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I don't think the picture does anyone any favours but I know friends of mine wouldn't consider going to a festival if they saw a picture of sandal wearing beardies in shorts enjoying some nice ale. In fact I'd be offended by that. That's not to say said picture would entice them either.

This is a bag of worms that won't be solved here so close it up and get back to the beer!

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"rossa":2viioky2 wrote: I don't think the picture does anyone any favours but I know friends of mine wouldn't consider going to a festival if they saw a [b:2viioky2]picture of sandal wearing beardies in shorts enjoying some nice ale.[/b:2viioky2] In fact I'd be offended by that. That's not to say said picture would entice them either.

This is a bag of worms that won't be solved here so close it up and get back to the beer!

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk[/quote:2viioky2]

I'm offended. I wear a beard, enjoy wearing shorts and sandals when the weather allows. What is the correct potrayal of beer and beer drinkers? BeerNut is right when he says that the photos do nothing forthe image or cause of craft beer. Neither do the obsessed. The people who speak of beer and brewing from dawn 'til dusk. Beer is there to be enjoyed by all at whet ever level they choose. Evangelical lectures about yeast types is as off putting as beards, sandals and dolly birds.

"rossa":2by8xc57 wrote: a picture of sandal wearing beardies[/quote:2by8xc57]More straw men! At least the crows won't be troubling us...

"rossa":1wwaps28 wrote: friends of mine wouldn't consider going to a festival if they saw a picture of sandal wearing beardies in shorts enjoying some nice ale. [/quote:1wwaps28]

This is, in fact, a good point. If you compare the total over-riding view of general folk about home brewing or micro brewing in the UK versus the States or Australia you see that our trade actually has an image problem. We might think and act like the international brigade of brewers, but in the eyes of the public at large, we're tainted by the British view of small scale brewers as "sandal wearing beardies".

I've been to brewers meetings in the UK where a room full of 50 plus, socks'n'sandles beardies have poo-pooed everything that is not traditional English.. which is fine, they are doing a great job at preserving something which needs preserving. The only problem is that this is the image that translates to the general public. People like Stuart Howe from Sharps are doing their bit to change this image but it’s an uphill struggle.

Together, we would need to make sure at this early stage in building the craft 'brand' as a whole in Ireland, that we get away from the all of the stale old imagery (which could be sandaled beardies or could be paddy-whackery) and look to what is new and what is working in other parts of the world. I know this is the effort most certainly being sought today amongst brewers in Ireland, but it needs to be a concerted one.

People are bored, they are also a bit broke (both financially and mentally). They need to feel that they are moving away from the past and moving forward with something new and exciting and also something they can rely on (that's where the quality aspect is very important - not to be confused with 'consistency' as the macros wrongly believed it to mean).

Finally, if you think a couple of coleens dressed up as sexy Irish dancers is a bad way to market craft beer, then take a look at this :

[url:1wwaps28]http://www.brewersguardian.com/brewing-features/british/1122.html[/url:1wwaps28]

Mick

Or indeed this[/url:2pwqc6a2].

"TheBeerNut":5lyp1saz wrote:

"rossa":5lyp1saz wrote: a picture of sandal wearing beardies[/quote:5lyp1saz]More straw men! At least the crows won't be troubling us...[/quote:5lyp1saz]

I think that's a false dichotomy rather than a straw man <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->