Beer in Ireland

Exactly.

 

If I was plotting a holiday for beer in Europe, in no particular order, these would rate higher than Ireland for variety of beer available in pubs/bars.

England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic.

Then I'd consider Sweden and Norway - I'm not doing this based on cost and drinks in Ireland are bloody expensive compared to England anyway !

Ireland would probably hit 13th or 14th for me. Not top 10.

 

The bottom line is that Ireland is starting to get its act together. It has some way to go but our Irish cousins should be commended for what's happening. And FWIW, Wrasslers XXXX is outstanding just as The Green Spot is as good as any whisky/whiskey I have ever had anywhere.

 

Give it a few months until the Urban Tap House is open though

 

I think most BAs would have a top tier like this:

Belgium, Germany & England; Prague, Copenhagen, Amsterdam & Rome.​

After that, it's a toss up.

If you're seeing better variety than is available in Irish pubs in France, Norway, and Austria then, in all seriousness, I'd love some recommendations for those places.

 

Variety in Irish pubs in general is laughable.
Thousands of pubs selling a core range of boring beers, Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp, Fosters etc etc.
Yes - there are some good pubs with a good choice now but largley in the Dublin area plus a few in Cork, Galway and Sligo, after that, aside from some scattered here and there you are likely to hit the afforementioend micros and nothing else.

Now Austria for instance, whilst I have only been 3 times and focussed largely on Vienna and Salzburg, you will find decent bottled beers in many bars - ie respectable Hefeweizen or pils that would knock the socks off your Harps etc. Vienna had many decent brewpubs way way before your Irish beer fan could comprehend anything out of the ordinary or even utter the words 'Porterhouse'. I remember doing a pub crawl in Vienna in '95 which offered around as much then as Dublin does today.

I'm not going to list individual venues but point you to shere numbers.

Visit the other website that sounds like 'straight here' and check out their places directory. As with the beers listed on it the depth is much greater for European countries.

Oslo for instance has about 20 less venues than that for the whole of Ireland! Paris has 20% more venues than Dublin, although I can't speak for Paris having been there once for 3 or 4 hours in the late 90's. You get the picture just browse through. If there's anything that you think is missing for Ireland you know what to do !!!

 

Half of those Oslo listings are supermarkets and Guinness bars!
Paris should have much more than Dublin; it's 10 times the size.
And the top-rated beer store in Vienna has nothing you can't get from drinkstore.ie.

Download an app called BeoirFinder. The scene in Ireland is better than you seem to think.

 

I would be inclined to agree that the variety in Irish pubs is pretty laughable. It has without doubt improved though and at a pretty good rate. Certainly, if you want anything interesting then you really do need to a pub that you know offers a good range. As of late I am happy with the number of these bars I can choose from, however there are still plenty of occasions where I am out with work colleagues or whatever and smithwicks pale ale is about the best I know I am going to get, and frankly that irks me.

For those interested, check out the beer list at the recent Irish Craft Beer & Cider Festival:

http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.com/

The growth is in the list, however it's all well and good seeing and nurturing such growth, but I found for the most part that the offerings were pretty mediocre. Hate to say that but it's true. I think there are certain circles here that are totally blinded in their support for anything Irish. I think that's admirable but it's not helping the breweries. There were beers I tasted that I would be ashamed to release to the public. Too many winging it so to speak.

I'm confident we will get there though

 

There was an infected cask IPA that shouldn't have been served. But I tasted far more good beers than bad.

Yes, the selection in many pubs is still limited, but Ireland has the most pubs per capita in the world. Even a sliver of those serving good beer adds up to more venues than you get in most other countries.

Have I been cheerleading for Ireland in this thread? A bit.
Ireland is far behind Denmark, who started later, and Italy, which is not a beer drinking culture.
But to say that you're better off on a beer holiday in France, where you can drive 100km seeing nothing but Kronenbourg, is just silly.

 

Haha

"a bit"

 

There were plenty of good beers at the festival but I thought there were also plenty of poor offerings. I get the distinct impression that what I am tasting from allot of these new breweries is stuff they have knocked out for the first time. I could be wrong, and if I am then there isn't enough time going in to perfecting their beer. First impressions are really important now with such a great selection of local and international beers. I am all for supporting these breweries but they need to step it up.

There is nothing wrong with cheering for Ireland! We are making excellent progress and there is no chance a better beer holiday would be had in France.

 

Some of them were brewing for the first time: Bru were open about that, with "Lager X" and "Lager Y". Lots of the other breweries are playing it safe in a fairly risk-averse market, I think, and do need to step it up. Fortunately the likes of Brown Paper Bag Project are around to show them how.

The beer holiday thread never really got anywhere because nobody ever defined if it meant local brews, variety, quality, or what. If you find a Belgian beer bar on Crete, does that make it a beer destination? Whatever, glad to let it lie now.

 

Agree wholeheartedly re Brown Paper Bag Project. Have been massively impressed with their beer. I truly hope more will follow suit.

The increase in craft here has been so sharp over the last year or so. I would encourage posters who are basing their opinion on trips they took 5+ years ago to come visit and re-evaluate their opinion.

 

You're now calling the shots with Dublin and not Ireland ...

Dublin I grant you may be on a level with Paris and perhaps even Vienna but we were talking in "Ireland".

France is no great shakes admittedly but there are some fairly interesting pockets, particularly in the North near the Belgian border, towns such as Cassel and the shere size of France simply gives it more options overall than Ireland.

Again Austria - just more stuff and more drinkable stuff at your average bar/pub than is available at the average venue in Ireland.

And yes - you are cheerleading a little OTT but nothing wrong with local pride. I take on board your 100km Kronenberg journey in France but we could plot similar ones in Ireland!

 

*sigh*

But now you're saying "more options overall" "in your average bar".
By that measure, Italy is out - solidly half the country (south of Naples and nearly all of Sicily) is little but Peroni. Even in the North, you're working hard to find craft beer when you can find beer at all.

This has the potential to be an interesting topic but I set the wrong tone (serves me right for posting straight from a beer fest) by just plunking down my list of 10.
Reset with defined criteria and this would be worth spinning off into its own thread, maybe in another forum.

 

Most pubs per capita doesn't add up to "more venues than you get in most other countries" unless you include countries like Uruguay and Bulgaria. My comments were comparing Ireland to other countries with a reputation for serious brewing, and compared with them, Ireland still falls way short. In many peoples minds , Ireland is a great country for beer because they think Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks, etc. are great beers. Most here know better.

 

I beg to differ that most 'know better'. There are countless American BA's on here that are full of praise for the black stuff. Totally sucked up in the romanticism of Guinness that I will never comprehend.

People who think those beers are great beers are the same people in America who think Bud, Miller, Coors etc are great beers. This is a specific demographic of people, you know the ones that make up most of the numbers!

PS - France my arse!

 

True. I should have said "people here should know better".

 

If you can find occasional pubs in Ireland that serve a few decent craft beers, should that make it a beer destination?

 

I don't consider Ireland to be a beer destination at this moment in time, but there are certainly far worse beer destinations around Europe. I think you touched on already that maybe some people associate Ireland as having a rich brewing tradition because of Guinness and the sheer famousness of the brand world wide.

I would think that people supporting Ireland through this thread don't actually believe Ireland is a great beer destination. I think it is more of a case that allot of people have never been exposed to many of our craft beers having been here some years ago. As I said earlier, the increase has been very sharp.