Scarlets game is on Good Friday

[Leinsterman]

So we all come supplied with tins of Harp then?

[fungalboy]

Quite a few people in this country like a brew that uses rosted barley as an adjunct to give it a very dark colour and a pleasing dry bitterness.

Our amercian friends are quite fond of a "lager" that uses rice as an adjunct to give a very "light" crisp taste.

BTW I'm not trying to be a "Beer Snob" here, the best advice I could give somebody is if you find a drink you like you should stick to it no matter what people (inc. me) may say about it. Each to their own...

What you have to bear in mind is that the brew in this country you refer to uses barley, and I thought it was actually roasted malted barley too so that is not an adjunct.
The Irish brew does indeed use roasted barley (unmalted) as does the most popular Irish ale. Harp you will be pleased to note is an all malt lager
American beers are best left in America - why drink Budweiser when the Czech version is infinitely better?
As for Budweiser Vs Budvar I'm happy to say that they are completely different beers with very different brewing processes. Both are good beers (although neither is a favourite of mine) but they are very distinct from one and other. To me the only things they share are similar sounding names and a love of suing each other in various world markets.
I agree with you that people should find a beer that like to drink and stick with it but they should not be influenced by the marketing hype of the multinational super brewers that are only interested in selling yellow fizz thats cheap to make, easy to store and can be sold at great profit.
People will always be influenced by marketing, that's why it exists. However people should be encouraged/educated to understand that no opinon is wrong. It is foolish to berate a particular beer, be that "yellow fizz" or "real" ale, if the people who drink it enjoy it (I know I have slagged off Dutch Gold already but you have to have a laugh every now and then ).

Big companies dominate most profitable markets, that is a function of modern business. At the end of the day people need to be able to make their own minds about what they want to put past their lips so choice and education are the key things. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how to drive these in the right direction (Wine seems to have some kind of patent on "appreciation" or education, how do we get some of that enthusiam into beer?).
I'm sure that we can agree that good beer is one of the the Earth's greatest gifts.Finally I am 100% behind you: Beer is truly a gift from god.

[Oscar]

Our amercian friends are quite fond of a "lager" that uses rice as an adjunct to give a very "light" crisp taste.

They don't drink it for the taste. They know right well that it's piss, but after 3 or 4 you tend to not notice the difference in taste so much, and at $3 a pint compared to $5 for a decent micro-brew, you'd notice the difference in price a lot more. They drink the crappy beers because they're cheap over there.

Why on earth people pay over the odds for that much here, I have no idea.

[Flash Gordon]

Our amercian friends are quite fond of a "lager" that uses rice as an adjunct to give a very "light" crisp taste.

They don't drink it for the taste. They know right well that it's piss, but after 3 or 4 you tend to not notice the difference in taste so much, and at $3 a pint compared to $5 for a decent micro-brew, you'd notice the difference in price a lot more. They drink the crappy beers because they're cheap over there.

Why on earth people pay over the odds for that much here, I have no idea.

Nevada Pale Ale is one of the best beers in the world according to noted beer book writer Roger Protz.....and I'd be quite partial to the odd Brooklyn Lager or Sam Adams. Not bad stuff. Not bad at all......

[Uncle Mort]

Unfortunately in Ireland the beer battle has long been lost - although what with the revival across in the UK there are the first offshoots of a beer revival here - the Porterhouse chain seem to be the leaders in this and they brew a proper real ale - TSB - although for some reason they chose to use NZ hops. It's interesting what you say about wine - it does have that cachet about it - and it can cost huge sums of money. Beer too is of the place that makes it - we here and in the UK drink ales and porters and on the continent lagers are more to the fore - Belgium is an interesting exception as it brews a huge range of beers and has maintained the tradition that used to be prevail in most places of Monastic brewing. I'm all for drinking the beer that is local to the place, in the UK this can be done as a largish number of traditional independent brewers have survived and their is a new range of micro brewers. This has largely come about because in the early 70s some very far thinking men (probably with bellies and beards) could see what was happening in the brewing industry with the likes of yellow euro-fizz and Double Diamond, Worthington E, Whitbread Big Head Trophy Bitter and Watney's Red Barrel and got together and founded Camra - the Campaign for Real Ale - which has been the most successful consumer pressure group ever. If you like beer and want to try a huge range get yourself to the Great British Beer Festival normally held in Olympia in early August each year.

For what it's worth and that's probably nothing my top three favourites can be found at

http://www.wadworth.co.uk
http://www.hooknortonbrewery.co.uk
http://www.woodfordes.co.uk

[Flash Gordon]

Unclue Mort, there are now more drinking occasions in the home than in the pub in Ireland, and the range of choice for at home drinking is outstanding. Redmonds of Ranelagh for example do 100's of excellent beers from around the world (there's a great place in Stoney Batter too....."Drink Store"??, and most off licences now have foreign beer sections. The influx of mainland European and English immigrants means there is a market for different and more diverse choice.

[Uncle Mort]

Unclue Mort, there are no more drinking occasions in the home than in the pub in Ireland, and the range of choice for at home drinking is outstanding. Redmonds of Ranelagh for example do 100's of excellent beers from around the world (there's a great place in Stoney Batter too....."Drink Store"??, and most off licences now have foreign beer sections. The influx of mainland European and English immigrants means there is a market for different and more diverse choice.

I take your point about the influx of foriegn beers and I accpet that many are good quality. My point though is about local production of proper beer that is widely available - to this end the battle is lost. Now as you say there is a big influx of people into the country and they are wanting beers they know from home and this need is being serviced. What will then happen is that the likes of ourselves will try these and so the demand will grow. But as you say it will probably only be a home market.

[Flash Gordon]

Yep, its regrettable, but the fact is that the vast majority of Irish consumers prefer beers like Budweiser or Heineken....

Hopefully vibrant niche markets will continue to create interest and diversity within the category.

[jezzer]

Mort,

There's only one villain in the story of how we lost all our domestic brewers and ended up all drinking McPiss and his name is Arthur. They ruthlessly squeezed every local and niche player out of the market - basically blackmailing publicans into dropping other brewery taps and labels.

It was a bit short-sighted, because a discerning, locally-developed taste for beer would have helped repel the Heinos, Carlsbergs, Carlings and Fosters of the world that have eaten into Guinness's share so much.

of course, now they're buying into all these euro brands - tyskie which is a lovely Polish brew is distributed by Arthur's lot, as are a whole host of others.

Legislation and protection to help revive microbreweries would be a brilliant move, but it's not PC enough and probably too interventionist to register on the political radar.

[Uncle Mort]

But we can hope that with the influx of aliens the taste for things more adventurous will develop. Things are happening - you can get sauerkraut in Supervalu now !!

Too true too that blame lies at Arthur's feet. I remeber which I made the obligatory trip to the Storehouse reading the sad words about "the masterstroke" when he stopped making other beers and made just porter!! Sad day indeed.

Like all things - variety is what is required