Tandleman's Beer Blog: Ireland

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Irish Supping Less in Recession

I spotted this and thought it worth sharing, as it seems to contradict experience here a little bit.

Irish pubs have reported a 20% plunge in pub draught sales in November, said the Herald newspaper on December, 15. Industry experts are describing the crisis as "meltdown" for the market, which has seen an even bigger drop in the sale of bottle and canned beer - at 25%

This follows drops of 8% for draught beer and 10% for canned beer the previous month. Internal statistics compiled by the country’s biggest brewers shows only cheaper brands are holding steady as consumer spending wanes. Sources predicted the financial pressure of the sales slump will lead more pubs to close or go into examinership. (Whatever that is!)

For the year so far, beer sales are down 5%. However, the rate of the fall accelerated as consumer confidence plummeted in the face of recession. Pubs and shops are finding it hardest to sell premium brands as drinkers face a leaner Christmas and prepare for the predicted financial woes of the new year. Cheaper drinks such as Bavaria, Tuborg and Dutch Gold are maintaining their sales figures.

So it seems that even supermarkets in Ireland are struggling to sell beer, but not the cheap stuff. It is interesting that pub sales fell less than canned and bottled sales.

Any lessons for us in the UK there?

Monday, 21 July 2008

Irish Cask Beer at GBBF

Some of you may know that for a week each year, I work at the Bières Sans Frontières (BSF) the foreign beer bar of the Great British Beer Festival. I'll be there again this year. We have our own website and it gives details of the delightful beers on offer in 2008. In addition to various American cask ales, from far nearer home, comes ten, yes ten cask ales from Ireland. I am looking forward very much to trying Galway Hooker, having read about its charm in the pages of the Beer Nut. In addition there will be beers from Franciscan Well (3), Messrs Maguire (3), Carlow (2) and Porterhouse Brewing (1).

Our beloved leader writes that normally you have to go to Ireland to sample them. I suspect to find them in cask form, like Irish directions, you wouldn't start from there. All the more reason to get down to Earls Court.

Have a look at the website. It may well make you think "why don't I just hole up at BSF for the festival?" Why not indeed?

The Great British Beer Festival is at Earls Court, London from 5-9 August 2008

Welcome

A bit of a CV. Tandleman is a veteran beer lover, local CAMRA Chairman and activist, beer writer, beer reviewer and pursuer of all things good in beer. He lives in the North West of England and London. Despite his CAMRA membership, he does not limit himself to cask conditioned beer, though he believes that cask conditioning, when done correctly and appropriately, brings a quality to beer that is hard to equal by any other kind of presentation. He is a strong supporter of Northern methods of beer dispense and avidly detests poorly presented beer and dislikes pasteurisation. He regularly visits Germany, has conducted corporate British and German beer tastings for CAMRA at the Great British Beer Festival where he has worked for years on Biere Sans Frontieres and was Deputy Organiser at CAMRA's very successful National Winter Ales Festival in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and at the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival from 2013 to date. He admires good brewers wherever they are and has travelled extensively in pursuit of good beer to drink. He also judges beer at both the International Beer Challenge and the World Beer Awards.

This blog mentions specifics; pubs and beer, good and bad. The opinions will be forthright, but you can always disagree, just don't be offended. Comments from those mentioned are particularly welcome and a right of reply is hereby offered.