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In the time I've spent propping up the bar at the Bull and Castle I've seen very few requests for the non-macro beers. Most tourists just want Guinness.

Irish people are particularly conservative drinkers because the market is so homogenised. They don't look to see what's available because what's available seldom varies. I think if you want to make a breakthrough you need to take the Porter House approach and not stock common brands. Unfortunately, with insurance costs and ground rents being what they are, that's economic suicide for most non-chain pubs.

The breakthrough, when it comes, if it comes, will be from better quality Irish draught beers getting a foothold in ordinary pubs. Franciscan Well, Porter House and Galway Hooker are leading this. The increase in quality off sales, as Fishamble mentioned, will help sustain the rise. And I believe that the likes of Diageo are genuinely afraid of it. That's something at least.

[quote:5xeeli2p]They don't look to see what's available because what's available seldom varies.[/quote:5xeeli2p]

I think that this describes the scene in the U.S. before the Micros had their breakthrough. In fact it was worse there at the start of the 80s than it is here now - they were virtually down to three producers.

I agree with what was said about the perception of American beer. Fortunately it's easy enough to turn people around - it often just takes a slurp of some of the good 'uns.

Yeah you're probably right. I had one of the colleagues try some goose island IPA and he is hooked now!

"Fishamble":25y798iw wrote: It's contradictory, though. One off-license owner I talked to told me that his speciality beer sales were increasing by 40% every year over the last 4. And it's clear that they're becoming much easier to acquire.[/quote:25y798iw]

The range of speciality beers in UK supermarkets has varied over the years and between shops, but in recent years has shown a general increase. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> Apparently, although they may sell less quantity than the megaswill they have a much better profit margin. The supermarkets have realised that there are two beer markets out there: a high volume, low price market that requires a low margin to be competitive and a lower volume, higher quality which is driven by range of choice rather than price. This can only be good news for us and I hope a similar thing will occur in Ireland.

&amp;quot;Fishamble&amp;quot;:25y798iw wrote: I'm convinced that beer will undergo an transformation over the next few years. Bulmers did it for cider 15 years ago, and wine has certainly enjoyed a transformation too. The character of the changes to the market may be different, but overall I'm optimistic. [/quote:25y798iw]
If it could happen in the USA then it can happen anywhere (including Ireland). <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

It is sad to here a barman say a truth like that, and even sadder when its the B&C. But the change IS happening...

&amp;quot;Fishamble&amp;quot;:1me3v0vp wrote: It's contradictory, though. One off-license owner I talked to told me that his speciality beer sales were increasing by 40% every year over the last 4. (Does that tally for you, HapyAcid?) And it's clear that they're becoming much easier to acquire.
[/quote:1me3v0vp]

I don't know the exact increase but I can say that 4 years ago the biggest world beer seller was Erdinger. We went through about a 12 bottle case every week. Nowadays our biggest seller is Schofferhoffer. On a good week we could go through 150 to 200 bottles! More impressive than that is, of a selection of around 250 world beers, everything moves. There are serious talks at the moment on getting a bigger World Beer Fridge as sales increase and increase. As this is happening, the sales of Budweiser etc, fall.

Not to blow our own trumpet but I do think that staff knowledge plays a big part. I never miss a opportunity to introduce a "Premium Beer" drinker to the world beer fridge. As they glance in, the usual question is "does anyone even drink any of that crap?". Most of the time its easy to convince them into buying a "novelty" beer. 95% of the time, the next time I see them and ask what they thought I get "Actually, that was really good!". From there, the snowball starts to roll. It's amazing how easy it is. Even having enough knowledge to be able to advise a new beer to a customer who has a good knowledge in world beer goes a long way.
This is one of the reasons I think the “Beer Hall Challenge” is such a good idea.

The winds are defiantly changing. The days are gone when Pearly Bay wine was a seller for us. We don't even stock it anymore. People generally prefer to spend a couple of euro extra on a good bottle of wine rather than on a cheap bottle of dishwater. The same goes for beer!

I'm quite optimistic as a person so when I see someone go for a pint of Becks over Bud I do see a positive. Its not a big step, but a step in the right direction none the less.

Irish Society is getting more and more educated on what they eat and drink. The change is really evident in the profession I’m in. The knock on effect is helping change all areas of the Irish Drinking Culture. More and more people respect beer rather than over indulging. Education is defiantly the way forward and it’s the people here and others like them that are playing a huge part in aiding the change!

Pat on the back everybody!

&amp;quot;Fishamble&amp;quot;:3aadbn1u wrote: I'm convinced that beer will undergo an transformation over the next few years. Bulmers did it for cider 15 years ago[/quote:3aadbn1u]


Poor example there. I wouldn't wish what Bulmers have done on the craft beer industry. They have gone from probably the cheapest drink to one of the more expensive, and a major image change, through nothing more than clever marketing. I'm not much of a cider man, but any 'proper' cider drinkers I know wouldn't rate Bulmers at all. The craft cider market here is a lot worse than the beer market; all fizzy orange, and alcopops branded as cider.