TOPIC:

Actually it says visitor's centre planned for summer 2007.


From the book:
[quote:3ijnk9ab]Short-term palns are to set up a visitor's centre on the island and then, over time as income is consolidated, to install and establish a brewery on the island[/quote:3ijnk9ab]

Vague I guess, so an update would be nice.

Last Autumn I attended Gerrys presentation to the locals of Arainn Mhor on his plans of marketing and selling his beer in Ireland. He wanted to start the ball rolling on the island by supplying the local pubs and then expanding into any bar and off-license on the mainland that would stock it.

In fact I might have been the very first person to actually buy a bottle of it! I was having a drink with my girl outside a pub on Arainn Mhor and up pulled a guy in a small van. He pulled out a few wooden presentation boxes and walked toward the pub. I held the door open for him and we got talking. He invited me to his presentation that night in the local hall and I accepted with excitment. I bought two Rua's, 6% at the time.

During his presentation, he laid out his vision for the beer. He contracted 2,000 bottles from a Belgian brewery. Having no experience in brewing I'm sure he just choose a beer suggested by the brewery depending on what quality (i.e. expense) he was willing to pay for.
He would like to establish a brand name first and foremost. If that's possible and the beers sell well then he would like to expand the business. This expansion involves establishing a visitor centre on the island. He admitted that unless the beer was a huge success there would be no visitor centre set up, let alone a brewery established on the island.

I don't know exactly what benefit there is to setting up a visitor centre anyway. And a brewery on an island is fanciful stuff. It's a long way off.

Gerry is a regular guy, a computer programmer who believes that anyone can take on the brewing giants in Ireland. It's very much David and Goliath stuff but this method of selling your own beer might be the Achilles Heel he's looking for. I say fair play, and wish him the best.

The bottle is pure marketing. Beer from an island off the wild North-West coast of Ireland is simply a marketers dream. We're no fools, but all of us are affected to some extent by marketing whether we're aware of it or not. It's not an insult to our intelligence, it's just that some marketing is less sutle than others. And this bottle is not sutle at all. It's an Irish company, the beer brewed in the EU, with picures of the Arainn Mhor skyline at dawn and dusk on it. Simple as that so drink it up.....

"Ichiban":7y4jrv36 wrote: Beer from an island off the wild North-West coast of Ireland is simply a marketers dream. [/quote:7y4jrv36]

But the problem its not and if the brewery is a fancy full idea that’s not something I want to support.

It could be deemed as mislead to the consumer, which is not something anyone in a start up wants to associate with.

This thread could open another interesting topic for discussion - that of a group of ICB members clubbing together to release their own brand of contract beer. Style, recipe, and process would be their own, just brewed abroad taking advantage of a professional Masterbrewers knowledge and experience.

A 2,000 bottle contract to get the ball rolling, any style, any ABV, any name and subsequent marketing, any channel of distribution and supply. More importantly, a clearly labeled honest and modest bottle of beer.

Going by the unbridled popularity and vast number of positive posts for Goose Island, might a US style IPA be top of the wish list!

On a similar topic, it seems the biggest constraint in microbrewing is the storage and fermentation capacity of such small operations. Perhaps these operations might be open to discuss a possible brewery-sharing busisness on condition that more fermentation equipment was purchased by the aspiring brewer. In return for this investment, instruction and usage of the brewing equipment could be negoiatated. Both parties would benefit so long as each partys beers were not in direct competition with each other i.e. of the same style. But there are many styles....

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Ichiban, I take your points and I think they're valid. I wonder if the beer was contract brewed in Ireland would the whole concept seem more authentic? Seems strange that he went to Belgium, was this decided on cost/logistics of bottling etc.?

Sadly I think the philosophy of micro brewing is been missed, a local product brewed beer and if possible with as much of local ingredients, yea I aware of the link to the league of gentlemen. An goose island is available over, but they have earned a shear of the marker over to be distributed.

You can’t beat the mega brands, you can learn to maneuver around then and that takes a hell of a products and a customers bases will to help out

At best the America craft beer makes up 5% of the total shear; the whole think nearly went under in the lat 1990, when guys trying to make a fast few quid by producing so called craft beer, more money in went into the marketing that the product it self