TOPIC:

"Tube":1x543vid wrote: John Teeling on the radio not 5 minutes ago said:

"The future is in exports. We cannot survive trading amongst ourselves."[/quote:1x543vid]

Nobody in this country is going to seriously argue for staying out of international trade, we've the experience of the 1950s to remind us of the poverty trap that presented. But some goods and services are non-tradeable (think of haircuts for example), and while beer doesn't fall into this category I think this remark is more relevant to a low volume, high value product than whiskey than beer.

"Tube":etynqhzo wrote: There was a time when Galway Hooker got all my beer money. Not so any more. As I have a tendancy to share the love, they only get around 20% of my beer money now. That's an 80% drop in tube revenue for them which could have serious implications.[/quote:etynqhzo]

GH has been and probably will be our biggest seller, desptie the introduction of many more craft beers. This would mean that there are more consumers spending beer money on micro's rather than macro's. I would look at that fact, and the introduction of Irish beers to many more bars recently as a measure of how the Micro's are growing as opposed to saturating a small market for their product.

Our own sales of Irish beer are up on last year, with domestic brands down. This would be due to certain promotions, the consumer becoming more aware of the product due to it's availability around town, Quality and other issue's, the biggest being the desire to spend on a home grown product.

There are many untapped areas in Ireland, and lots of potential consumers, so I dont see any of the micro's attempting to export if they don't need to. If 15 micro's produce 20 kegs per week, making 27,000 pints, I would say it's safe to assume that much much more could be sold throughout the land. I see the day when, even at 80% brewing capacity, that the micro's may still not produce enough for the eventual market share they will control.

How many times have we all walked into a Craft Beer selling bar, and been told, "sorry, all sold out".

"silenus":1sq1e5n4 wrote:
Our own sales of Irish beer are up on last year, with domestic brands down.

[/quote:1sq1e5n4]

Not sure I understand this!!

Surely Irish beer is domestic <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? -->

On a personnal note, before I joined Beoir I spent about zero on beers in off-licenses and zero on craft beers in pubs.

Now I am having to try all sorts of beers - particularly the Irish craft beers. So the industry has grown me from spending zero to several hundred € per annum on their products.

Thanks Beoir!!!!

Hoppy New Beer Year all

Will

&amp;quot;Will_D&amp;quot;:3vpag7yf wrote: Not sure I understand this!!
Surely Irish beer is domestic <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? --> [/quote:3vpag7yf]

The intrade lingo I grew up with referred to "domestic" and "premium" beers. Domestic being all the BUL beers, and premium being imports. I tend to place Irish Craft Beers in the premium section when talking them up so as theres no confusion with macro stuff.

&amp;quot;EoinMag&amp;quot;:3rknez6t wrote: There is no reason that a business cannot make a local market, supply that local market, using local base ingredients and using local labour and keeping money in local economies, based on the sound economic principal that a producer is a real capitalist and not this Keynesian shite that has us where we are today.[/quote:3rknez6t]

Yep, surely that's where a microbrewery has to start, by supplying its local pubs/offos/shops and using local produce and employing locals.

Keeping money in the local economy and then looking to expand to a more national level as it starts to make a name for itself.

And of course, even if Irish micros aren't exporting, they can contribute to consumers spending less on imports.

There should also be a positive effect on tourism. It must benefit tourism if pubs are offering something more than Guinness, Harp, etc for all those tourists who want to enjoy the "Irish pub experience".