TOPIC:

"oblivious":17awz606 wrote: I think that harks back to Dr Johns original question is it an Irish red?[/quote:17awz606]

Not like any I've ever tasted. Good stuff, though.

No if it must be produced in Ireland, but hopefully it can become an Irish red. But isnt Irish red a style of beer and not a geographical location. Some American micro breweries produce an Irish red and what about the Lett's produced on the continent under an irish receipe.

Regardless of where it's brewed it doesn't taste like an Irish Red. I don't believe it claims to be so that's a moot point.

I have not tasted it yet. Not available in Cork

I've been trying to stay out of this so I could watch how things develop, but here's a summary of what I think I'm seeing here.

Árainn Mhór was launched as a brand which very strongly promotes it's Irishness, "One of our own", with beautiful imagery of the Árainn islands. Needless to say, people like the members of this site were delighted to see such a well branded product coming out of Ireland, and going against the mainstream indiginous beer brands. But when people learned that the beer itself was not in fact brewed in Ireland, it came as a bit of a shock I guess, especially in contrast to the marketting information, as exemplified by this paragraph from the website:

[quote:14s03zp7]Only in the last few years has Ireland begun to experience a certain variety and choice in the area of locally produced premium quality beers as the small number of indigenous microbreweries make their presence felt. Up until the early 1900’s regional breweries were plentiful throughout Ireland offering a variety of beers and ales, each unique in its own right. Since the early 1900’s the Irish beer industry has been dominated for the most part by the large international mass-produced beer brands. Against this backdrop and a desire to provide the beer consuming public with premium-crafted alternatives the Árainn Mhór Brewing Company is being established.[/quote:14s03zp7]

It all suggested a very Irish product. The fact that the beer is made in Belgium - and was probably formualted there by a Belgian brewer (this is my suposition, so could be entirely wrong) - and even tastes like a Belgian beer (not that thats a bad thing) made me wonder would it actually work when transferred to the Island as proposed.

I think the other thing that has people irked is that it would appear that the branding, marketing and idea of having a visitors centre all came before the beer. In other words, the business came before the thoughts of even what kind of beer (is it actually an Irish Red in style? Never mind where it is produced! Although beiing a Trotskyite I'm not so worried about strict styles). Also, the branding as Irish would appear to be designed specifically to leverage "ireland" in order sell the brand abroad (Japan as Gerry quotes as an example). To people so passionate abou the beer itself, it could be that the "soulless" and cold business logic behind how AmBrewCo is starting off just goes against the afficionados deeply ingrained belief in what an Irish Craft Beer should be. Personally, I'm not sure myself what that should be, so I'll sit on the fence a little while longer <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

In fairness though, the business model does appear to contrast starkly with other indiginous operations where a brewer wanted to make good beer in Ireland, admittedly to make money, but also because they love beer. Think of Hooker who made the beer first, probably lost lots of money initially, but have been growing their brand because of a quality product and the justifiable recognition that Joe Public heap on them. From little acorns do mighty oaks grow, as Gerry rightly said, but clearly two different approaches. One stated supplying pubs in Galway and is only slowly spreading accross the Island, the other is looking like it was designed to be an international brand using Ireland as a marketting device.

I think overall most people really do support the idea of true Irish Craft Breweries being set up, and I think ICB as a group are especially passionate about this. Where I think the AMBrewCo is running into flack is purely around the transparency in the early stages of what was going on. I'm delighted Gerry has joined up so he can get down and dirty with some of the most passionate craft beer drinkers on this Island

Well you sure opened a can of worms there Dr J

I don’t have much to add to this except to say I am delighted Gerry responded to the thread fair play to him.

Personally I’m sitting on the fence a bit with the views expressed here. I don’t like to see myself or Joe public spun BS about Islands etc. If However Árainn Mhór could put their products in my local I would drink them whatever it said on the label or where it was brewed. Because they are so much better than what is avalable. Go for it Gerry ---Unless Aiden (Hooker) gets there before you <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: --> – I wish <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->