Supporting craft breweries

wexdevil · 05-06-2021 3:59pm

Bought the Boxstravaganza box yesterday and was quite surprised that a €10 promo code work so it ended up only being €95

but1er · 05-06-2021 9:28pm

Just finished the 8 degree devils level. What a beer 11.5%

Bass Reeves · 08-06-2021 2:25pm

Lidl had an Irish craft Cider in stock last years. It came in dry and medium dry AFAIR. The dry had a yellow label and the medium a greenish label. They do not seem to stock it any longer. I think it was called Crafty.

Any body know who manufacturer it for th and if it for sale under the brewery brand. The Dry version was a really nice drink

irish_goat · 08-06-2021 2:51pm

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Lidl had an Irish craft Cider in stock last years. It came in dry and medium dry AFAIR. The dry had a yellow label and the medium a greenish label. They do not seem to stock it any longer. I think it was called Crafty.

Any body know who manufacturer it for th and if it for sale under the brewery brand. The Dry version was a really nice drink

Made by Armagh Cider Company. They're sold under the names Maddens and Carsons up north and also make the Doyle's brand of cider.

BeerNut · 08-06-2021 5:58pm

Aldi still has them, under the "Armagh Craft Cider" brand.

Pen Rua · 08-06-2021 7:24pm

adrian522 wrote: »

Not sure about Waterford bit if you are in Kilkenny the Wine Centre is worth a look.

Thanks for this tip, I popped in earlier today. Left with a back pack full of bottles, way more than I planned to pick up!

In Kilkenny, so felt obliged to try some of the Sullivans stuff, though we are going there for dinner whilst we're here.

But to my absolute joy, they had both the new imperial stout by GBB (which Bradleys got 12 cans of, and sold out of it immediately) AND a solitary bottle of the 2020 release of 200 Fathoms. Happily took both off their shelves. They also had several bottle of GBB's Boulevardier (collab with Browar Stu Mostów) but I left those behind, figured I would be better off spending my money on the 200 Fathoms to age longer rather the Boulevardier. However, if someone says I should age the latter for longer I may change my mind...

They also happened to have some bottles of 12 Acres & DOT Brew's Barrel Aged Imperial Rye. Label gives a BB of Dec 2020 so I'm guessing this has been sitting there for some time? Label tells me it's been aged in a blend of Irish single malt, bourbon, ex-amarone ex-whiskey barrels as well as a mix between American & French oak. I'll pretend that means something to me. :pac: When was this first released would anyone know?

flended12 · 08-06-2021 7:38pm

flended12 wrote: »

Gents, Ladies and other...

Weather supposed to be nice this weekend, meeting with a friend to enjoy some beers.

What say you for a sunny evening and potential BBQ. No sours or similar.

The beers maybe followed by some black barrell.

So pleasant few days had sipping on sessions of varying brewers.... I also made some lovely moscow mules with alchoholic Ginger beer and bitters. My jaysus I had a great night!

BeerNut · 08-06-2021 8:28pm

Pen Rua wrote: »

When was this first released would anyone know?

November 2019.

but1er · 09-06-2021 9:12am

flended12 wrote: »

So pleasant few days had sipping on sessions of varying brewers.... I also made some lovely moscow mules with alchoholic Ginger beer and bitters. My jaysus I had a great night!

anything stand out?

flended12 · 09-06-2021 7:35pm

but1er wrote: »

anything stand out?

Hope Hop On
O Brother Dream Catcher
Yellow belly Pirate bay

09-06-2021 9:34pm

Pirate bay is a very cloying beer for a session IPA.

L1011 · 09-06-2021 11:32pm

Brewdog - not that they'd meet the definition of craft anymore - have found themselves with a PR disaster of the highest levels. And the first statement out (to shareholders) suggests they're going to try fight it rather than accept anything.... may need to direct them to the White Hag School of Brewery Crisis Management for a lesson in what to actually do.

Zaph · 10-06-2021 12:31am

L1011 wrote: »

Brewdog - not that they'd meet the definition of craft anymore - have found themselves with a PR disaster of the highest levels. And the first statement out (to shareholders) suggests they're going to try fight it rather than accept anything.... may need to direct them to the White Hag School of Brewery Crisis Management for a lesson in what to actually do.

