TOPIC:

I was in the B&C last night and spent the evening with an Aran Mhor ad in my line of sight and realised that they are really taking the piss with the Irish Island thing. It sounds like the most Irish product ever produced.

Hi all,

I’ve read the postings below with interest and feel I should say a few words on our brewery. I am not a brewer by trade, my background is in business development but I do enjoy real beers and feel craft brewing is an area which should be resurrected in Ireland. I started the Arainn Mhor Brewing Company for a number of reasons. Primarily as a commercial venture, but equally prominent reasons were to promote the Island of Arainn Mhor, the Donegal Gaeltacht and the North West region of Ireland and attract much needed visitor revenue and also to provide employment for the area.

Our go to market model was very much led by my previous career experience in that I felt a new product should be very well tested and proven and a foothold established before any significant capital be invested in full scale development. Thus we have spent over 18 months establishing a product, recipes, marketing , design and branding for our pilot beers , Ban & Rua. All the elements in this process were Irish based except the brewing process, which is outsourced to one of the best microbreweries in Europe, based in Belgium. We took some time sourcing our contract brew partner because we wanted a partner who would help and educate us with our enterprise along every step. We have now had a relationship for over a year with this brewer and he is lined up to come to Ireland to help us establish our own production facility when we are ready.

Our beers have been on the market for a year now in a small number of selected outlets and are doing extremely well. The reason we are moving very lowly is that I happen to have a day job as well so the Arainn Mhor Brewing Company is very much a second but very active line of business for me. We do have very ambituous plans for the company but they will take time so please bear with us.


Remember, out of small acorns do big oaks grow.

Regards,
Arainn Mhor Brewing Company

[quote:4w42yq0c]Remember, out of small acorns do big oaks grow[/quote:4w42yq0c]

I certainly hope this will be the case for you, but it's a tough market to crack.

"bigears":3va68cjx wrote: 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.?[/quote:3va68cjx]

If it was contract brewed in Ireland it would lend more credibility to the athenticity of being an Irish product of course. It's an Irish product, made in Ireland after all. There could be no nitpicking there. Most likely none of the microbreweries in Ireland have this offering available though, so Gerry was forced to go abroad. Bottling facilities also add considerable expense and workload to the fray after all.

Before establishing his company Gerry visited dozens of breweries in the UK and Belgium on fact-finding trips, and investigated many of the options available to a businessman wanting to create and sell their own beer. And what you can buy in the shops is the result of his work. It strikes me that someone like the BeerNut might one day, while sipping a buttery complex ale in some brewery tasting room on the Continent, realise that this might be something he would like to do himself. As a business venture only and leaving the brewing to the brewers. I see nothing wrong with that.

Aran Mhor in my opinion should not classify as an Irish Craft beer. It's an Irish beer to the general public, an Irish beer brewed abroad to those in the know.
This idea also throws up another issue. Most of us brewers buy our ingredients from abroad, so does that make our product 100% Irish craft beer? I think not. Taking my situation for example, all my ingredients come from abroad, I process them here, and produce a beer. Would it be right for me to call it Irish? Or should I state that all ingredients come from the EU.

It's like the beef traceability scandal a few years back. Beef was brought in from Brazil, and then cut into pieces in Ireland. This earned it "Irish" status, the fact that it was processed in Ireland. This is no longer the case. The beef is now labelled as Brazilian.

There's alot to be said about this topic. What are other peoples opinion on Arainn Mhor beer, people who haven't already made theirs clear?

[quote:2m927w6s]What are other peoples opinion on Arainn Mhor beer, people who haven't already made theirs clear?[/quote:2m927w6s]

I wish them all the best in their venture, but their choice of marketing irks me a little. I suppose I shouldn't complain because marketing is a nasty business and you have to get the edge otherwise you'll go under.

Fair play to Gerry for coming on and posting.