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&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:2z6n9qpu wrote: it annoys me greatly when we head into town for a few pints to find no support for the local brewery[/quote:2z6n9qpu]Then stop doing that! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I heard that the Guinness rep has a strangle hold on Carlow, and that has a lot to do with it.

&amp;quot;Taf&amp;quot;:1z2z2tay wrote: I heard that the Guinness rep has a strangle hold on Carlow, and that has a lot to do with it.[/quote:1z2z2tay]


I think that is certainly what happened with the Talbot hotel, Carlow.

It is only fairly recently that Galway Hooker became available in Roscommon town where it is brewed. It is now in three places there so there is always hope!

I think Carlow don't really have any intentions to act as the local brewer for Carlow. It's a tactic which made perfect sense in 1998 and got them to the healthy position they're in today. Why try and tout beer around hostile pubs one keg at a time when you can fill a container and send it off to France or China or the US? I'd want the publicans of Carlow banging on the brewery gates before I started talking to them. And if enough people in Carlow keep banging on about "Why can't we get the local beer here?" then perhaps the licensees (or one clever one) will take notice.

&amp;quot;TheBeerNut&amp;quot;:fz6z4zhg wrote:

&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:fz6z4zhg wrote: it annoys me greatly when we head into town for a few pints to find no support for the local brewery[/quote:fz6z4zhg]Then stop doing that! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->[/quote:fz6z4zhg]
I try to make Dublin the venue where possible. Altho all he drinks is pints of Bland, so he doesn't care, and it's an uphill struggle.

&amp;quot;TheBeerNut&amp;quot;:fz6z4zhg wrote: I'd want the publicans of Carlow banging on the brewery gates before I started talking to them[/quote:fz6z4zhg]
There's more to it than that. Wholesale the stout is dearer than Guinness and if the retail price is more than Guinness then Guinness drinkers, the bulk of the market, won't switch. It leaves publicans looking like they're going to have stock they can't sell or if they cut the margin, stock that will put less money in their till by the end of the year.

A friend is a manager of a pub in the Dublin area. He's being courted by O'Hara's, but is in a bit of disbelief that it's more expensive than Guinness.

&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:e0lkmlvg wrote: if the retail price is more than Guinness then Guinness drinkers, the bulk of the market, won't switch.[/quote:e0lkmlvg]Doesn't matter what the price difference, the Guinness drinkers will always be the bulk of the market. Personally I don't think trying to price lower than macro is a good idea. For one thing, Diageo can easily match any price you can afford until you're back where you started only with less cash to show for it.

&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:e0lkmlvg wrote: It leaves publicans looking like they're going to have stock they can't sell[/quote:e0lkmlvg]Not if the demand is there. Not if there are people who will go and drink O'Hara's but not Guinness. That's the only way you'll get more craft beer into any pub that doesn't sell it: offer the publican money that he wouldn't already get on something else. That's what our Directory is for: to drive people into pubs where they wouldn't otherwise go.

&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:e0lkmlvg wrote: but is in a bit of disbelief that it's more expensive than Guinness.[/quote:e0lkmlvg]Worse, he'll have people coming in [i:e0lkmlvg]who've never heard of it[/i:e0lkmlvg]. He and his staff may actually have to do some sales work to shift it. It's a whole different business model to the traditional Irish pub which involves pulling the tap handle, paying the brewery invoices and letting the stuff sell itself -- less a business model, more an addictive narcotic peddled by Diageo, C&C and Heineken resulting in intense dependency.