Hadn't heard about it so went to have a look on Twitter. One comment on the company's reply summed it up perfectly - when you're in a hole, stop digging.

10-06-2021 5:13am

What have actually done?

youcancallmeal · 10-06-2021 7:40am

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

What have actually done?

Took me a while to find it but here it is: https://twitter.com/punkswpurpose/status/1402724680637747200

10-06-2021 7:59am

There must be some specifics preceding that open letter though. All I can see there is ‘crappy place to work’ and ‘tells lies when marketing’. You’d be hard pushed to find a company doesn’t do the latter and there’s plenty of the former out there too. Was someone assaulted or something that led up to all this?

Hodors Appletart · 10-06-2021 9:00am

Someone (or some group) have had it in for BrewDog for a while. I don't doubt that some of the claims are based in reality, but none of that is very specific and is all generic complaints about almost any medium to large corporation imo.

I still believe BD to be craft, but I think they've hugely blanded-down their offerings in the last few years so I don't really buy them any more. There are dozens of better UK Craft breweries than them right now.

feylya · 10-06-2021 9:05am

This is all coming from BritishBeerGirl and ratmagnet's Instagram stories, where people have anonymously sent in stories of sexual and racial abuse and harrassment in breweries over the years, in the US, UK, and beyond. A lot of breweries have replied, and gone "Yup, we ****ed up. The CEO/founder/whoever is now out of the day to day business, and here's what we're doing". Others have not

Macy0161 · 10-06-2021 9:06am

It was interesting on the New Brew podcast the discussion as to what is craft beer. Brew Dog, and O'Hara's and Rye River, maybe "craft", but not really "Micro". Then you have some of the other Micro breweries that are owned by MNC, even if it is supposedly completely hands off.

I just try to buy Irish, and try to prioritise Micro, but still find it hard to beat "Nanny State" as non-alcoholic option.

Hodors Appletart · 10-06-2021 9:11am

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I don't consider either to be craft/micro any more, but that's my own thing. I don't buy them much, certainly will only drink Fran Well if Chieftain is the only draft IPA in a place for example, I might buy the odd 8 Degrees special or whatever

Twee. · 10-06-2021 9:30am

Firing 4 staff members and the reason being "culture change" was one pretty big thing recently? https://vinepair.com/booze-news/brewdog-lgbtq-discrimination-allegations/

irish_goat · 10-06-2021 9:39am

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I'd not call Porterhouse "global". They have a bar in New York but their distribution wouldn't be that big otherwise. Until recently they barely sold their beer outside of their own pubs. Not sure on Porterhouse's ownership but O'Haras are owned by 33% by a Spanish brewery and Rye River are (I believe) partly owned by the State now.

Beanstalk · 10-06-2021 9:48am

I think the worst thing about reading that letter was the obvious lack of specifics in it due to the fear of legal action. What a horrible culture.

BeerNut · 10-06-2021 9:51am

irish_goat wrote: »

Not sure on Porterhouse's ownership

It has the most labyrinthine corporate structure I've ever seen but afaik everything comes back to Elliot, Liam and Dave.

Macy0161 · 10-06-2021 10:07am

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Up until recently I always found Porterhouse quite hard to get tbh, compared to O'Hara's/O'Shea's or McGargles/ Crafty/ Solas/ Grafters. My nearest Supervalu doesn't carry them, or the nearest independent off licence.

Some of my favourite beers are O'Hara's and Rye River so it wasn't meant as a slight tbh, just the scale of production. They're definitely not "micro"

Brú/ White Hag/ Porterhouse going into Lidl, and Porterhouse and Kinnegar into Tesco (Trouble Brewing and O'Brother in there years already). It's breweries trying to grow, which ultimately has to be good for the sustainability? It also gives them the space/ finance for the smaller batch brews.

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I don't consider either to be craft/micro any more, but that's my own thing. I don't buy them much, certainly will only drink Fran Well if Chieftain is the only draft IPA in a place for example, I might buy the odd 8 Degrees special or whatever

Well it was more 8 degrees I was thinking about. I think it's more marginal than Fran Well/ Coors, but I tend to confine myself to the specials now. Although I have to be honest, that's partly driven by the bump in price they've had in tesco.

