worth it!

Hotblack Desiato · 31-03-2021 11:20PM

White Hag - 24x 440mL Atlanteans for €72, it's currently out of stock, but at €3 a can compared to my local offy at €3.50 a can, it was a no-brainer. I ordered last Sunday evening, delivered Tuesday morning, in their very robust but 100% recyclable packaging. And it was dodgy pastry stout and St. Patrick's day schizz - free

PWEI · 01-04-2021 03:39PM

Do all the craft breweries in Ireland use 440 ml cans?

I recently spend €3:75 each for some YellowBelly Citra Pale cans and was disappointed when I got home to discover they were 440 ml cans.
I don't mind spending €3 to €4 to support small craft breweries but expect at least to get them in a 500ml bottle or can.

L1011 · 01-04-2021 03:43PM

PWEI wrote: »

Do all the craft breweries in Ireland use 440 ml cans?

I recently spend €3:75 each for some YellowBelly Citra Pale cans and was disappointed when I got home to discover they were 440 ml cans.
I don't mind spending €3 to €4 to support small craft breweries but expect at least to get them in a 500ml bottle or can.

Some either solely, or additionally, use 330s. I'm not aware of anyone using 500s.

Only craft brand I can think of that use 500s occasionally is Brewdog actually. There'll be others I don't know.

Plenty still do 500ml bottles in addition to their cans - Kinnegar, Trouble (though I'm seeing those less and less), Rye River.

PWEI · 01-04-2021 03:51PM

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty still do 500ml bottles in addition to their cans - Kinnegar, Trouble (though I'm seeing those less and less), Rye River.

Yes I'm seeing less and less also.

One of my favourite breweries Western Herd Beer Brewery have start selling mainly 440ml cans instead of the 500ml bottles that they used only do which is very disappointing. I think its very short sighted as I for one won't buy
440ml cans and actually prefer beer in bottles also.

Pen Rua · 01-04-2021 03:57PM

The brewer from Reel Deel did a podcast with Irish Beer Snob and they touch on cans. The brewer mentions they had a high rate of returns for cases of bottles, with a much lower rate when it came to cans.

I would suggest the huge shift to online selling (Craft Central et al) might also have something to do with the increased prevalence of cans (i.e., brewers who previously bottled now moving to more cans).

Plus, I think there's been mention of a crowd that will can the beer for you; the brewer doesn't need the capital outlay for that machinery in the short term.

matrim · 01-04-2021 04:16PM

I had pivoted away from bottles to cans in Ireland because of the hassle of recycling bottles.

I'm now in the UK where bottles can go in the recycling bin and am much more likely to pick up bottls than I would have been back home. But I still end up buying more cans than bottles.

L1011 · 01-04-2021 05:16PM

The online element could be quite important. Most of the online stores only carry cans; and often have packaging specifically for 440ml cans.

Couriering glass bottles is asking for a huge break rate, cans are much more resistant to bad handling.

The is-glass-better-than-aluminium-for-the-environment thing is very much up in the air as we don't have a glass bottle works in Ireland anymore - even though the company that Irish Glass Bottle became (Ardagh) are still Irish-ish and huge in that sector. Alu is cheaper to transport and when neither the production or recycling is done domestically that's important.

Most of the things about glass being better enivronmentally than X are talking about Tetrapak, squeezy plastic bottles or whatever - not cans.

Diageo at least market researched a Tetrapak-style packaging of Carlsberg for festivals a few years ago - I think its probably best for everyone that nobody else looks in to that!

Macy0161 · 01-04-2021 05:29PM

O'Haras also predominantly still 500ml bottles.

I'm pretty sure that several breweries have mentioned in the virtual beer festivals that the move to cans was because of online sales. Definitely St Mel's as to why they went cans for that range, despite Liam preferring beer in bottles - and core range never went bottles (or slow burner)

Just before lockdown, I did the Wicklow Wolf tour, and they said part of their reasoning was that cans are more environmentally friendly. And that the beer keeps better.

I'm over the loss of 60ml per unit at this stage to be honest. 440ml cabs fit in the fridge better (stand up in the "salad" drawer), and are easier to recycle. I'd rather be "done" out 60ml than drink macro muck.

