TOPIC:

I've been thinking and I would like to hear opinions on this;


do you feel that the (welcome) advent of new Irish craft beers (such as Ór) only takes away sales from other existing microbrews? Or is it the case that new Irish craft beer coming onstream encourages more people to try craft beer?

I hope it's the latter.

What has me thinking is that when I visited the B & C a few evenings back that I had a pint of Ór instead of Hooker. So are they competing against each other instead of against the macros????

Hard to know. You could argue that Hooker or Or or whatever should in theory never survive in somewhere like B&C where there's a rotating cask, oodles of bottles of new stuff, and frequent guest beers for folks to always try new stuff, but that clearly doesn't seem to be the case.

I know that when I go there I rarely drink the same beer twice in a night, but rather flit between many, whereas when I go to a crap pub I will drink my lowest common denominator (guinness) all night. When I go somewhere that has Hooker but not much else, I'll drink that all night.

While I can see what you are talking about, your pint of Ór means one less pint of Hooker sold, I think that that is the exception rather than the rule. How many places will actually carry both? You were in a specialist beer bar, so you have the choice of many excellent beers. In most places you will be lucky to get Ór or Hooker.

I think that the existence of new beers will result in curiosity and a general increase in the amount of craft beer being consumed. If someone tries a pint of Ór in the Red Windmill and likes it, they are more likely to go for a pint of Hooker the next time they are in Ryan's.

"sbillings":9yznji80 wrote: If someone tries a pint of Ór in the Red Windmill and likes it, they are more likely to go for a pint of Hooker the next time they are in Ryan's.[/quote:9yznji80]

Spot on. I think the B&C has become a place to expand your choices rather than falling into one beer. The only real time that i have noticed people sticking to one product is when they are having a meal, or just in for 2 quick ones after a long day.

As for competing against each other, of course they are. But the bigger the market share that micro's take, the more sales they all rack up, and they all understand this to be the way forward.

So while the likes of Hooker or OH Stout might loose small sales to guest taps, they gain in smaller accounts where they tend to stand out.

"DrJohn":37n7vu50 wrote: do you feel that the (welcome) advent of new Irish craft beers (such as Ór) only takes away sales from other existing microbrews?[/quote:37n7vu50]The underlying problem here is that craft beer is largely sold (to us, anyway) in specialty craft beer retailers, like the Bull & Castle and Porterhouses. For the revolution to succeed and stabilise there needs to be a mainstreaming of Irish craft beer.

We don't need any more 50+ beer bars where they already exist; we need one or two craft beer taps or bottles in every pub.

"TheBeerNut":1lenee3q wrote: We don't need any more 50+ beer bars where they already exist; we need one or two craft beer taps or bottles in every pub.[/quote:1lenee3q]

That is exactly what we need!