Introduction: All Ireland Beer Survey 1981-2014

This study originally carried out as part of an academic publication spatially and quantitatively tracks the development of micro-breweries in Ireland from the early 80's to the year 2014. This study presents the reader with a geography of micro-breweries in Ireland that will show the location and quantity of breweries in Ireland as well as the styles on offer.

Due to working full-time I was not able to finish the study in time for the original deadline, so I will publish and discuss it here- in what I hope will be a more accessible and flexible format.

There are omissions which I have tried to explain, there will be mistakes found over time and I hope we can end up with a common database that can be added to and developed!

Introduction

Ireland is an interesting case due to the dramatic changes the country underwent with a rapidly rising economy and then a rapidly declining economy along with two important tax rebates for micro-breweries producing under 20,000 hectolitres in 2005 and a recent increase in the threshold to 30,000 hectorlitres in 2015.

The size of Ireland allows for a rather concise and complete study of this type with a total of 70 brewing brands accounted for since the 1980's. We will refer the companies as brewing brands rather than breweries or brewers as some have their beer contract brewed in Ireland. The Island has been through a similar experience to the UK and other nations in that the micro-brewery scene has at first suffered from the dominance of global brewing conglomerates with the 90's facing stagnation as start-ups come and go and growth in the 00's.

 The total breweries that sufficient data was collected on the island of Ireland is shown in Fig 1, from the earliest recorded entry 1981, where only 1 brewery is recorded, to the end of this surveys time-scape 2014 where 36 breweries were recorded.

Fig 2 shows the level of beers in production over time starting with 1 in 1981 and ending with 135 in 2014.

I will try to update this project weekly, next time dealing with the body of data I have collected and what amount of that was complete enough to analyse. 

Adnams Brewery Review

At the Brewery

Disclaimer: I have had a lovely visit to the brewery and had every question I asked answered, I am also proud to be selling their beers where I work.

Adnams is superficially an unassuming seaside brewery on the East coast of England. Much of its branding is quaint; lighthouses, tall-ships, sailors and clam shells- it is bad poetry old men write on deck chairs.

Their core range is, as a rule, very satisfying. Their Broadside a dark ale, has just enough fruity punch to carry the malt and if you are lucky a pleasant hoppiness will come through, their Southwold Bitter, when in good form is effortlessly drinkable- with a delicate and nourishing mineralism and a fresh sea air saltiness that you'd only expect advertising to lie about. Aside from these they offer 3 other mainline beers with a hoppy focus. Fat Sprat, an amber, and Ghost Ship, a luminously pale ale. They share a moderate fruitiness and spicy hoppines as well as naff names. Their Wild Hop Amber is also notable, the green hops are almost buttery but quickly off set by a tobacco spice bitterness.

View from the Brewery

These hits aren't without their misses, with beers like Explorer, Gunhill and Topaz Gold being lesser versions of beers already being made by Adnams. Those beers at least show that Adnams is very capable of being any other mediocre English brewery when it wants to.

The real gem, though not necessarily the heart of Adnams is its Jack Brand range. The contemporary ingredients and styles of this range are well grounded by the otherwise traditional characteristics of the brewery. The Innovation IPA shows what the big modern American style IPA could be if those brewing this style allowed you to taste the hops. The Mosaic Pale Ale offers all the freshness and tropical fruitiness you would expect tamed by a 4.1% ABV and crisp finish. Their 1659 Smoked Ruby Ale is the most drinkable smoked beer I have drank, though that is not saying a lot. It has a distinct bitterness that clears its well measured smokiness. On the butt of the Jack Brand range is their Crystal Rye IPA and Dry-Hopped Lager. The former is agreeable in itself but the hops are somewhat lost in the rye, though its freshness and bitterness are enjoyable. The latter is an attempt to give those stuck for lager a way to look sophisticated or an attempt to make an unremarkable lager that people will buy expecting to enjoy a degree of dry hopping.

Jack Branding

Jack Branding

The brewery is well set, in that it's classic range will be maintained by its Jack Brand range and due to its classic range its Jack Brand range will perceiver after the current craft balloon bursts. Adnams successful branching out into whiskeys, gins, vodkas and other spirits and liquors show a sustained thirst for quality. Their embrace of green technology and waste reduction is admirable and convincing and all reasonable misanthropy aside it is something beer drinkers need to start appreciating.

Distillation Columns

Whiskey

Mini Stills

Southwold is an idyllic seaside town, the brewery and adjunct distillery are sophisticated works of art surrounded by easy going pubs and shops incessant with walked in sand, that bang and shake with the wind like boats. It combines childhood notions of a holiday with the existential anxiety we all enjoy and that Morrisey vocalised- though it still holds enough honest charm that no one sings “come, come nuclear bomb”.