TOPIC:

A friend owns a beautiful cafe-bar in Dublin. For the past year or so, I have been trying to coax him over to the craft side. Like my former self, we is a Heineken drinker, but of late, he has been finding himself in bars that sell craft beer.

The other day, he text me and said he is going to start selling craft beers behind the bar of his fine establishment. Over the next few weeks, we are to sit down with a rake of different beers while we (well, he) decides what to stock. Its very hard for me to be impartial here as I end up in that pub a lot. In the interest of fairness and getting a broad selection of beers into his bar, could you please give me your suggestions. Otherwise I will keep suggesting that he gets Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn IPA, Goose Island etc.

Obviously it would be nice to get some input on what he could expect to sell the most of - it is a business after all.

A pale ale on draught. I'm not fussy about which one: Metalman, Hooker, O'Hara's, Porterhouse -- whatever. It's the style that the craft breweries are still miles ahead of the macros on. But it has to be on draught. Pricing of bottles in the on-trade is almost mind-bogglingly stupid, and there's a tendency to hide them below eye-level, meaning they're less likely to shift. If bottle is the only way, price a half-litre bottle the same as a draught pint.

That's what'll get me in there; €5 bottles of Goose Island IPA won't.

"TheBeerNut":zwldveb4 wrote: That's what'll get me in there; €5 bottles of Goose Island IPA won't.[/quote:zwldveb4]

Yeah to be honest €5 bottles of Goose Island makes me want to go home via the off licence. In terms of 500ml bottles, is it safe to go with O Hara's IPA? What alternatives are there in that size that would sell?

Just as important as what he stocks, is how he tries to sell them.

Knowledge staff and menus describing what the beers actually are to unfamiliar customers will help greatly.

"mikeymoo":1rthwxw7 wrote: What alternatives are there in that size that would sell?[/quote:1rthwxw7]What Weiss said: there's nothing that will sell itself. [i:1rthwxw7]Anything[/i:1rthwxw7] will move if people are encouraged to buy it, if the staff know about it and actively push it. The macros shift because they're heavily marketed by the breweries; the micros require the retailer's input. But in that size of bottled pale ale there's O'Hara's, Hooker, Twisted Hop, Copperhead, and maybe Helvick Gold and Ór.

This is a cafe bar?

Surely he should be selling beer that pairs with his food?

Or do people go in just to drink beer?