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"rebel":3ty4cewf wrote: Surley you can get a temporary licence at farmers markets just like they do at temporary concert venues.[/quote:3ty4cewf]
I think off-licences are a whole different kettle of legal fish to on-licences -- exemptions and special cases seem not to exist.

Here's an odd clause from the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000:

"Our Beloved Legislators":3ty4cewf wrote: The name of the owner, and the address, of premises to which an on-licence or an off-licence is attached shall be clearly indicated on a label affixed to any container in which intoxicating liquor is sold for consumption off the premises.[/quote:3ty4cewf]
"This can of Stonehouse Cider was supplied by... "

A brewery license is around 200 quid. I spent the last 6 months researching the brewery business with two friends of mine with the hope of starting something. I've visited all of the major craft brewers and spoke to a number of distributors. The only conclusion I can come to is that it is very tough to get into this business. For example, I heard recently that Coors Lite has only just become profitable despite 10 years in the market. It's incredibly tough to market craft beer in Ireland,and that's providing you even get to produce any in the first place. There are a number of capital grants available to aid in set up but the market place in Ireland is hostile to emerging beers. It couldn't be more different than Britian where you could likely run a successful brewery producing cask ale alone.

Unless you have a couple of million stashed away the best way to go is contract brewing initially to establish brand identity and then setting up on your own. Also, if you have any sense you'll have to start with a reasonably accessible lager to get your brand established. Lager is 75% of the market and it's much easier to get Joe Public to try a different type of lager than the flavour packed robust porter you dream of presenting to the world.

I have great respect for the Galway Hooker guys who went with what they like rather than the public but it's a struggle and I couldn't pay my mortgage on their level of turnover, at any rate.

wonder if the equipment was still there would it be worth setting up a 'club' there. i remember trying to figure out a way of selling beers without having to purchase a license and that seemed possible from my reading of the legislation. i hadn't noticed the letting agents sign last time i was near there (a while ago in fairness) but could be interesting to find out. i used to work in revenue so i could probably get a steer on that from former colleagues. of course a change in the legislation to allow the brewing license to be used as a onsales license would help the micro brewery sector enormously. there can be ways around the licensing didn't yer man with the apples sell his cider by giving it away 'free' with every 6-pack of apples?

My research assistant Geoff (sorry! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->, between that and being the Beer Fairy it's alot of work!) has told me that the guy in Little Italy owns the brewery, and has for a while been distributing beers from his shop on site. People have seen the van driving around the place, and apparently the van driver has always worked for the chap in Little Italy, they just never bothered to paint the thing.

&amp;quot;Geoff&amp;quot;:2dllgofq wrote: Another mystrey solved !![/quote:2dllgofq]

&amp;quot;Hendrixcat&amp;quot;:2aqthds2 wrote: Also, if you have any sense you'll have to start with a reasonably accessible lager to get your brand established. Lager is 75% of the market and it's much easier to get Joe Public to try a different type of lager than the flavour packed robust porter you dream of presenting to the world.
[/quote:2aqthds2]
Do you reckon? Although lager makes up the bulk of the market, your bland yellow fizz drinker has plenty to choose from. Im most boozers, the lager drinker has a choice between Millers, Bud, Carslberg Heineken and sometimes Coors and Amstel. These products are very similiar and the only thing that really distinguishes them is their marketing. I think brewers starting out should aim for the other 25% of the market (well, probably considerably less considering the loyalty of Guinness drinkers) and try to make money that way. I don't see how a new brewer could possibly survive if it was to start that way.

Of course, you did say lager and didn't necesarraily mean the crap that passes for beer in almost every pub in the country. It is possible to make excellent Oktoberfest beers or Pilsners or tonnes more styles which are still lagers. I still think a brewer would have about as much difficulty luring your average joe to these proper lagers as he would to a flavoursome ale.

I really hope (and actually believe) that there is scope for more breweries to open up on a small scale and produce quality beer. While things may look grim at the moment, I don't think things are as bad as they must have seemed in the US in (say) 1979.

I'm not sure whether I will ever have the brewing skill, initiative, acumen or maybe most importantly of all, money to start up myself but I'm sure there are people out there who have all of that.

[quote:2mf9wu7v]Do you reckon?[/quote:2mf9wu7v]

Well, one brewer I spoke suggested that you should brew a lager (obviously more flavoursome that Bud and the like) to generate the bulk of your income initially and continue with it while you produced some more interesting beers targeting others who are more open to new beer styles. It seems like a reasonable plan to me because those who drink lager exclusively are much more likley to try another type of lager rather than a Porter say, or IPA. The most common question I hear at the Porterhouse bars (other than where's the bloody Guinness) is 'which of your lager is most like Bud/Heineken'.

I'm studying brewing science and will not be happy at all if I don't manage to set up some sort of brewery at some point in the future. It is a very difficult business to get into in Ireland, despite the Irish being one of the heaviest drinkers in Europe. The fact that a large number FF TDs are bloody publicans and vote down any possible changes to the licensing laws make things even more difficult. I think you could really make a go of it if you had a brew pub rather than a stand alone brewery.