TOPIC:

Dempsey

I think there may be a Mardi gras beer festival coming up there ? but yes , Limerick needs a bit more push on it .

@thebeernut
I couldn't say figures for how much etc . I wouldn't be privy to that knowledge . all I can say is I've seen this fella go from 1 bar to what looks like seven in about 15 years , so he is a shrewd business man with very good public houses which hit the spot ( decor, staff ,entertainment, and beer choice)
The addition of Fran Well Beers started with the sale of Beamish & Crawford and the demise of Beamish red in particular , but his uptake and selection of Well beers has increased since then to the point where some ( of his large Bars) have three Well beers on offer and all have at least 2 .

He's not the only prominent Publican serving them , but he is certainly the largest chain of Pubs serving them in Cork City and the beers hold their own. ( because they're great beers in my utterly unbiased opinion )

I wouldn't try and claim " Craft beer will make you buckets of money mr publican "
But I would say that having craft beer as part of your package of service makes your pub a better pub , and consequently aids success .

It's also a cheaper and simpler way to diversify than adding food to the package in a pub , or changing to being a gigging pub . In any small town the publicans normally divvy up the specialities ( the music bar , the bar that does sandwiches for christenings , the bar that solely caters to guinness drinkers , the sports bar ), craft beer could be the one speciality neglected , which could be a selling point into some locations . Even if it were a 25l cask of craft beer at the weekend , or a 25l keg of blonde . It'd be something different , and the one beer afficionado would bring his four mates to that bar that night . They mightn't drink the cask , but they'll drink their own beer in that pub because the craft beer is there .

Another beer lover will come in with the long suffering wife , who'll be on vodka and lemonade .

Tourists passing through sick of Guinness ( it happens after about 3 days to Americans ) will be delighted to find something on tap that's new and different , to go back home with a story of something they discovered , different to every one of their friends , who all went to Ireland and drank Guiness ....


I could sell this all day , ( for 80k a year I would )

There is no way the Carlow Brew Comp can ever directly compete with Diageo and expect to win. The whole focus should be on all micro's to try and have their product in as many bars as possible and whether this is in bottles or draught or both. The choice should be there for the consumer. Its so annoying when you go into some pubs in Ireland and there are endless Guinness & Bud taps. Any pub in England which is relatively the same will still have a selection of Cask Ales on tap or in bottles. It is a lot to do with the drinking culture here also which won't change any time soon. Give us a pint of Bud, Bud!

Good to see some more debate on this topic. A couple of points:
1. In my opinion when you are directly competing with the market leader you need to compete on price. O'Hara's Stout does not compete on price (fact).
2. [b:1bnda6u8]When you have a unique product you do not need to compete on price[/b:1bnda6u8]. [b:1bnda6u8]Galway Hooker has no direct competition[/b:1bnda6u8] in Ireland. Neither does Metalman. Therefore they do not need to compete on price with Carlsberg or anyone else (tho they are competitive both at wholesale and retail levels).
3. Some Irish Publicans are very savvy, some are not. [b:1bnda6u8]The rest are somewhere in between[/b:1bnda6u8] and blanket-blaming the Publicans for the lack of choice is an over-simplification.
4. Blaming Diageo or Publicans for people not drinking your beer when you've priced yourself out of the market is disingenuous.
5. Publicans needs to make money. Many (esp in urbana) do not own the pubs they run, which complicates this.
6. Business people will not be replace one product from their line-up with another like-for-like product on which their margin is lower.

If O'Hara's strategy for their stout and red wrt the Irish on-sales trade was the correct one we'd see more of them... If I ran a brewery, or any manufacturing business, I'd be blaming my lack of relative success on myself, not on anyone else.

Also has O'Hara's passed the 20,000 hectolitre threshold for being officially regarded as a micro by the Revenue to receive the 50% excise duty rebate?

"Tube":2nf5lqaa wrote: 1. In my opinion when you are directly competing with the market leader you need to compete on price. O'Hara's Stout does not compete on price (fact).[/quote:2nf5lqaa]

Beamish competes as "nearly as good and costs a little less", why not O'Hara's as "a bit better and costs a little more"?

"Tube":2nf5lqaa wrote: 4. Blaming Diageo or Publicans for people not drinking your beer when you've priced yourself out of the market is disingenuous.[/quote:2nf5lqaa]

Is there such a thing? Paulaner is nearly 6 euro in some pubs. The Irish punter has never had trouble reaching into his pocket for drink.

"Tube":2nf5lqaa wrote: If O'Hara's strategy for their stout and red wrt the Irish on-sales trade was the correct one we'd see more of them... If I ran a brewery, or any manufacturing business, I'd be blaming my lack of relative success on myself, not on anyone else.[/quote:2nf5lqaa]

Carlow Brewing exports 3/4s of their production - that was their strategy from the start, so I don't think they could be called unsuccessful. As far as on-sales, I honestly think they're not that bothered.

"KeeganAles":1pg94619 wrote: As far as on-sales, I honestly think they're not that bothered.[/quote:1pg94619]
Which has been one of my points really. Not being bothered usually isn't a recipe for success.