TOPIC:

"TheBeerNut":1ar5w79g wrote:

"Tube":1ar5w79g wrote: Does Beoir still call it "craft" beer, tho?[/quote:1ar5w79g]It would not be "Irish craft beer" under Beoir's definition. Dungarvan would not be a microbrewery any more.[/quote:1ar5w79g]
That's a flaw with "Irish craft beer" in my opinion. The beer might still be made in exactly the same way, and therefore nothing different apart from a check box on the Revenue's computer system.

"Tube":j44h39bt wrote: therefore nothing different apart from a check box on the Revenue's computer system.[/quote:j44h39bt]Um, I think Cormac would find something quite different if he was waiting by the letterbox for his excise rebate cheque. Which is why this situation [i:j44h39bt]would never happen[/i:j44h39bt]. It makes [i:j44h39bt]no sense[/i:j44h39bt] to be just over the line. The system is designed to keep that big yawning gulf between small breweries and the big boys. It's quite different to how progressive beer duty works in the UK where there's more of a sliding scale, and varying tax relief to reflect that.

For as long as the relevant provision remains in force here, our system will always have the black and white difference between micro and macro. Using the word "craft" for the micros while denying it to the macros [i:j44h39bt]regardless of how wholesome the macros' ingredients and processes are[/i:j44h39bt] is, I think, useful to us in encouraging choice for the Irish drinker.

"TheBeerNut":l9y9xm4n wrote: Which is why this situation [i:l9y9xm4n]would never happen[/i:l9y9xm4n]. It makes [i:l9y9xm4n]no sense[/i:l9y9xm4n] to be just over the line. [/quote:l9y9xm4n]
The further over the line you are the more successful you are. I wish everyone the best of success and if/when any of them cross that line, I'll be at the party.

That line is an imaginary one that was put there by the Revenue. It has no impact on the beer.

If I owned a micro it would be a long term ambition to be well over the line. What micro doesn't dream of being hugely successful?

"TheBeerNut":l9y9xm4n wrote: Using the word "craft" for the micros while denying it to the macros [i:l9y9xm4n]regardless of how wholesome the macros' ingredients and processes are[/i:l9y9xm4n] is, I think, useful to us in encouraging choice for the Irish drinker.[/quote:l9y9xm4n]

Until the first of the micros has been so successful that they become a macro. And if/when the day comes that Galway Hooker or Metalman's brewers find themselves in charge of a macro, I'll still gladly drink their beer!

I think attaching the word "craft" to what is the Revenue's definition of a micro, is also risky. If the Revenue decide in these lean time to start fiddling with the limit, then what? If the biggest "craft" brewer finds themselves no longer a micro at the stroke of Michael Noonan's pen, then what?

"Tube":2e2nluoj wrote: The further over the line you are the more successful you are.[/quote:2e2nluoj]Exactly.

"Tube":2e2nluoj wrote: And if/when the day comes that Galway Hooker or Metalman's brewers find themselves in charge of a macro, I'll still gladly drink their beer![/quote:2e2nluoj]Of course! Beoir has never, will never, tell people that they shouldn't drink any specific beer, macro or micro. Beoir is not a campaign against anything.

If you like it: drink it. Now and always.

"Tube":2e2nluoj wrote: If the Revenue decide in these lean time to start fiddling with the limit, then what?[/quote:2e2nluoj]We see if it suits our campaign and we adapt accordingly. There'd be nothing to stop us staying at the 20,000hl mark if we wanted to. And equally, nothing to stop us rejigging our criteria.

One could argue that the two biggest micros don't need our support and we shouldn't be wasting resources promoting them. I disagree, but it's a point one could make.