You may recall the baffling sticker-led campaign against tasty McGargles, Waterford-based independent craft brewers.
Bibi writes:
Above is the background to the McGargles story in The Phoenix….Molson eh? *starts printing more stickers*
FIGHT!
Previously: McGarglesGate
Meanwhile…
This afternoon.
Sligo’s White Hag Brewery stand At the Craft Beer Festival, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Paul Mullin writes:
Here’s our Brewer, Joe Kearns, serving our ‘coffee rocket’ courtesy of Cloud Picker Coffee…
Sponsored Link
Almost like they met at work where they loved beer and then left to make beer and then brought in people who had worked in beer before.
Yeah, it’s hard to understand why they had to get people on board with experience in the beer industry.
And the part about them making money! Surely they know that craft beer is just about making good beer and not about making money.
“McGargles” Really? That’s the brand that they came up with?
They have put most of their effort into marketing and it seems to have paid off. Very cynical outfit.
Are their beers any good?
nothing tastes as good as begrudgery
Not really, have tried most of their range. I.P.A. the most drinkable.
The IPA is alright.
IPA is turning into the Budweiser of craft beers though.
: (
Probably not suiting the local palate then; London has me spoilt.
True mani. All sorts of pissy ipa’s out there.
ISn’t that a good thing?
They’ve a four pack taster out at the moment Jeremy. But that’s in Dunnes so that’s two pickets lines.
It’s not bad and it’s an alright price. I’ll pick up a four pack of stout if I’m in the Lidl already and it’s a Friday evening.
Alright.
Not my cup of tea, but easy to drink.
Damn fine.
very course. and theyre strong too, 6.5% .. which is a bit much
Do we all stop drinking Franciscan Well now as they are actually owned by Molson now?
Yes, but only because their beers are manky.
Most of us never started.
This is important.
Why would a company do some sort of snakey under-the-table establishment of a craft beer company in the manner suggested (“You guessed it!!! Amn’t I smart. Ah now.”) when they just went out an bought a different flipping craft beer company??
This is all feckin nonsense.
Exactly. This is conspiracy theory carry-on. “It’s actually brewed by ALIENS!”
Some people seem to be under the impression that craft brewers should be amateurs. It should be fairly obvious to the average beer drinker that good beer is not all that easy to make. Where else are you going to have learned the skills to run a commercially viable brewery other than in the big breweries that exist in this country?
Also, why would it be an issue if it became wildly successful as a result of its quality as a craft beer? Microbrew doesn’t seem to be the selling point, rather that it’s “craft”, however you want to define it. Are smaller breweries with possibly inferior products really going to complain that the success of one company is adversely affecting them? If so, the craft beer industry needs some serious shaking up.
I won a tour of the Rye River Brewery. It was a working brewery. They make beer there, just the few of them. Do you need to have learned to brew in your shed to be a craft brewer? Are they less craft because they learned how to do it at Molson Coors, and in the brewmaster’s case, Guinness?
Ah, the Craft Beer War – I could feel the armies mobilising….
Small = good, large & successful = bad.
Just shows how much the average Joe desires to be brand-loyal.
Ah the comment that starts with “Ah the”
Woah, meta.
I don’t have time to go through any of this but I just want to say that McGargles tastes like camel urine filtered through a tramps perinium. Only 6.50 a pint in most places too. cya
Since you posted your comment a craft ale bar in shoreditch has already brewed and marketed Camels Ass IPA.
Gluten-free I hope.
The bottles are made from tempered hemp and melted gameboys.
Well we could get that spectacled bearded fella on the street buying “vintage ladders” to become our next sales executive or we could poach that vastly experienced professional from a global beer conglomerate. Hmmmm…
Just another bunch of MBAs whose craft is money, regardless of the product or service they’re selling.
When an industry in invaded by accountants, the original craft is usually devalued and drops in quality.
Clown
Ryder? I barely know’er!
Read the article twice and I don’t see what the problem is.
Does craft beer have to be made for no money in a bathtub using old shampoo bottles in order to be authentic?
Whoever the sad git is that went to the trouble of printing those stickers needs to take a good long look at themselves. Doubly so if they have any affiliation to a rival brand.
this.
i’ll be hitting my local lidl tonight, they’re shifting the last of their bishop’s finger for 2 bucks a pop.
but like finding out that Sony Walkman you owned was really made by Lloydtron
dissapointing & makes me wonder what other layered whitelabelling horsepoo is happening in the drinks game
Bibi sounds like an idiot.
if you haven’t tasted a white hag stout through the coffee rocket, then i tell you now that you have no idea what you’re missing. it is a life-changer, pure and simple.
