Craft Brewing In Ireland

Originally Posted - Monday, June 7, 2010

The reason for the lack of updates is that I have been in Ireland the last two weeks. One of the most notable things in all the pubs we have visited is that none have any craft brew. Even more interesting is that Budweiser and Coors Light are incredibly popular with the locals. In fact, we learned that Budweiser actually outsold Guinness a few years ago.

Craft brewing in Ireland is very, very small, mostly in the brewpub format. Whenever I bring up craft brewing with an Irish person, they always mention that they don't think the 4.5 million population could support any craft breweries. Then I consider Fort Collins, a town of about 130 thousand supporting several craft breweries. Given how popular craft brewing is in the United States, I think a population of 4.5 million could easily support a few craft breweries.

-Brad