E-Malt.com News article: Ireland: Ireland’s 60-70 craft brewers now hold 1.2% of the market

For most people, knowledge of Irish beer begins and ends with Guinness.

Seamus O’Hara is trying to change that a pint at a time, The Toronto Star reported on July 30.

As chairman of the Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland, O’Hara has his work cut out for him in a country where one out of every three beers sold is a pint of Guinness. It’s work he’s been doing since founding based Carlow Brewing in 2006.

“People thought I was completely insane,” said O’Hara, who was in Toronto this past weekend with a small vanguard of his fellow Irish craft brewers for the Toronto Festival of Beer.

When he founded Carlow, there were “about 10” independent breweries in Ireland. Today, there are between 60 and 70. Roughly 50 of them have their own brewing facilities (the rest make their beer on contract at other breweries). Despite the growth, craft beer holds just 1.2 per cent of the Irish market, says O’Hara.

“We’re not going to take over from Guinness,” O’Hara chuckled.

While some smaller Irish craft breweries push the envelope with bolder styles more common to the North American craft brewing scene, O’Hara and many others take a more traditional approach.

“The vast majority of what we do is meant for the Irish pub drinker. Which means it’s something that you can go and have a pint or two or even four. So things like double IPAs or Imperial Stouts, there really aren’t quite as many,” said O’Hara, referring to two rather boozy, bold styles.

That means plenty of decent red ales and porters. And yes, there are some very fine stouts, too.

“We’re Irish. We have a feel for making a stout,” said O’Hara.


31 July, 2015