Category: Front Page

Written and Researched by Ron Pattinson

The Irish brewing industry

Unless you’ve spent the last 50 years in a sealed concrete bunker, you’ll be aware of Guinness’s dominance of the Irish brewing scene. Their last Dublin rival (Findlaters) closed in 1949 and by the mid-1960’s they had rounded up the last few stray ale breweries.

The only challenge to total control was in Cork, where the tied house system of Murphy’s and Beamish & Crawford kept Guinness at bay, at least for a while.

Under pressure from their own landlords (who wanted to sell Guinness), the Cork brewers gave up their tied houses in the 1970’s. They soon ran into trouble and were snapped up by foreign globalists, eager to own an “Irish stout” brand. Their stouts are now often easier to find abroad than in their native country.

The micro revolution

Ireland is one of the last of the traditional brewing nations of Europe to undergo a microbrewery boom. The stranglehold of Guinness on the licensed trade has surely played a role in suppressing new brewery startups. In 2005 progressive beer duty was due to be introduced. It should proivide a boost to the fledgling micro industry.

There was a brief flirtation with Dublin-brewed real ale in the early 1980’s (Dempsey’s and Harty’s), but neither lasted very long. It wasn’t until the 1990’s with the Biddy Early brewpub that anyone dared try again. A steady trickle of new brewpubs and micros has continued since, though they are still of minor significance in terms of volume (45,000 hl to Guinness’s 5.2 million hl). The lack of a sliding scale of duty is seen as a major obstacle to new breweries entering the market.

The story in Northern Ireland has been much the same, where Bass and Guinness have long enjoyed a duopoly. Hilden, Ireland’s oldest microbrewery (founded 1981) has survived rather than prospered. The long absence of cask-conditioned beer and the lack of proper cellars in many bars has not helped their cause. Whitewater joined them in 1996. A couple of other micros and a brewpub came and quickly disappeared again in the 1980’s. All the new brewereies have produced cask-conditioned beer on a regular basis.

Ireland now has more breweries than at any time since the early 1920’s. This is how the 20 active breweries (16 in the Irish Republic, 4 in Northern Ireland) can be classified:

Irish beer styles

Ireland is famous for one style of beer: stout. Originating in 18th century London, porter became immensely popular in Ireland around 1800. Eventually Dublin ousted London as porter capital and by 1900 Irish brewers were exporting huge quantities to England. The extent of this trade can be deduced from the statistics for UK beer imports: with the independence of the Irish Republic these increased from around 50,000 barrels (82,000 hl) a year to 1,500,000 barrels (2,455,000 hl).

Guinness pioneered mixed-gas dispense (carbon dioxide and nitrogen) in the early 1960’s. Today it’s widely used for serving both draught stout and ale. The older system of serving draught stout involved two barrels behind the bar. Each glass was first filled about two-thirds with old, relatively flat beer from the lower cask (“low stout”). It was topped up with lively, young beer from a smaller cask on a high shelf (“high stout”).

Modern stout is a mere shadow of its pre-WW I self. The classic porter strength – from the early 18th century up until 1900 – was around 1056º. Stout was a minimum of 1060º.

If you want to get an idea of old-fashioned Irish stout, try Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. It’s the closest approximation you’ll find today. You’ll notice that in 1840 Guinness Extra Stout was stronger than the current FES.

The picture to the left can be bought as a poster from popartuk.com

This text provided is only a small “fair use” excerpt from Ron’s site. His site has a lot of production figures, stats on the breweries and more history, more on current trends. Highly recommended. If you want to read more, please click…

HERE

 

 

Written by Sal Emma for BYO Magazine

The Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland, is a time machine. Cobblestone streets link the gray stone and red brick buildings — narrow thoroughfares where draft horses once clopped their way around the sprawling complex, hauling malt, hops, kegs, and men from job to job, batch to batch.

Today, diesel trucks and forklifts ply these time-worn paths of stone. Rubber tires roll over the iron tracks of the brewery’s narrow-gauge steam railway system, built in the late 1700s to supplant horse-drawn transport.

The brewery complex is a tapestry of old and new. Guinness brewers oversee 21st century computer-automated brewing in the shadow of Arthur Guinness’ original brewery and residence, for which he invested £100 (about $150 today) of inherited funds in 1759.

