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16 years 4 months ago #31
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16 years 4 months ago #32
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Fantastic lads and I will be passing on my 10 Euro next time I see you,well done <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="
 " title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->Not sure if you have though of it but suing to campaign for lower excise/vat rate for breweries under 20,000 litres or so a year. Something like what they did on England? And or a a longer there goal of change in the licence law to a square area/ occupancy rate to encourage small local public house, with an aim to discourager public disorder and drunkenness? |
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16 years 4 months ago #33
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" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->[/quote:3ldi2gqx]16 years 4 months ago #34
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Just to add to the discussion on why form an organisation, and how it relates to what ICB is (sorry, I went to a party to celebrate last night, so missed the discussion <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="
 " title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->)IrishCraftBrewer.com was launched in March 2007[/url:3bvt31nw] with the main focus on bringing together home brewers and by extension beer lovers in Ireland. Really, the initial goal was to share brewing experiences. Séan already had the IrishCraftBeer domain. We registered IrishHomeBrewer.com, and then felt that the reputation of home brewing was such that it'd put people off, so we registered IrishCraftBrewer.com to try to refelct how we felt about amateur craft brewing. The love of beer of course led to the secondary aims of promoting craft-brewed commercial Irish beers. This was achieved through talking about it, writing about it and telling our friends about it. We all have done our bit. When ICB as a site was only 8 months old, we were approached by the European Beer Consumers Union, right here on the site. First, as an intro to what they were[/url:3bvt31nw], then a little more formally with a very long discussion thread[/url:3bvt31nw] that really didn't reach a conclusion, and then a related thread posted by bigvalen[/url:3bvt31nw] which now shows remarkable foresight. If you read those posts, I think it's clear that, at the time, we felt that ICB was a good contact point for the EBCU for getting info about Irish breweries and such, but we didn't have the structures or cash to go beyond the free promotion that each of us, as individuals, were providing. I thin this was fair enough. Also, the question of membership fees[/url:3bvt31nw] had been raised more than once, and I think it has been clear that we (as the admin team) really didn't want to go there, precisely because we didn't want it to be exclusive or anything. That was then... 2009 has seen a huge shift in what IrishCraftBrewer members have been doing to promote home brewing, small Irish breweries and choice. It's an absolute credit to the community, and I for one am very proud of what you have all done and how it's all come together in three short years. With radio and press pieces, a couple of events and then Séan and TheBeerNut meeting with the EBCU, it seemed that we'd reached a stage, that natural progression if you will, that we had spoken about in October 2007 in the threads linked above. This is not a decision taken lightly, and we thought about a possible name change for two weeks. Literally! I have to admit I was probably the most resistant at first, but it [i:3bvt31nw]feels [/i:3bvt31nw]like the right thing to do to broaden the reach of the group while getting more focused. Membership fees for Beoir are intended to help provide that focus and get the message out there in other ways, and that needs a regular income to help fund things. For ICB, 2009 has been a good financial year in terms of the first commissions payments coming in from t-shirts (yes, it took that long till there was enough money to pay us, and after 2.5 years we made €78!), some reasonable cash coming in from adSense clicks, and then some very generous donations from a small group of members (we've had 20 donations since April 2007, with some being regular from a few members - and we thank you sincerely for your generousity). Our [i:3bvt31nw]total [/i:3bvt31nw]income since March 2007 has been just short of €900 Euro. Our costs since the beginning have been relatively low at just over €400, so at the end of 2009, we have just under €500 in the kitty which, personally, I think is bloody amazing! However, in the scheme of things, we can't rely on ads, t-shirts or generous donations from a small group of people. A consumer-representing body that is affiliated with the EBCU needs a membership and needs funds, hence the necessity to have a nominal membership fee. As TheBeerNut pointed out to me, it's actually part of the rules of playing in a bigger league with EBCU. So, as it says in the announcement, there's not going to be a huge amount of change in the near future, but given what we have all achieved in less than three years, think what a truly organised and focussed group could achieve going ahead. Being a paid member of Beoir, as it currently stands, will simply give you a nice feeling that you are contributing cash to further the goals of representing craft beer in Ireland, and a voice in how that organisation does things, officially. The web community that is IrishCraftBrewer.com will not change, and the discussions of beer, brewing and the sharing of knowledge that is the heart of this site, cannot be taken away, and will not be changed in any way. It may get a different label at the top, but it'll still be the ICB community. There will be a Beoir Members forum for paid members simply to provide a place to discuss organisational, tactical, policy, whatever issues. It's not about exclusivity or talking about beer, it's about trying to actively represent quality and choice in Ireland Regarding why have a name change, well, I love IrishCraftBrewer.com (can't you tell) and as I said above, this is not a light decision. I was convinced as IrishCraftBrewer does not really strike a chord with the general public. I can't tell you how many mails we've gotten to the admin account asking for our beer mats, promotional material or where can someone buy our beers! Or on radio slots where they call us IrishCraftBrewers.com (to the extent that Saruman, as a donation, registered that domain to redirect it to the actual site) or other mangling of either the name, or what we as a community are (if we have to explain every time that we are not commercial brewers, but are simply fans of beer that also like to brew, then it's a pain in the arse to be honest). I [i:3bvt31nw]hated [/i:3bvt31nw]the idea of changing the name, but it makes sense to me now. Plus, as Séan and TBN have outlined above, it's about creating an organisation with all that entails: a constitution, a chair, a treasurer, a bank account that isn't mine, a body of paid members so we can say to government bodies "look, these people want a voice". We have 540+ registered users on ICB right now. How many are actually active? If I look at how many haven't posted in a year, or who posted once and never again, I could half the number of users, easily. Anyone could argue the validity of the number of users on an open forum such as this. As Séan mentioned above, at least if someone is willing to pay a tenner to be a member of a representative organisation then, sadly perhaps, it has more foundation to it, as nobody could dispute the membership figures with us. This post has gotten far too long, and I apologise for that, but I thought I'd try to give some background and the perspective of someone who was perhaps cynical about such a move, but has come to realise that this is the right thing to do, and this is the right time to do it. Thanks. |
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16 years 4 months ago #35
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