10-06-2021 11:23am

Don't forget brewdog fired all their Irish staff before lockdown. Shambles of a company, basically weatherspoons with an edge.

youcancallmeal · 10-06-2021 12:34pm

Reed Shy Crown83 wrote: »

Don't forget brewdog fired all their Irish staff before lockdown. Shambles of a company, basically weatherspoons with an edge.

More like weatherspoons with better marketing. Your average punter who has a good opinion of Brewdog will more than likely not hear about layoffs and this current controversy. The 'enthusiast' craft beer drinker will hear about this but probably won't stop most from purchasing Brewdog beers and visiting their bars

baconsarnie · 10-06-2021 1:32pm

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Took me a while to find it but here it is: https://twitter.com/punkswpurpose/status/1402724680637747200

Fairly sickening stuff and sadly not too surprising.

The open letter mentions their trigger happy lawyers- have they form for this sort of thing?

feylya · 10-06-2021 1:54pm

baconsarnie wrote: »

Fairly sickening stuff and sadly not too surprising.

The open letter mentions their trigger happy lawyers- have they form for this sort of thing?

Occasionally

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/28/brewdog-lawsuit-bar-punk-brewer-pub
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/brewdog-backs-down-lone-wolf-pub-trademark-dispute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrewDog#Controversies

baconsarnie · 10-06-2021 2:22pm

feylya wrote: »

Occasionally

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/28/brewdog-lawsuit-bar-punk-brewer-pub
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/brewdog-backs-down-lone-wolf-pub-trademark-dispute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrewDog#Controversies

Cheers. For the last few years I've tended to skip over any mention of BD in the media assuming it was some "zany" PR scam.

GBX · 10-06-2021 2:27pm

I like their Punk IPA - what would be a similar beer from a more local brewer? I do try different beers but maybe not as many as others. Prefer to give the smaller setups a bit of business these days.

BeerNut · 10-06-2021 2:42pm

GBX wrote: »

I like their Punk IPA - what would be a similar beer from a more local brewer? I do try different beers but maybe not as many as others. Prefer to give the smaller setups a bit of business these days.

It's a fair bit lighter but I'd put White Hag's Little Fawn in a similar bracket, tastewise.

youcancallmeal · 10-06-2021 2:46pm

GBX wrote: »

I like their Punk IPA - what would be a similar beer from a more local brewer? I do try different beers but maybe not as many as others. Prefer to give the smaller setups a bit of business these days.

As core beers goes they probably have the best range of any brewer I can think of. Kinnegar Scraggy Bay would be the first Irish beer that comes to mind as a good alternative. Maybe Trouble Brewing Ambush as well but not really the same style

irish_goat · 10-06-2021 2:52pm

Punk is brewed with only pale malt and a shedload of hops. There's not many Irish IPAs that fall into that exact style. Like TBN, my first thought was Little Fawn. It's also a beer I find is fantastic when fresh and on draught but the cans and bottles are a bit lacklustre.

GBX · 10-06-2021 3:14pm

Thanks for the suggestions - i'll give them all a try anyway

L1011 · 10-06-2021 3:53pm

irish_goat wrote: »

and Rye River are (I believe) partly owned by the State now.

Looks as if Bluebay sold that to Dunport, who through two different funds seem to have ~83% of the shares in the very oddly named company (DP Financial Limited) that appears to be the current brewery company (the old one was dissolved). Ownership structure is complex with multiple share classes.

https://bizplus.ie/dunport-capital-takes-on-rye-river-loan/

TaurenDruid · 10-06-2021 7:18pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

What have actually done?

To clarify - you mean this time?

10-06-2021 7:44pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

To clarify - you mean this time?

This time, last time, next time, whatever. Specifically I mean.

TaurenDruid · 10-06-2021 7:46pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

This time, last time, next time, whatever. Specifically I mean.

The most recent thing I'd heard about them, apart from sacking their Irish staff, was as Twee mentioned, their American subsidiary sacking LGBT staff because they "didn't fit the culture."

10-06-2021 7:52pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

The most recent thing I'd heard about them, apart from sacking their Irish staff, was as Twee mentioned, their American subsidiary sacking LGBT staff because they "didn't fit the culture."

