Supporting craft breweries

It's not just an Irish thing. English freehouses with 100s of beer to choose from and loads of competition will do it too.

Selling the beer you know you can seel at a premium for a high GP will offset the others that you can't.

I don't know the Palace well so I'm not going to defend it but what I used do is sell a craft beer I was getting cheap at the same price as one I wasn't to offset the GP of the really interesting stuff that would never ever be viable if sold at true GP price for that product.

It seems very foolish of them to brag about how they're producing it for so much cheaper than they're buying Heineken in. Because it almost certainly costs more to brew than Heineken are paying to brew.

But they've now essentially told everyone that it's cheap crap.

That's exactly what I said. But people are going to read it as "We've cut costs to make it much cheaper than Heineken".

And perception is key. Beamish never fully recovered from its reputation as being a cheap beer.

I reckon you could ditch almost everything but it would be suicide for most central Dublin pubs to get rid of Guinness.

The vast majority of people I reckon will never come across those quotes. Beamish is a backwards example because that is deemed a "cheap beer" because the price for the consumer is cheap where as these beer will be more expensive for the consumer so will be "premium" beers to most people.

I suppose what I call "central" Dublin is the tourist areas. I wouldn't know much about pubs in Dublin beyond that.

I imagine somewhere like the Palace does a fair trade from the stuff outside of the regulars.

That's just nonsense. Ya some tourists go to Porterhouse and other craft places but it is most certainly part of the "Irish experience" for many tourists and I've seen it first hand on both sides of the bar. Even my friends in the craft beer industry want a Guinness in a traditional Irish pub when they visit.

Storehouse is often Ireland's most visited attraction and at least top 3 every year.

Ever sat at the bar in Brewdock? People popping in before or after busses from Busaras or trains from Connolly. "A Guinness, please?" "We don't do Guinness - we have our own stout, or this other one…" Call in at a busy time during the day and you'd hear that four or five times while you had your pint.

And I notice a couple of the GBB pubs are doing Guinness, now. It is, sadly, just ingrained in the Irish (and tourist) consciousness…

They will take another stout but your pub will very quickly be gone from being one of the recommended places to visit on all those stupid sites as well as not getting any word of mouth mention. That would be very damaging to many pubs in the tourist area of Dublin.

Also many tourists in Dublin are Irish so those walking out in a huff are tourists too.

Honestly hate that place. I went there a few months ago, and went upstairs for food. A guy gave us a table with menus. 15 minutes later neither he nor another member of staff came back or even walked by so we could order a drink let alone lunch. Walked out, and I'll never go back.

I was chatting to the Brehon Brewhouse guys at the Dublin and Portrush Beer festivals. On both occasions, while talking about their top quality stouts, the shared stories about the tourists they get to the brewery. They get asked a lot on their tours if they have any beers like Guinness and even a couple of times have been told by tourists that their Guinness tastes great. The majority of tourists who come have Guinness at the forefront of their mind when it comes to trying an Irish beer.

Not exactly what the standard international tourist is looking for. Also it looks like a bit of a kip. Probably does still get a lot of tourists especially domestic (including me once) but Connolly isn't really an area you go to unless using the station. Any tourists using EPIC will probably pass it out.

ssshhh don’t be telling anyone about Clearys- let’s keep it a hidden gem

I don’t think it’s ever going to become a popular spot. Probably shouldn’t mention how much a pint costs. 😂

I really liked it. I had it, and the maple one together, and much preferred the coffee one. Hadn't realised there was a stand alone imperial one too, which I picked up during the week. I found it a bit too sweet though.

The coffee one was my favourite of the bunch.