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"nigel_c":2scvdw0c wrote: will you be supplying the rest of the musgrave group? Eurospar , Superquinn, Londis, Mace , Centra? [/quote:2scvdw0c]
Just Supervalu for now. Eurospar, Londis and Mace not part of the Musgrave group. We had been in talks with Superquinn for a long time, which fell asunder when they got into trouble last year but just very recently started up again.

&amp;quot;nigel_c&amp;quot;:2scvdw0c wrote: Great to hear someone standing up to the the big guys. I will be getting my bottles of black rock stout from Mchughs in Kilbarrack regardless of how you supply to.[/quote:2scvdw0c] Aiden will be delighted to hear it! We would prefer to stay with the independent, dedicated craft beer off licenses but, as covered above, we want to be widely available to the greater public too, so outside of the main cities there isn't always an option of a McHugh's-style off license. Appreciate the support though <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Dungarvan Brewing Company&amp;quot;:wap1py3i wrote: Can't speak for the other breweries but we were approached by Tesco and decided not to work with them based on many of the reasons which have been outlined above.[/quote:wap1py3i]

Richard did mention that to me (as well as telling me which of the micros were going with Tescos).

Supervalu I can agree with. At least the profits stay in Ireland and they also are doing a major push into promoting Irish artisan products.

Does that mean Centra too then I wonder.... My only local shop and there is nothing for me to buy when I run out or want something other than what I make myself, as in I have pale ale but want a stout. Be great to pop over the road and get some Black Rock.

I can understand drinkstore being a little worried but I don't think they should. Inevitably if someone get's hooked on good beer from Tesco, they will want to expand their horizons. Once you break that "I only drink...." mentality you really do want to experiment with as much variety as you can get and Tesco will never be able to supply that. That's were the quality off licences like Drinkstore come in. At worst they will see no difference. At best they might see a slight increase in sales from people expanding their horizons.

I do shop in Tesco and buy the odd few bottles of beer sometimes, such as recently deciding €1.99 for O'Hara's stout was a great bargain so grabbed 4.
Tesco made €8 in beer sales off me. Had I gone in to drinkstore I would have spent between €50 to €100 (sometimes more) on interesting stuff.

As a customer of Drinkstore, (I'd say 90% of my off-licence purchases) I will personally still go there for the variety, I mainly drink my Irish micro beers in the pub so this deal wont stop me visiting my local independent off-licience.

The benefits to the consumer will be very good but the big supermarket chains tend to be very bad to their suppliers.

All and all it will create a lot more awareness for Irish craft beers and should grow the industry and hopefully not put too much pressure on any of our existing breweries.

I'll have to walk down the beer isle in Tesco now to see what's happening, I've not been wandering through there recently.

I think it's good. I buy Carlow's stout and ales in Aldi for €1.79, they cost €3 in the craft beer offy in Maynooth. I'd love to buy more craft beer from them but sometimes I really can't justify the price, especially when the bigger craft beer offys in Dublin do decent deals all the time (although the Maynooth one is starting to do 4for€10 deals now).

There might be a certain romanticism with going to an independent off license and chatting with the staff about the beer but if I'm just looking to buy some of my usual favourites I'm going to look for the cheapest price.

As others said too, it can be a nightmare finding craft beer if you don't live in one of the big towns/cities.

People are always discussing the Superquinn beer offers, is Tesco much different?

Superquinn have a much better selection than Tesco. Much better. They used to do 6 for €12, but now they do 6 for the price of 5. Most beers are €2.49+ so it really depends on what you buy.

I frequent Superquinn in Lucan occasionally but an O'Brien's has opened in the same complex (I enquired about that unit before and the rent+rates were over €100k pa <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: --> ) who have a very good selection. Prices are a wee bit higher than Superquinn (see rent+rates comment for a partial explanation), but they have stuff like Nøgne Ø.