Spoons give Heineken a kick

[Qs]

Surely Wexford is a big enough town for you to go all craft and still get people in. I know here in Wicklow when a craft bar opened it was one of the most popular spots in town. Helped that they played good music and had the right staff and atmosphere. Sometimes you have to let go of the 5 old guys at the bar to get a new crowd in.

And obviously you know you're own business better than I can so I don't mean you personally Oh Crap. Just in general I've seen to many pubs afraid to take a risk and it's often what holds them back. Even my own beloved local has gone to shit because of fear of losing the auld lads.

[Padraich]

The direction this discussion is going in is really interesting.

I'm lucky in that even though I only got out a few times last year in Tullamore there are a few places that all have craft taps in. The Copper Pot Still, Bus Bar, Wolftrap and Hugh Lynch's I'm certain have craft on with (as some of you know) Wolftrap having a very good selection.  Might be more, but not 100% as the days of being a regular anywhere have passed. And I'm going to manage a few in the Brew Dock after work tomorrow so that's something to look forward to.

The funny thing though is that I made a winter beer (in another thread) but I know most of my family won't even consider it, so I did a muntons mexican cerveza (which is really really dark for what I expected) for swmbo and a Christmas party we host every year.

The point I'm making is that most towns / pubs aren't at the point of going craft only yet. I still remember my first time in the Porterhouse (when there was only one) asking for something like Corona and not liking what I got - now I can't understand how my brother won't consider anything with more bite than Tiger or Cobra (pardon the pun).

There is hope though - if we consider the growth in our home brew community, and all the bottles we give to mates and colleagues then the pool accepting of HB & craft is growing.  In the meantime, Oh Crap, I hope you keep making a good profit/wage; and the thieving publicans go wallop. If you send me a direct message of your pubs name, I'll drop in for a pint of craft if I'm ever passing!

And on the original thread, just saw this: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/heineken-keeps-poker-face-despite-wetherspoon-blowback-1.2033442

[Oh Crap]

The real issue is getting people to TRY different beers
Here's a trick I used on those that "stuck with what they know"
Put a half a glass of guiness, smithwicks, hino and craft of choice on the bar and challange them to taste all and see what is what...easy? Of course BUT blindfold them and do it and 99.9% cannot tell the difference, so much so that I gave many of them the same drink each time... The deal is then to drink "that quear stuff" for the next 2 pints. It gets them talking about it and next time they'll try it again

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The opposite argument is also true, if they can't tell the difference why would they bother to change and be charged a premium for a product which tastes the same?

[Oh Crap]

The opposite argument is also true, if they can't tell the difference why would they bother to change and be charged a premium for a product which tastes the same?

Their not being charges a premium, as I said earlier craft beer is the same price as lager...

[DEMPSEY]

Things will not change overnight. This is a hearts and minds war that will continue on and on. The big 2 got to control matters because they understand this all too well and they are clearly worried that it is now being used against them. Social media amd discussions like this is how they are losing ground. Most craft beer drinkers are young and as time moves on the young get older and so carry the war with them with more young coming up behind. What I do see in the future is an evolving beer market with craft brewers having to innovate OK for us as we just have to watch but not so for some brewers who will not survive.

[Greg2013]

Bloody hell that's cheaper than a pint of Guinness in my local(not that i frequent it).See this is what i would like to see,reasonable prices for proper craft beer and two fingers to Diageo and Heineken etc.

[Qs]

What I do see in the future is an evolving beer market with craft brewers having to innovate OK for us as we just have to watch but not so for some brewers who will not survive.

Thats natural though. There are so many opening now its obvious some of them have to fail. And thats fine, the best beer will win out. Not every brewery deserves to exist.

[DEMPSEY]

Not so much the best beers to survive but the best run business will.

[Qs]

Well probably a bit of both. And then even if the best beer breweries close the best run business will hire their head brewer

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Got to be honest lads at times there's a lot of craft beer snobbery going on, if punters prefer Guinness, Heineken etc that's their prerogative. Whatever people may think of their owners, the beers have a long history and are produced to the highest quality by professionally trained brewers using best practices. When I look at Qs's latest post in "It's Friday Night...." The same can't be said for many of the craft beers currently being produced. I was bitterly disappointed at the RDS the year before last at the poor quality of some of the beers on offer, to the extent that I won't be rushing back. I enjoy diversity in taste in beer and particularly enjoy cask ales but don't feel the need to push my tastes onto others. I'm delighted to see the craft beer movement  develop, but feel at times that enthusiasm alone is not enough and that charging people a premium for a product    which at a number of levels may be inferior to the existing competition. It may well not be inferior but I'm afraid that the correct checks and balances are not in place first to prevent infection, but that the emphasis is more around unusual ingredient combinations.

[Rossa]

Got to be honest lads at times there's a lot of craft beer snobbery going on, if punters prefer Guinness, Heineken etc that's their prerogative. Whatever people may think of their owners, the beers have a long history and are produced to the highest quality by professionally trained brewers using best practices. When I look at Qs's latest post in "It's Friday Night...." The same can't be said for many of the craft beers currently being produced. I was bitterly disappointed at the RDS the year before last at the poor quality of some of the beers on offer, to the extent that I won't be rushing back. I enjoy diversity in taste in beer and particularly enjoy cask ales but don't feel the need to push my tastes onto others. I'm delighted to see the craft beer movement  develop, but feel at times that enthusiasm alone is not enough and that charging people a premium for a product    which at a number of levels may be inferior to the existing competition. It may well not be inferior but I'm afraid that the correct checks and balances are not in place first to prevent infection, but that the emphasis is more around unusual ingredient combinations.

Good points. There is a beer for everyone these days and although we are at a turning point in our choice of Irish beer brewery size certainly does not infer quality.
Maybe the smaller guys feel they have to add other ingredients to stand out in an ever increasing market. I do wonder to many do extensive research and pilot batches or just go straight to go and brew on a wing and a prayer...

Getting back to H. The H we get here is a poor relation of its original Dutch form and it's a real shame.

[Qs]

I wonder how much gets dumped from Irish craft breweries. I've also said before that there is a real problem with price vs quality on a lot of the Irish stuff. I paid €4 for a bottle of Wicklow Wolf Porter yesterday and it was a decent beer but it wasn't an amazing beer. For €4 a bottle I expect brilliant beer. Especially when I can get a great porters like Founders and Fullers for €3 or less.

[molc]

It's a free market and now we have decent choice. With choice comes a range of quality, irregardless of price. We as consumers use our buying power to weed out the good from the bad. I'll happily have bought a few poor beers in exchange for having so many options as we do now.
That said, I have always tended to but more of the American and UK craft beers as I've just found them to be a superior product. Irish craft is def getting there but there is still quite a lot of variance in quality. Couple that with the fact that the domestic product is about the same price as something that is shipped from another continent and you know they are charging too much.

[Qs]

Oh yeah but part of being a consumer with a lot of choice means talking to other people who know about beer and sharing our findings.