TOPIC:

[color=olive:10sv2539]Hello Irish beerlovers.


Seen the fact that this forum exists, I've been wondering...

Do you know about EBCU - the European Beer Consumers Union?

We have representative organisations in many European countries - not necessarily the EU, for that matter!

Check out our organisations so far on:
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="www.ebcu.org/">www.ebcu.org/

We have been trying to get an organisation from Eire for so long - without any success so far.

The British CAMRA tried as well, but initially, their aims were maybe a tad to paternalistic... Not anymore, as the other organisations made clear they wouldn't have any patronizing.

Are there not enough people here who could do the thing. I know (I've personally been at the start of both OBP (Belgian consumers' organisation, founding member of EBCU, and EBCU itself) - it takes a lot of work and involvement... All the same...

JustwonderingJoris[/color:10sv2539]

There's definitely a need for such an organisation, and perhaps in the future when things are better established here it might come about. I think the establishment of this forum is a huge step forward in itself, and hopefully things will develop in the future.

Certainly interesting and something to consider. ICB as a loose affiliation of beer lovers is still fairly small, but it [i:fyqcjfjg]may[/i:fyqcjfjg] be a beginning. When we started this off we didn't intend getting "political" like CAMRA, and I think the traditions here compared to the UK and probably the rest of Europe are slightly different. I often feel that we don't really have anything left to protect, but we [i:fyqcjfjg]do[/i:fyqcjfjg] have a lot to nurture in the form of the first and second waves of small craft breweries.

ICB is more a meeting point for like-minded individuals and is not an organisation as such (any organising of events and meets is purely ad-hoc, and the only other organisation is Séan and me putting this thing together), so going that extra step would require considerable work to do the job right in my mind. If a job is worth doing it's worth doing well <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

I think this is a conversation for the pub <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Any chance of getting that manifesto as a pdf? I can't read the graphic[/url:fyqcjfjg]on the site.

Thanks for giving us some food for thought though Joris!

[quote:3bosoqbf]I often feel that we don't really have anything left to protect, but we do have a lot to nurture in the form of the first and second waves of small craft breweries[/quote:3bosoqbf]
[color=olive:3bosoqbf]Exactly the same as the Netherlands (PINT), Denmark (Danske Ølenthusiaster)... which doesn't make it any less important.
Politics are not our cup of tea - sorry, beer. Beer is.
This posting was a 100% private initiative. But I will relay this to the EBCU - group on Yahoo. Don't be surprised Terry Lock, Laurent Mousson or Torben Steenberg appear here one day.
I'm afraid I cannot help with the pdf- format, but they might.
Slaínte, Joris[/color:3bosoqbf]

Ladies, gentlemen,

Joris rung the alarm bell and here comes the EBCU brigade ! <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->
Our chairman, Terry Lock, just started a thread next to this one, I thought I'd rather follow up here.

I'm Laurent Mousson, vice-chair of EBCU, a french-speaking Swiss, originally a delagate from Swiss beer consumers group ABO ([u:1tg1ofpp]www.abo-ch.org[/u:1tg1ofpp]). I've been in EBCU circles for nine years now, and have had the pleasure of visiting most of beery Europe that way, and I'd love to have such an excuse to come to Eire.

The question of different traditions in every country is indeed one of the great things about EBCU dealings. With delegates from countries as different beerwise as Italy, Poland, Denmark or Belgium discussing issues, respect for different brewing cultures and traditions is a fundamental principle of EBCU. There'a consensus that no beer tradition is intrisically superior, but that beer should be good and tasty, whatever the country or style.

Looking forward to many an interesting discussion down here, and to get to know more about the Irish Craft Brewing scene ( I still mourn the passing of Dwans, whose Ruby Rich blew my socks off the day I tasted it eight years or so ago)

Cheers !

Laurent

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:1a7bcsz6 wrote: I think this is a conversation for the pub <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->[/quote:1a7bcsz6]

Ohhh yes it is ! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:1a7bcsz6 wrote: Any chance of getting that manifesto as a pdf? I can't read the graphic[/url:1a7bcsz6]on the site.[/quote:1a7bcsz6]

Yes, there's a - quite large - .pdf here : [u:1a7bcsz6]files.bierig.org/EBCU_manifesto.pdf[/u:1a7bcsz6]

Regarding politics, well, EBCU is non-partisan, but the minute you start discussing legislation on beer duty or on competition (which I understand is an issue in Eire with micros having trouble getting their beers to the market since most pubs are tied to one of the big three), you end up having to speak to politicians and taking positions that may be seen as political. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

But beer is a strong cement, leftists, centrist, rightists, anarchist, agnostics, protestants, catholics, Vikings, Saxons, Latins, Slavs, we at EBCU get on fine regardless of our differences, thanks to our common passion for beer.

Cheers !

Laurent