Ireland: Irish micro-breweries muscled out of events by multinational giants

An Irish farmer and micro-brewer has warned that exclusive deals between drinks companies and events risk creating a monopoly to the detriment of independent brewers, The Irish Examiner reported on June 3.

In a world where exposure is vital to create a client base, indigenous micro-breweries struggle to get featured at events when competing against multinationals.

Tillage farmer and Ballykilcavan Brewery owner, David Walsh-Kemmis, took to social media explaining that gaining market access has become increasingly difficult with larger companies like Heineken and Diageo securing “partnership arrangements” for events.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he said these arrangements can occur when a company buys into an event and “the event organiser in return gives them exclusivity on beer sales.”

“So these deals then just create a monopoly when it comes to these larger brands who can just muscle in.”

Responding, a Heineken Ireland spokesperson said: “Heineken has been supporting live events in Ireland for decades and has invested millions of euros to support live music, sporting events and local festivals. It is standard practice within the sector that the event operator will offer exclusive pouring rights to sponsors.”

Mr Walsh-Kemmis, who produces approximately 40,000 litres of beer a year across eight products. He uses his own home-grown barley on the family farm in Co Laois, which has been in his family for 13 generations, and gaining access into events to sell or showcase their product would make “an absolutely massive difference.”

Although these partnership arrangements block smaller Irish businesses from gaining access to Irish or Ireland-hosted events, they are perfectly legal.

“It's absolutely perfectly legal… But unfortunately, that's just the way the system is set up that they're allowed to do that,” Mr Walsh-Kemmis explained. “It is completely anti-competitive because it's just the guys with the lots of money can come in and take over an event.”

Mr Walsh-Kemmis explained that if the brewery relied solely on sales, he said his microbrewery “probably would have closed down by now,” but has been kept up and running over the last nine years due to the tourism enterprise they host on the farm, as well as hosting events and selling directly to customers that way, as well as local customer support.

With the farm and brewery based in Laois, the proximity of Electric Picnic is bittersweet for Mr Walsh-Kemmis, who cannot sell any products to festivalgoers at the event due to the festival’s partnership arrangement with Heineken over the last number of years.

“We fully accept that lots of people like drinking big brand beers and that those guys want their marketing and sponsorship and that's fine. I just think there should be some sort of concession to small local businesses to be able to do that,” he explained.

Mr Walsh-Kemmis highlighted that a small stand in an event like Electric Picnic for him or other breweries and small businesses would not greatly impact overall sales for the likes of Heineken, Diageo or other bigger companies.

“These big companies can come in and buy themselves exclusivity, and small companies that are trying to compete with them as best we can just don't get a chance with it.”

Other events which don’t tie themselves into partnership arrangements such as Bloom, Greenfield Festival, Night and Day or Forest Fest have been major opportunities for the likes of Ballykilcavan Brewery when it comes to showcasing products and connecting with customers.

Mr Walsh-Kemmis was able to sell approximately 1,000 pints at Bloom, a major calendar event for the brewery and business. Stipulations of the event, such as price setting, also ensure smaller-scale breweries are on a level playing field with larger ones and don’t lead to undercutting at the event.

Regarding what could be done to help uplift smaller Irish businesses, Mr Walsh-Kemmis says local county councils can’t enforce it, so the change must come from the government in the form of legislation.

“It is a central government thing that you would need legislation effectively in place to say, if you're putting on any sort of an event, there needs to be some sort of provision for smaller companies to be able to get in,” Mr Walsh-Kemmis said.

03 June, 2026