Supporting craft breweries

Black Sheep

BeerNut wrote: »

That could be difficult as I don't think Buckfast is aged in barrels. Elixir in Scotland makes a Scotch Ale with added Buckfast, and it's really good.

Ok, how about first we do barrel aged Buckfast... I’m thinking we call it Buckslow.

Macy0161

Buckfast Beer has already been done - Yellowbelly x King Kong Company collaboration a few years ago, complete with Boxhead on the label, called Commotion Lotion.

youcancallmeal

Macy0161 wrote: »

Buckfast Beer has already been done - Yellowbelly x King Kong Company collaboration a few years ago, complete with Boxhead on the label, called Commotion Lotion.

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

prionnsias

prionnsias wrote: »

Just had one of the white hag salted caramel pastry stout, it would hardly be called a beer, sweet as hell. They do have a lot of nice beers but too many novelty beers

I poured both that and the Black forest one a couple of weeks ago. Nice for a sip or two but imo a full can is undrinkable.

The shamrock shake went the same way. Utterly vile.

MonkstownHoop

They got the salted caramel in my local last year and served it by the pint! And it was delicious and I had 4!

Macy0161

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

I got nutthin from it... It was ok, it was a lager, with berries and bucky. I'd probably be more inclined towards lagers now than when I had it, even if lagers still aren't high in preference.

Passenger

Just received my Yards & Crafts delivery. Impressively packaged and also included a little hand-written note of gratitude.

ciaran76

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

Wasnt too bad actually.

MidlanderMan

youcancallmeal wrote: »

That's a great name, wonder was it any good

It was ****e.

Basq

Just having a can of Festa Nuda from White Hag.

It's one of my favourites from them they did in a small batch a year or so back.

It's delish!

Insect Overlord

Basq wrote: »

Just having a can of Festa Nuda from White Hag.

It's one of my favourites from them they did in a small batch a year or so back.

It's delish!

I've ordered a growler of the stuff for the weekend. Not cheap, but it's a big weekend for us here so it'll be worth it!

Hotblack Desiato

White Hag - 24x 440mL Atlanteans for €72, it's currently out of stock, but at €3 a can compared to my local offy at €3.50 a can, it was a no-brainer. I ordered last Sunday evening, delivered Tuesday morning, in their very robust but 100% recyclable packaging. And it was dodgy pastry stout and St. Patrick's day schizz - free

PWEI

Do all the craft breweries in Ireland use 440 ml cans?

I recently spend €3:75 each for some YellowBelly Citra Pale cans and was disappointed when I got home to discover they were 440 ml cans.
I don't mind spending €3 to €4 to support small craft breweries but expect at least to get them in a 500ml bottle or can.

L1011

PWEI wrote: »

Do all the craft breweries in Ireland use 440 ml cans?

I recently spend €3:75 each for some YellowBelly Citra Pale cans and was disappointed when I got home to discover they were 440 ml cans.
I don't mind spending €3 to €4 to support small craft breweries but expect at least to get them in a 500ml bottle or can.

Some either solely, or additionally, use 330s. I'm not aware of anyone using 500s.

Only craft brand I can think of that use 500s occasionally is Brewdog actually. There'll be others I don't know.

Plenty still do 500ml bottles in addition to their cans - Kinnegar, Trouble (though I'm seeing those less and less), Rye River.

PWEI

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty still do 500ml bottles in addition to their cans - Kinnegar, Trouble (though I'm seeing those less and less), Rye River.

Yes I'm seeing less and less also.

One of my favourite breweries Western Herd Beer Brewery have start selling mainly 440ml cans instead of the 500ml bottles that they used only do which is very disappointing. I think its very short sighted as I for one won't buy
440ml cans and actually prefer beer in bottles also.

Pen Rua

The brewer from Reel Deel did a podcast with Irish Beer Snob and they touch on cans. The brewer mentions they had a high rate of returns for cases of bottles, with a much lower rate when it came to cans.

I would suggest the huge shift to online selling (Craft Central et al) might also have something to do with the increased prevalence of cans (i.e., brewers who previously bottled now moving to more cans).

Plus, I think there's been mention of a crowd that will can the beer for you; the brewer doesn't need the capital outlay for that machinery in the short term.

matrim

I had pivoted away from bottles to cans in Ireland because of the hassle of recycling bottles.

