Supporting craft breweries

wexdevil

Bought the Boxstravaganza box yesterday and was quite surprised that a €10 promo code work so it ended up only being €95

but1er

Just finished the 8 degree devils level. What a beer 11.5%

Bass Reeves

Lidl had an Irish craft Cider in stock last years. It came in dry and medium dry AFAIR. The dry had a yellow label and the medium a greenish label. They do not seem to stock it any longer. I think it was called Crafty.

Any body know who manufacturer it for th and if it for sale under the brewery brand. The Dry version was a really nice drink

irish_goat

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Lidl had an Irish craft Cider in stock last years. It came in dry and medium dry AFAIR. The dry had a yellow label and the medium a greenish label. They do not seem to stock it any longer. I think it was called Crafty.

Any body know who manufacturer it for th and if it for sale under the brewery brand. The Dry version was a really nice drink

Made by Armagh Cider Company. They're sold under the names Maddens and Carsons up north and also make the Doyle's brand of cider.

BeerNut

Aldi still has them, under the "Armagh Craft Cider" brand.

Pen Rua

adrian522 wrote: »

Not sure about Waterford bit if you are in Kilkenny the Wine Centre is worth a look.

Thanks for this tip, I popped in earlier today. Left with a back pack full of bottles, way more than I planned to pick up!

In Kilkenny, so felt obliged to try some of the Sullivans stuff, though we are going there for dinner whilst we're here.

But to my absolute joy, they had both the new imperial stout by GBB (which Bradleys got 12 cans of, and sold out of it immediately) AND a solitary bottle of the 2020 release of 200 Fathoms. Happily took both off their shelves. They also had several bottle of GBB's Boulevardier (collab with Browar Stu Mostów) but I left those behind, figured I would be better off spending my money on the 200 Fathoms to age longer rather the Boulevardier. However, if someone says I should age the latter for longer I may change my mind...

They also happened to have some bottles of 12 Acres & DOT Brew's Barrel Aged Imperial Rye. Label gives a BB of Dec 2020 so I'm guessing this has been sitting there for some time? Label tells me it's been aged in a blend of Irish single malt, bourbon, ex-amarone ex-whiskey barrels as well as a mix between American & French oak. I'll pretend that means something to me. :pac: When was this first released would anyone know?

flended12

flended12 wrote: »

Gents, Ladies and other...

Weather supposed to be nice this weekend, meeting with a friend to enjoy some beers.

What say you for a sunny evening and potential BBQ. No sours or similar.

The beers maybe followed by some black barrell.

So pleasant few days had sipping on sessions of varying brewers.... I also made some lovely moscow mules with alchoholic Ginger beer and bitters. My jaysus I had a great night!

BeerNut

Pen Rua wrote: »

When was this first released would anyone know?

November 2019.

but1er

flended12 wrote: »

So pleasant few days had sipping on sessions of varying brewers.... I also made some lovely moscow mules with alchoholic Ginger beer and bitters. My jaysus I had a great night!

anything stand out?

flended12

but1er wrote: »

anything stand out?

Hope Hop On
O Brother Dream Catcher
Yellow belly Pirate bay

Pirate bay is a very cloying beer for a session IPA.

L1011

Brewdog - not that they'd meet the definition of craft anymore - have found themselves with a PR disaster of the highest levels. And the first statement out (to shareholders) suggests they're going to try fight it rather than accept anything.... may need to direct them to the White Hag School of Brewery Crisis Management for a lesson in what to actually do.

Zaph

L1011 wrote: »

Brewdog - not that they'd meet the definition of craft anymore - have found themselves with a PR disaster of the highest levels. And the first statement out (to shareholders) suggests they're going to try fight it rather than accept anything.... may need to direct them to the White Hag School of Brewery Crisis Management for a lesson in what to actually do.

Hadn't heard about it so went to have a look on Twitter. One comment on the company's reply summed it up perfectly - when you're in a hole, stop digging.

What have actually done?

youcancallmeal

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

What have actually done?

Took me a while to find it but here it is: https://twitter.com/punkswpurpose/status/1402724680637747200

There must be some specifics preceding that open letter though. All I can see there is ‘crappy place to work’ and ‘tells lies when marketing’. You’d be hard pushed to find a company doesn’t do the latter and there’s plenty of the former out there too. Was someone assaulted or something that led up to all this?

Hodors Appletart

Someone (or some group) have had it in for BrewDog for a while. I don't doubt that some of the claims are based in reality, but none of that is very specific and is all generic complaints about almost any medium to large corporation imo.

