TOPIC:

A copy of Drinks Industry Ireland (October 2007) has come my way. There is not a whole lot of interest in it as far as ICB members would be concerned. But one or two snippets caught my eye;

"With the exception of certain pubs, Diageo Ireland's Brewhouse Series has been discontinued. The St James's Gate Brewery decided to pull the plug on the Series after poor sales figures were returned by the participating pubs"

Oh Dear!

"Diageo Ireland may be planning to follow up its Guinness Mid-Strength with another Mid-Strength brand, Carlsberg"

It's a revolution, I tell you!

And near the back pages: the sad tale of "Below Cost Selling puts Eurobeers into liquidation"
Barry Fitzgerald is quoted as saying: "I feel it's time for the Government to step in. They think it's good for the consumer but as it is now, there's a lot less choice than there was a month ago". We won't be holding our breath on the Government sorting this out. I hope things work out for Barry Fitz.

Just on your last point, I saw this[/url:15l9yert]. I had heard though that Barry was already back in business as an importer selling on to wholesalers, but that may be just rumour.

"DrJohn":9wikryt0 wrote: "With the exception of certain pubs, Diageo Ireland's Brewhouse Series has been discontinued."[/quote:9wikryt0]Interesting. I wonder what that means. Arrogantly, I shall assume that said pubs will be here in Dublin. But does this mean the series will continue there, or that we're stuck with North Star for ever?

More questions than answers. Damn you, Uncle Arthur!

Probably means that only a few pubs (i.e. the ones where the stuff actually sold a bit) will be outlets to get rid of whatever stockpile Guinness have built up. <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->

I haven't tried Northstar actually. The last time I tried was in one of my locals (Rosie O'Grady's in Harolds Cross) where I saw the tap and asked for one, but they said they didn't have it as it wasn't selling.

Can't say I'll miss the brewhouse series a great deal. I'd like to see Diageo bring out a decent stout with niche appeal. It might well work for them if they targeted the right sectors.

&amp;quot;Hendrixcat&amp;quot;:12iiedy6 wrote: Can't say I'll miss the brewhouse series a great deal. I'd like to see Diageo bring out a decent stout with niche appeal. It might well work for them if they targeted the right sectors.[/quote:12iiedy6]I'd like to see Diageo do a lot of things, but [i:12iiedy6]anything[/i:12iiedy6] pitched at the same market as Draught Guinness which isn't Draught Guinness is progress to me. It's not parole, but at least the chains are a teeny bit looser.