Guinness made a real estate deal that would make any modern businessman jealous: a 9,000-year lease at £45 per year, with water rights included.

Of course, at the time £45 was nothing to sneeze at. And the property was nothing to brag about. Only four acres, it was small, already 90 years old and broken down. It had been sitting idle for nearly 10 years when Guinness made his deal for one of dozens of nondescript breweries in Dublin’s industrial quarter, known as the Liberties. Located at St. James Gate, one of the gates in the old wall surrounding Dublin, the brewery Guinness bought consisted of a copper, a mash/lauter tun, two malt houses, a mill, stables for 12 horses, and a loft that could hold 200 tons of hay.

Guinness was an ale man. Ale was the true King of Beers in those days, and Guinness went about producing ale for Dublin. Later, a newfangled style caught his attention: porter from England.

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Note: Killian’s is a Miller/Coors product- PGA

(Chicago, IL) – To celebrate its Irish roots this St. Patrick’s Day, George Killian’s Irish Red is giving beer drinkers a chance to win a trip to the birthplace of the famous red lager. The popular pub beer invites legal-drinking-age consumers to raise a glass and take a shot at winning one of five trips to Ireland, where they’ll have a chance to enjoy a beer with Killian Lett, the great-great-great-great grandson of the beer’s creator, and other members of his family in their favorite pub.

“I had the opportunity to experience my first St. Patrick’s Day in America last March, and now I’m thrilled to be able to introduce our hometown to the lucky winners,” said 26-year-old Killian Lett. “My family is looking forward to showing beer drinkers how to have an authentic St. Patrick’s Day in the true spirit of George Killian’s Irish Red.”

Those ages 21 and up (void in CA) can enter the sweepstakes now through March 31 with an official entry code featured on specially marked packaging or a keyword on other promotional materials.
Continue reading “Killian’s Irish Red: Contest for Free Trip to Ireland”

Written by Matthew Daneman for the Democrat and Chronicle

The first sip from a fresh pint of Rogers Pale Ale hits the back of the tongue with a strong, hoppy punch.

A beer aficionado working in sales for CAR Engineering and Manufacturing, a Victor tool and die company, Al Rogers went into the beer business with his wife, Lauren, in late 2010. Their pale ale is permanently on tap at Lento Restaurant at Village Gate and has made rotations of taps at a variety of establishments around the Rochester region.

“I wanted my own business, and I love beer,” said Rogers, 31, of Penfield.

And the Rochester region is seemingly learning to love local craft beers.

Want to read more? Click…

HERE

Written by Bob Townsend for the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Seasonal beers have been a part of brewing science and tradition for centuries. Think Christmas ale or May Bock. But to say one-off and specialty series products are the big thing in craft brewing right now would be a crazy understatement, as craft breweries release new and never-to-be-seen-again beers at a dizzying rate.

In Georgia, Athens’ Terrapin was an early instigator of the specialty beer game, starting with the Monster Beer Tour, featuring hefty seasonals such as Big Hoppy Monster. The Side Project series, begun in 2008, recently reached Volume 14 with Tomfoolery Black Saison.

Last year, Terrapin produced four beers in its Georgia Theatre Sessions series, plus the most recent Midnight Project collaboration with Left Hand Brewing and the annual Reunion beer for cancer research.
Continue reading “Beer Town: Limited Edition Beers are Fun Stuff”

Written by Greg Kitsock for The Washington Post

The gloves are off for Beer Madness, our annual tasteoff to determine the nation’s top brew. Last year, we went global in honor of the Olympics. This year, with a postProhibition record of more than 1,700 breweries perating in the United States, we doubled the field from 32 to 64 and decided to celebrate the glories of American craft brews. All 64 breweries represented meet the Brewers Association’s exacting standard of craft.” They’re small (even Boston Beer Co., with its 2 million barrels a year output, is a guppy compared with such barracudas as AnheuserBusch and MillerCoors). They’re independent (not specialty divisions of large corporate brewers). They’re traditional (no corn or rice adjuncts were used to water down these beers for the timid). By carefully rationing samples and spreading our tastings over two days, we were able to admit stronger styles that we had barred in the past out of sympathy for our livers.

 

Want to read more? Click…

HERE