I officially cannot take any more of this utter dross.
W H O G I V E S A P O O?
If you do, then you might have to take a very hard look at yourself.
Meh…if it tastes good and is reasonably priced I’ll drink it
over on the other side of balanced reporting, and less than 4 clicks away…
http://www.beoir.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11043
2 clicks away even
re the above RDS photo is it possible to get craft beer served to you without the barman having a stupid beard
never, ever trust a clean shaven barman.
That looks like it’s just a regular beard to me.
The phrase ‘first world problem’ has officially been replaced by ‘hipster news report’….
The McGargles brand shoves maudlin family style values down your throat were what you really want shoved down there is beer. It is NOT an old family brewery it’s the old business trying the new tricks. If they didn’t pretend so hard maybe people wouldn’t react in such a way. A complete bunch of pretenders being caught out, one of them actually referred to San Miguel as a good beer because they brew it under license. I love good ale but there is certainly none being made under the ‘McGargles’ brand. Sorry if that offends your sensibilities Mr McGargle, oh yea that’s right there is no MrMcGargles he’s a figment of corporate imagination.
Santa Claus isn’t real either.
They don’t brew San Miguel or Bavaria, they distribute them within Ireland…
True. My qualm however was that they referred to it as good beer. Not what they did with it.
What the hell are you waffling about? You need A beer
Idiot
Your man Lance Armstrong was fond of the aul IPA I believe ‘ oh no wait .
Sounds a bit like Wexford 1798 beer. Mass produced, imported beer, marketed as local.
they have stupid names for the beers. one of them is lethal 6.5%abv.
there are plenty of ‘craft beers’ out there owned by big brewers.
Yes and a lot of them are crap also.
McGargles are Kildare based, not Waterford.
Their Uncle Jim’s Stout is lovely.
Ok fair enough, I haven’t had their stout, their ‘Uncle Knockity Knock Neddy Ned’s Down Home old Fashioned Homestyle Rootin Tootin Family IPA’ or whatever the hell they call it was awful. I was excited buying it but what a disappointment. Don’t take my word for it, 29/100 on RateBeer.com
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/mcgargles-knock-knock-neds-india-pale-ale/240067/
I’ve taken a shine to their red ale. Not that its anything exceptional, but it is very reasonably priced.
Crafty
So no winner of ticket and case of beer then?
This is like if you begin your own start-up tech company and people decided you aren’t a start-up because you worked at Google previously.
Craft beer’s about the brewing process and the taste. If you like it, drink it. If not, whatever, that’s ok too. But what this person is doing to the guys at McGargles is terrible and sad.
I am one of the owners of McGargles.
If you don’t believe we’re independent, come and see us in Kilcock at the brewery.
If you don’t like the beer don’t drink it, if you do, do drink it.
Alan, Tom, Pam and own the business and have pretty much put everything we own on the line to set it up.
Funnily enough, I though it would be a good idea to go and work for a bunch of other companies and get some experience before setting up my own.(Mad Idea, I know)
Molson Coors was one, but I also worked for Nestle and Cadbury……..Actually maybe its a sneaky collaboration between the two chocolate makers to sneak into the craft beer market without anyone knowing.
Really, are you the lost McGargle?
i dont really get it.. are they against mcgargles because theres people with money behind it? in that case stop buying guinness.
What I didn’t like was a) trite ‘family’ branding b) the beer was not that great for my taste. The packaging made some bold claims that I don’t feel were backed up by the taste. I bought the IPA with an open mind and did not rate it. Compared it to say Hurricane IPA or Kinsale IPA it simply was not at the races.
Why I began commenting was that the reaction of the ‘McGargle Family’ at a tiny sticker placed on one of their packs wound me up a little. All these ‘I own the brewery’ and ‘I work so hard’ statements and press releases just seemed a bit tactile to me.
They displayed the sticker like an open wound to social media, who would have actually seen it had they not?
If their beer were as slick as the marketing campaigns there would be nothing to see here. Not really bothered who was backing them, don’t mind that at all really.
I dont really get what BIbi’s problem is. Seems like small minded begrudgery to me. While at the same time repeatedly advertising broadsheets beloved white hag beers!