I still believe BD to be craft, but I think they've hugely blanded-down their offerings in the last few years so I don't really buy them any more. There are dozens of better UK Craft breweries than them right now.

feylya

This is all coming from BritishBeerGirl and ratmagnet's Instagram stories, where people have anonymously sent in stories of sexual and racial abuse and harrassment in breweries over the years, in the US, UK, and beyond. A lot of breweries have replied, and gone "Yup, we ****ed up. The CEO/founder/whoever is now out of the day to day business, and here's what we're doing". Others have not

Macy0161

It was interesting on the New Brew podcast the discussion as to what is craft beer. Brew Dog, and O'Hara's and Rye River, maybe "craft", but not really "Micro". Then you have some of the other Micro breweries that are owned by MNC, even if it is supposedly completely hands off.

I just try to buy Irish, and try to prioritise Micro, but still find it hard to beat "Nanny State" as non-alcoholic option.

Hodors Appletart

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I don't consider either to be craft/micro any more, but that's my own thing. I don't buy them much, certainly will only drink Fran Well if Chieftain is the only draft IPA in a place for example, I might buy the odd 8 Degrees special or whatever

Twee.

Firing 4 staff members and the reason being "culture change" was one pretty big thing recently? https://vinepair.com/booze-news/brewdog-lgbtq-discrimination-allegations/

irish_goat

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I'd not call Porterhouse "global". They have a bar in New York but their distribution wouldn't be that big otherwise. Until recently they barely sold their beer outside of their own pubs. Not sure on Porterhouse's ownership but O'Haras are owned by 33% by a Spanish brewery and Rye River are (I believe) partly owned by the State now.

Beanstalk

I think the worst thing about reading that letter was the obvious lack of specifics in it due to the fear of legal action. What a horrible culture.

BeerNut

irish_goat wrote: »

Not sure on Porterhouse's ownership

It has the most labyrinthine corporate structure I've ever seen but afaik everything comes back to Elliot, Liam and Dave.

Macy0161

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

You can't compare any Irish Brewery to BrewDog really, and I'm really surprised that you've picked out O'Hara's and Rye River, and not the global brand that is Porterhouse.

Up until recently I always found Porterhouse quite hard to get tbh, compared to O'Hara's/O'Shea's or McGargles/ Crafty/ Solas/ Grafters. My nearest Supervalu doesn't carry them, or the nearest independent off licence.

Some of my favourite beers are O'Hara's and Rye River so it wasn't meant as a slight tbh, just the scale of production. They're definitely not "micro"

Brú/ White Hag/ Porterhouse going into Lidl, and Porterhouse and Kinnegar into Tesco (Trouble Brewing and O'Brother in there years already). It's breweries trying to grow, which ultimately has to be good for the sustainability? It also gives them the space/ finance for the smaller batch brews.

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

Which Irish brands are owned by MNC? Are you talking about Fran Well and/or 8 Degrees?

I don't consider either to be craft/micro any more, but that's my own thing. I don't buy them much, certainly will only drink Fran Well if Chieftain is the only draft IPA in a place for example, I might buy the odd 8 Degrees special or whatever

Well it was more 8 degrees I was thinking about. I think it's more marginal than Fran Well/ Coors, but I tend to confine myself to the specials now. Although I have to be honest, that's partly driven by the bump in price they've had in tesco.

Don't forget brewdog fired all their Irish staff before lockdown. Shambles of a company, basically weatherspoons with an edge.

youcancallmeal

Reed Shy Crown83 wrote: »

Don't forget brewdog fired all their Irish staff before lockdown. Shambles of a company, basically weatherspoons with an edge.

More like weatherspoons with better marketing. Your average punter who has a good opinion of Brewdog will more than likely not hear about layoffs and this current controversy. The 'enthusiast' craft beer drinker will hear about this but probably won't stop most from purchasing Brewdog beers and visiting their bars

baconsarnie

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Took me a while to find it but here it is: https://twitter.com/punkswpurpose/status/1402724680637747200

Fairly sickening stuff and sadly not too surprising.



The open letter mentions their trigger happy lawyers- have they form for this sort of thing?

feylya

baconsarnie wrote: »

Fairly sickening stuff and sadly not too surprising.



The open letter mentions their trigger happy lawyers- have they form for this sort of thing?

Occasionally

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/28/brewdog-lawsuit-bar-punk-brewer-pub
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/brewdog-backs-down-lone-wolf-pub-trademark-dispute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrewDog#Controversies

baconsarnie

feylya wrote: »

Occasionally

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/28/brewdog-lawsuit-bar-punk-brewer-pub
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/brewdog-backs-down-lone-wolf-pub-trademark-dispute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrewDog#Controversies

Cheers. For the last few years I've tended to skip over any mention of BD in the media assuming it was some "zany" PR scam.