TOPIC:

TBN....

[quote:2779w8gc]Bottom line: I am not a brewer. I would not set up a brewing company.
I am not a computer programmer. I would not set up a computer programming company. I would be suspicious of any computer programming company established, run and marketed by a non-programmer[/quote:2779w8gc]

Can Michael O'Leary fly a plane ?..nope.

Have you ever seen Ruprt Murdoch install a Sky Digital box ?...nope

A small observation I know but to be honest, when I was researching the AMBC concept I visited over 30 breweries in Ireland, NI, & UK (and a couple in Europe). What struck me most was the fact the the majority of breweries were run by breweres (no surprise there) but they were not business people and their business plans and marketing took second place to their getting great beers brewed. Hence Most of these breweries served a very small local parochial area.

As this debate has shown ultimately it is a compromise, wear your brewing stripes proudly, get lauded for your beers and be commercially borderline or do what I'm doing, business plan 1st, product second (but a very close second !)

Gerry

I have to agree with Gerry. The importance of a business plan cannot be overstated. The brewing course I recently attended outlines this clearly. While the guys offering the course are brewrers and love every aspect of beer, they almost down played the actual brewing of the beer suggesting that is was easy, and instead warned us of the difficulties we will face getting capital, setting up the brewery and marketing the stuff. Harsh facts for an idealistic hope-to-be proto brewer such as myself, but it's unavoidable. As I have already stated the AMBC marketing irks me a little, but if you don't have a couple of hundred grand lying around, contract brewing and aggressive advertising in a small niche is the only way to break into the Irish beer market.

I did like the rua, but I am not sure if it will pull the classic smithwicks /red ale drinker away for there usual. But time will determine and I will always well more availability to the consumer


Why not let the product stand for its self, instead of this smoke and mirrors of been for Árainn Mór, proposed ideas of setting something a brewery/visitor center on the Island

Image is not everything, the porterhouse brewers in an industrial estate, Galway hookers web site is mostly about their beer.


I understand that contract brewing is common in Belgium and many used these service to rise there profile and thus gin investment/ capital to build there own, some never do. I think Rodenbach buy’s in a base beer and ages it, but I could be wrong.

The thing that make suspicious is that the Irish name is a very powerful selling factor internationally and I wonder, was the originally to sell this to unwary consumers in other countries who are not as informed as the members of this forum

"js_040":1g7yimca wrote: Can Michael O'Leary fly a plane ?..nope.

Have you ever seen Ruprt Murdoch install a Sky Digital box ?...nope[/quote:1g7yimca]Indeed. But neither companies are known for a bespoke product, made in small amounts and of a high quality. What attracts me as a drinker to beer from small breweries is the idea that the management of the company will have had a large input into the formulation of the product. The closer that relationship, the less likely the beer will be compromised by commercial concerns.

"js_040":1g7yimca wrote: As this debate has shown ultimately it is a compromise, wear your brewing stripes proudly, get lauded for your beers and be commercially borderline or do what I'm doing, business plan 1st, product second (but a very close second !)[/quote:1g7yimca]
But, as Oblivious points out, there's a certain disingenuousness about how the marketing for Árainn Mhór has been done. The heavy association with Ireland for a beer that isn't made in Ireland seems underhand to me. The lack of clarity on where it is brewed is also disappointing. "Brewed in the EU" is a phrase used by the macrobrewers and implies that something is being hidden from the consumer. Knowing where my beer comes from is important to me as a drinker and I don't like the feeling that I'm being mislead.

"TheBeerNut":1jjut1rb wrote: Bottom line: I am not a brewer. I would not set up a brewing company.
I am not a computer programmer. I would not set up a computer programming company. I would be suspicious of any computer programming company established, run and marketed by a non-programmer.[/quote:1jjut1rb]

It seems you are not a businessman either, and you should not set up a business. I would be suspicious of any blogger knocking AMBC for their business approach if they know nothing of the business of brewing. As someone has already said, I would not take this personally, it is just advertising after all.

.

"Ichiban":3g0txbuz wrote: I would be suspicious of any blogger knocking AMBC for their business approach if they know nothing of the business of brewing.[/quote:3g0txbuz]
I'd be suspicious of any blogger who asked members of RateBeer for their opinions on beer and used them in his blog rather than drinking them himself. I'd have very little sympathy for the argument that drinking lots of different types of beer and then writing about them all is impractically time-consuming and expensive, and that the only way to have an effective beer blog is to outsource the drinking and reviewing to experts. And I'd be especially scornful if there was no intimation anywhere on the blog that the opinions were not the blogger's own.

My beef, as a drinker and blogger, is with the phrase "Brewed in the EU. Árainn Mhór Brewing Company, Burtonport, Co. Donegal." It's very easy to infer a "by" which isn't there.

You may notice that the labels on the website[/url:3g0txbuz] do not even say "Brewed in the EU". Indeed, there's is nothing on the website that would dissuade someone from the notion that these beers are hand-crafted in Ireland. The dissonance of discovering that the beer, marketed as "One of our own" is not made in an Irish brewery, leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

"Ichiban":3g0txbuz wrote: I would not take this personally, it is just advertising after all.[/quote:3g0txbuz]
That's fair enough, but it does mean that since I complain about foreign-owned brands like Guinness and Murphy's overstating their Irishness in their advertising, it would be hypocritical of me not to complain about Árainn Mhór and Strangford Lough in the same terms. Made in Ireland: but not Irish-owned; Irish-owned, but not made in Ireland. Same issue.