L1011 · 01-04-2021 05:42PM

The salad drawer is for slowly rotting bell peppers that we repeatedly buy despite not actually cooking with them in this house :pac:

01-04-2021 05:44PM

I don’t mind 440 either, but I do usually buy bottles in person just to get the ones I miss out on with online orders. 330ml can do one though.

Pen Rua · 01-04-2021 07:21PM

The Reel Deel brewer also commented where you could fit X bottles in a retail fridge, you can fit X+1 cans. Retailers seem to have a preference for cans for this reason also.

I’m indifferent between cans & bottles in general, since my household waste provider gives us a glass bin bottle (EDIT: glass bottle bin!!) and collects ~bimonthly.

But as someone mentioned already, I can fit more cans standing up in the vegetable/ crisper drawer whereas the bottles have to be shoved in sideways. Tiny fridge.

BeerNut · 01-04-2021 09:10PM

There are a few breweries whose bottling set-ups were little more than homebrew-grade and produced dreadful packaged beer as a result. Switching to contract canning where a professional is watching the dissolved-oxygen content has improved the quality of their beer hugely.

Black Donkey seems to have taken it on themselves to be the anti-can voice of Irish brewing, though I'd say it'll be a cold day in hell before The Brewery Formerly Known As White Gypsy considers it also. Both know their market and have impeccable bottled product, so more power to them.

Hotblack Desiato · 02-04-2021 12:16AM

Interesting that White Hag fill their cans pretty much as far as possible, they say this is to reduce oxygen in the can, couldn't they purge the cans with CO2 instead?

Not complaining though as it means I get a few mls extra beer and it's not like I leave the stuff lying around for months anyway

irish_goat · 02-04-2021 08:12AM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Interesting that White Hag fill their cans pretty much as far as possible, they say this is to reduce oxygen in the can, couldn't they purge the cans with CO2 instead?

It's not that simple for cans unless you have a closed system. The gas at the top will invariably mix with the air on the way to the seamer (which might not be right beside the filling section). Best practice is to try and fill well and close on good foam.

Dillonb3 · 02-04-2021 05:49PM

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Basq · 02-04-2021 08:29PM

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

They'd a 24 pack on their site and was tempted but didn't buy in the end.

Sold out now: https://www.thewhitehag.com/product/festa-nuda/

DrZeuss · 02-04-2021 11:43PM

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Have to agree, I never got it the first time around and going by the hype I've seen I didn't want to miss out so grabbed a few cans, 1 more incoming from the Clann box too I believe. So delicious and initially doesn't feel it's 9%, loads of coffee there.

DrZeuss · 03-04-2021 02:43PM

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Basq wrote: »

They'd a 24 pack on their site and was tempted but didn't buy in the end.

Sold out now: https://www.thewhitehag.com/product/festa-nuda/

Back in stock on their site now in case you were still looking for some.

L1011 · 03-04-2021 04:08PM

Local SuperValu, since the X for Y offers ended, are selling 500ml bottles of Kinnegar for 4c more than 440ml cans - only a small overlap between the rangers they offer, but tonights Rustbuckets were back to bottle for me

Scraggy Bay was on a direct promotion (still legit) in cans so it was better value then.

Black Sheep · 05-04-2021 08:49AM

L1011 wrote: »

Local SuperValu, since the X for Y offers ended, are selling 500ml bottles of Kinnegar for 4c more than 440ml cans - only a small overlap between the rangers they offer, but tonights Rustbuckets were back to bottle for me

Scraggy Bay was on a direct promotion (still legit) in cans so it was better value then.

For me, the hassle of bringing the bottles to the bottle bank would completely negate the greater quantity in the bottles.

L1011 · 05-04-2021 11:36PM

I bring the cans anyway as our recycle bin is usually jammed with cardboard and tetrapaks; so only a slight difference in the volume to bring

Pen Rua · 08-04-2021 11:30AM

GBB's smoked marzen is back. This was one of the first beers I got last year when I got back into (craft) beer.

Kinnegar also have the 14th of their Brewers at Play, which is their third attempt at a hazy session IPA (which was No. 8 & 7).

https://twitter.com/bradleys_offlic/status/1380120127937601540

Supporting craft breweries

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