The latter definitely is something and I'd hope that person has brought a case, but the staff here just fits under 'company X are ****ers and only look after their own interests'. That's how companies work and it happens the world over in all industries, and unless that was illegal then I don't see how they're answerable for it.

I don't doubt that there could well be some illegal and highly immoral stuff went on there, it's a lot of names saying the same thing after all, but the statement didn't really help by being so vague. Even calling out that they sometimes aren't completely honest when marketing (shock horror) makes it seem like they're padding it out and has a detrimental effect on the message.

TXPTGR1 · 10-06-2021 9:12pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

The latter definitely is something and I'd hope that person has brought a case, but the staff here just fits under 'company X are ****ers and only look after their own interests'. That's how companies work and it happens the world over in all industries, and unless that was illegal then I don't see how they're answerable for it.

I don't doubt that there could well be some illegal and highly immoral stuff went on there, it's a lot of names saying the same thing after all, but the statement didn't really help by being so vague. Even calling out that they sometimes aren't completely honest when marketing (shock horror) makes it seem like they're padding it out and has a detrimental effect on the message.

Agreed it’s weak stuff , but of a Facebook hun drama tinge to it
Let’s see what the specifics are ( not gonna change anything for me - not a fan of their beer and the marketing is cringe)

TaurenDruid · 10-06-2021 10:08pm

TXPTGR1 wrote: »

Agreed it’s weak stuff , but of a Facebook hun drama tinge to it
Let’s see what the specifics are ( not gonna change anything for me - not a fan of their beer and the marketing is cringe)

Agreed, absolutely. "We're Punk. As. ****! We're rebels, we are! Would you like to see our share prospectus? Recruit a friend and you'll receive extra benefits! PUNK! AS! ****!"

L1011 · 11-06-2021 8:54am

The cack handed initial reply and the astroturf attempt to encourage staff to sign a rebuttal written by the HR department has lead to this hitting global conventional media - big papers and news services. And it really falls outside the "we're sticking it to the man" twist that all their usual stuff does.

BeerNut · 11-06-2021 12:55pm

For the posters above looking for details of exactly what happened, there's details of one incident from one of the ex-employees here.

You can spare us the "that's no big deal" reply, should anyone be so minded as to write one.

11-06-2021 12:59pm

BeerNut wrote: »

For the posters above looking for details of exactly what happened, there's details of one incident from one of the ex-employees here.

You can spare us the "that's no big deal" reply, should anyone be so minded as to write one.

As if anyone is going to think that's no big deal, there's no need to try steer everyone.

TaurenDruid · 11-06-2021 2:07pm

A friend has just posted a sandwich board from outside one of their London pubs. Slogan: "We are a community owned business."

I guess, then, so is Apple, HSBC, Diageo, Starbucks and every other PLC listed on a stock exchange? :rolleyes:

L1011 · 11-06-2021 3:00pm

They're not a listed PLC - yet - but there's a substantial private equity firm ownership.

The intent was to be listed soon, which generally isn't possible if there's a controversy going on - the stock exchanges have rules about quiet periods.

Black Sheep · 13-06-2021 4:25pm

I feel like if this was an attempt to take down seniors in Brewdog then it's probably not going to be enough. If it's light on detail because of a fear of litigation I guess I can understand that, but it does read a bit vague. I understand Brewdog sounds like not a very nice place to work, not really very surprising.

The same people who hated Brewdog before still hate them, but has anyone said they're no longer going to stock their stuff or anything?

Jim Murray got chucked under the bus for less, his product was withdrawn from various retailers without them even really looking at it too hard, and was more blameless (in my opinion). But I suppose Brewdog has the virtue of being bigger and profitable for a lot more people.

Shaka Hislop · 13-06-2021 4:59pm

Sour Rita.... bought it because...well...I dated a girl called Rita..and feck, did she end up sour at me

youcancallmeal · 21-06-2021 11:46am

Been working my way through the Hope birthday box, haven't had most of their core range in a while and I forgot how solid they are. The overnight oats ipa re-release was also really good, never tried it when it was originally released and I can see why it was voted to be brewed again for the birthday box. I've yet to try the Gorse Tripel and Stroopwafel Imperial Stout, these aren't usually my style but I'll give them a shot this week

Supporting craft breweries

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