Supporting craft breweries

One more tap to Diageo is one less tap to the craft breweries, who are already jostling for position on a very limited number of taps. It will start with Guinness, then it will be Hop House, then Heineken/Molton Coors will come knocking with they're free kegs etc. Craft houses offering 10-12 craft taps atm could very soon only be offering 5 or 6.

Rather than accommodating macro drinkers, we should be encouraging them to be a bit more adventurous and try something new, and most of all, support local independent breweries.

That sounds a bit arrogant I think. A Guinness customer’s money is as good as an O’Haras customers money. I think you catch a lot more flies with honey so having the macro tap in a place brings in groups where a number won’t be all at sea. Plus tge lad drinking Guinness every night MyFitnessPal try something different if he sees it being ordered a lot. Also we’re on a craft beer forum here so we all have more than a passing interest in non macro beer. I think the average punter isn’t that interested and I’d also say many are still drinking the same 2-3 beers they started on back in the day. A guy who usually drinks Heineken might be easily swayed by a Western Herd lager for instance. As an aside, I wonder how people actually drink Heineken. IMHO it tastes vile! In the end, if you’re not independently food or drink curious, you might end up surprised by a beer you try KN a craft pub just because you were in with a few lads and started on the Guinness.

Thing is they just won't try something else they will just go somewhere else.

There are people who will boycott a pub if they have to switch from Heineken to Carlsberg or because the pub uses the newer type of Guinness glass.

Sounds like I would love it other than the fact I absolutely hate when pubs have stated written rules.

The only written rule is "no stag parties and no groups of 6 or more".

It's best to have that written at the door. It saves arguments.

You have a much better chance of trying to get someone to try something new after you have them sitting down drinking rather than after they have walked out the door because you don't have Guinness.

And it doesn't mean 1 tap less if you just make the macro put in a new tap for their beer.

Most bars only have so much room for taps (remember you've a finite space for the taps, lines, keg storage, etc. - it's not just one keg of whatever in the cellar, it's going to be several), so often putting in a Diageo or Heineken tap means having to take out one of your own or a rotation tap.

I'm lucky in that most of my friends are also into craft beer (and the couple that aren't are happy as long as there's some kind of lager on tap, they're fine with a Helles or a pils). I've been with friends who are entertaining visitors to Ireland, and those visitors want Guinness (because marketing) - even when there's very similar alternatives available, like Brú stout. I've been sat at the bar in Brewdock when it's not been too busy, and heard the "No, we don't do Guinness - we brew our own, here, try a taster..." patter 3 or 4 times over the time I've had 2 pints. They must have gotten right sick of having to do that 20 times a day - and they don't have time to do it when it's busy.

I'd much prefer not capitulating to the macro breweries, but I can understand why it happens.

Talking of choice, in related news, it'd be great if I could be guaranteed a decent west coast IPA in the non-GBB craft pubs. I'm well over cloudy, opaque NEIPAs!

Yeah rightly or wrongly Guinness have been tacked onto the Irish identity in the sane way as having a curry the UK or a pizza in Italy. I don’t begrudge tourists wanting to try Guinness. It’s their holiday and they’ve saved up to come so why shouldn’t they. I think in that case as a host I’d bring them somewhere they could fill their boots with Guinness and then if they were interested they could try some of our craft stuff. I actually really dislike the photo op each time a VIP shows up of them having a pint of Guinness. We don’t peer Diageo a bit at this stage. We should be actively discouraging it. Diageo have a plenty big marketing budget as is without a bit if free publicity.

Ironically enough, it's the "tourist" pubs that do food in my village that have/ had the local beers. The pub with the best line up was specifically after the tourist market (it's in the process of changing hands to be even more food orientated), and told me it was requests that lead to them going from 1 tap, to 2, to 4! The two "locals" don't have a tap. Now whether that's because by the time they've made it to Wicklow they've moved on from Guinness, or the "Wicklow" marketing of Wicklow Wolf and Wicklow Brewery I don't know.

Whatever about touristy pubs, it really gets my goat when I stay in a hotel and all I can get in their bar is Heineken or Diageo - especially when the hotel isn't necessarily part of a chain and markets itself as local/traditional/"Irish welcome", all that malarkey. Like, staying in the Gold Coast Resort hotel in Dungarvan earlier this year, and they didn't even have a bottle of Helvick available, never mind a single tap, and the Dungarvan brewery just down the road! It seems to vary by county - Galway, especially, seems very craft friendly, and Mayo wasn't bad at all. Dublin? Meh.

The 5 or 6 lager thing in Ireland is gas but it all comes down to someone being "a Heineken man" or "a bud man". In the UK it's usually a choice of 2 or 3 between house or premium and there is way more variety between sites so all you can be is "a lager man"

I assume your local is a tap room or something related to one which is pretty odd as a local I would say.

Nope, it an independent little bar, 60km from the brewery.

I don't go out in Dublin often enough, but there's a couple of "famous" pubs that are all macro, with the diageo fakes like the citra ipa. Was at a function in the shelbourne and pleasantly surprised to find Rye River on tap though

Yes, went to the big hotel in Enniscrone a couple of years ago and nothing available tap or bottle! Reel Deel just down the road, as well as the two sligo options. (Reel Deel available in the pubs though!)

If you look down through the forum, you should find the thread dedicated to low/no alcohol beers. I've had the one from Kinnegar and liked it. But I usually go for non Irish ones, as I think they taste better.