MiniMum price alcohol is direct from the vintners federation

Greg Gormley from the Louth branch sought help from suppliers with costs for the growing number of ‘ice-cold’ taps which could cost publicans up to €500 a year per tap.

Sean Redmond of Monaghan branch told conference that the cost of producing electricity had gone up by 12 to 15 per cent.

“We can save about 15 per cent on coldroom costs by raising the temperature from three to eight degrees,” he said, adding that the ‘coffin’ system uses around 10 units a day that could be dropped to five. Bottles could be chilled using half-price electricity, he added.

So they could save electricity by not serving it so cold you can't taste it. And by turning down the music. They could also save money by not redoing the decor every few years.

I keep saying it , the excise duty on beer hasn't change since 1994 , and these guys want a reduction in VAT AND and increase in the price to their competitors.


Aldi sell 6 litres of 4% for €8. Well below Lidl and Tesco and I haven't noticed more alcos.

At the end of the day beers are cheap to produce. Barley costs as little as €110 a tonne. 1.25 tonnes of barley makes one tonne of malted barley, and on average, around 35 barrels of beer (10,000 pints) can be made from one tonne of malted barley

Work it all out and the cost of barley per pint is just 1.375c (remember this when Budweiser make their claim about the cost of their brewing ) Yes there are processing and bottling and distribution costs. The cost of a pint is the production cost ( a few cent), VAT (applies to most things, fact of life really) Excise (hasn't changed 45c since 1994) and the the rest is adsorbed by the middlemen.

Aldi lager = €1.33 per litre
VAT 25c
Excise 63c
Total tax take is 88c

Of the 45c left , Barley cost 2.4c processing & can can't cost more than the 17c you can get kidney beans for. Still leaves 20c profit.

Or if Aldi can sell it and break even then someone is making a killing on other beers.



If the publicans were screaming as loudly about diageo & co. then I wouldn't consider it crocodile tears.