Business and Finance

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The Real Thing Micro-breweries are hoping to achieve big sales with their Irish-style beers. The rise of the micro-brewery is not the 90s global phenomenon that we Irish mistakenly believe. The micro-brewery is a well-established feature in the big drinking markets of the US and Europe where small independent brewers compete with the global major players. The difference in Ireland is that it's only now we are realising that Irish beer doesn't have to mean the likes of Guinness and Murphy's.

It was while working in New York that Kieran Finnerty recognised the potential of setting up a micro-brewery here. The result is The Dublin Brewing Company which he formed in late 1996.

"We decided on Dublin even though it had the biggest risks attached, because it also offered the biggest gains. It's a capital city and one famous for brewing beer although it only had one brewery. Also Guinness had nothing to gain from crushing us because we had no market share, so we had everything to gain," says Finnerty.

The immediate ingredients were crucial: money, location - "somewhere old in the centre of town to create an image," and a master brewer - someone who could actually make the beer. Each was secured and from its North King Street premises The Dublin Brewing Company set about assembling a brand.

"We decided on what beers we wanted to produce and took it from there. There was no test marketing as such. If we didn't want to drink them there would be no point in us making them. We've never tried to reach the lowest common denominator; we're more niche orientated," says Finnerty.

The company has identified the export market as one where big opportunities lie. Playing on Ireland's beery reputation and the lack of a genuine Irish beer, it sells into foreign markets.

"The whole local brewing thing is new to Ireland but not to foreigners. The UK, US and European markets are awash with so-called Irish beers. They1re Irish-style beers but not the genuine article. Irish beer is big business abroad. The only reason why the fake stuff is selling is because there's no alternative. "Product of Ireland" on the label means more than an Irish-style beer. Why do people want to drink Heineken? Because it's bottled exclusively in Holland. And that's enough for a one-off purchase. After than it comes down to quality.

"The characteristics of the city that a beer is brewed in play a part. Dublin water is recognised globally as one of the best for making beer. Around 97% of any beer is water. Add to that the way the beer is made. Our beers are all natural with no food dyes or e-numbers," he says.

The company's range of beers and ales - including Beckett's Golden Ale, Maeve's Wheat Beer and D'Arcy's Stout - clocked up a turnover of nearly £500,000 last year which is set to double by the year end.

The Dublin Brewering Company sells its beer on draught in around 50 Dublin pubs as well as selling the bottled product in multiples nationwide. However, the draught beer is confined to the Irish market.

"Draught is too costly for us to export. We just couldn't compete. You look at someone like Miller launching Hudson Blue in about 2,000 pubs at a cost of £7-8m and it gets them nowhere," says Finnerty.

Around 90% of The Dublin Brewing Company's output is bottled with around 70% exported. The company currently has a staff of ten, brewing and bottling up to 80,000 bottles a week. It mainly exports to the UK, Holland, France and Scandinavia. Canada and California look set to be added by next year.

The future for micro-breweries in Ireland looks healthy with numerous names cropping up around the country. Apart from the fact that the provincials mainly concentrate on their own localities, Finnerty sees them as natural allies rather than competition.

"When we started one of our main worries was that we might be setting up too early. But the growth in the number of similar companies is showing there's a market and helping to cement one. If you're going to open a pub, where do you open one? Near another where you know there's demand," he says.

Add to that Guinness' recent attempt to put the micro's out of business, which saw its own St. James's Gate Beers brand folding after only a year. This was Uncle Arthur's attempt to win back its old customers who had begun to favour the more traditional products on offer at the new micro-breweries.

The Dublin Brewing Company has been totally privately funded. "We got no grant aid at all. The likes of Forbairt deemed aiding Guinness and Murphy's as sufficient support to the Irish brewing industry. Not believing we'd export successfully they feared we'd just re-shuffle the domestic market. We couldn't convince them that in order to export you have to successfully brew for the home market first," he says.