I'm now in the UK where bottles can go in the recycling bin and am much more likely to pick up bottls than I would have been back home. But I still end up buying more cans than bottles.

L1011

The online element could be quite important. Most of the online stores only carry cans; and often have packaging specifically for 440ml cans.

Couriering glass bottles is asking for a huge break rate, cans are much more resistant to bad handling.


The is-glass-better-than-aluminium-for-the-environment thing is very much up in the air as we don't have a glass bottle works in Ireland anymore - even though the company that Irish Glass Bottle became (Ardagh) are still Irish-ish and huge in that sector. Alu is cheaper to transport and when neither the production or recycling is done domestically that's important.

Most of the things about glass being better enivronmentally than X are talking about Tetrapak, squeezy plastic bottles or whatever - not cans.

Diageo at least market researched a Tetrapak-style packaging of Carlsberg for festivals a few years ago - I think its probably best for everyone that nobody else looks in to that!

Macy0161

O'Haras also predominantly still 500ml bottles.

I'm pretty sure that several breweries have mentioned in the virtual beer festivals that the move to cans was because of online sales. Definitely St Mel's as to why they went cans for that range, despite Liam preferring beer in bottles - and core range never went bottles (or slow burner)

Just before lockdown, I did the Wicklow Wolf tour, and they said part of their reasoning was that cans are more environmentally friendly. And that the beer keeps better.

I'm over the loss of 60ml per unit at this stage to be honest. 440ml cabs fit in the fridge better (stand up in the "salad" drawer), and are easier to recycle. I'd rather be "done" out 60ml than drink macro muck.

L1011

The salad drawer is for slowly rotting bell peppers that we repeatedly buy despite not actually cooking with them in this house :pac:

I don’t mind 440 either, but I do usually buy bottles in person just to get the ones I miss out on with online orders. 330ml can do one though.

Pen Rua

The Reel Deel brewer also commented where you could fit X bottles in a retail fridge, you can fit X+1 cans. Retailers seem to have a preference for cans for this reason also.

I’m indifferent between cans & bottles in general, since my household waste provider gives us a glass bin bottle (EDIT: glass bottle bin!!) and collects ~bimonthly.

But as someone mentioned already, I can fit more cans standing up in the vegetable/ crisper drawer whereas the bottles have to be shoved in sideways. Tiny fridge.

BeerNut

There are a few breweries whose bottling set-ups were little more than homebrew-grade and produced dreadful packaged beer as a result. Switching to contract canning where a professional is watching the dissolved-oxygen content has improved the quality of their beer hugely.

Black Donkey seems to have taken it on themselves to be the anti-can voice of Irish brewing, though I'd say it'll be a cold day in hell before The Brewery Formerly Known As White Gypsy considers it also. Both know their market and have impeccable bottled product, so more power to them.

Hotblack Desiato

Interesting that White Hag fill their cans pretty much as far as possible, they say this is to reduce oxygen in the can, couldn't they purge the cans with CO2 instead?

Not complaining though as it means I get a few mls extra beer and it's not like I leave the stuff lying around for months anyway

irish_goat

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Interesting that White Hag fill their cans pretty much as far as possible, they say this is to reduce oxygen in the can, couldn't they purge the cans with CO2 instead?

It's not that simple for cans unless you have a closed system. The gas at the top will invariably mix with the air on the way to the seamer (which might not be right beside the filling section). Best practice is to try and fill well and close on good foam.

Dillonb3

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Basq

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

They'd a 24 pack on their site and was tempted but didn't buy in the end.

Sold out now: https://www.thewhitehag.com/product/festa-nuda/

DrZeuss

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Have to agree, I never got it the first time around and going by the hype I've seen I didn't want to miss out so grabbed a few cans, 1 more incoming from the Clann box too I believe. So delicious and initially doesn't feel it's 9%, loads of coffee there.

DrZeuss

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Finally got a can of the White Hag Festa Nuda, wish I ordered more it's delicious

Basq wrote: »

They'd a 24 pack on their site and was tempted but didn't buy in the end.

Sold out now: https://www.thewhitehag.com/product/festa-nuda/

Back in stock on their site now in case you were still looking for some.

L1011

Local SuperValu, since the X for Y offers ended, are selling 500ml bottles of Kinnegar for 4c more than 440ml cans - only a small overlap between the rangers they offer, but tonights Rustbuckets were back to bottle for me

Scraggy Bay was on a direct promotion (still legit) in cans so it was better value then.