The barstool is back! Most covid restrictions have been lifted in Ireland from today, meaning we’re back to normal opening hours in the pub, and back to sipping lovely pints at the bar!
There is a real buzz and excitement around the country, and it must be great to be a publican right now!
Now that pubs are returning to normal trading, I have a renewed hope that now is the time that publicans will reflect on what they serve to their customers, and start making some positive changes.
Since the pandemic, people have been making much more of an effort to support small or local Irish businesses. This is reflected in the drinks industry, with new online off-licences like Beer Cloud and Yards and Crafts doing very well throughout the pandemic. There is an increasing appetite for quality and for supporting local/regional producers.
With that in mind, it’s time now for pubs to up their game. It’s time to see better support for local breweries, distilleries and cideries in pubs. Yes, they might be a harder sell, and they require the bar staff to have some understanding of the product and to encourage customers to try them, but it’s the right thing to do.
Pubs often encourage us to support local. They need to lead by example and support local or independent Irish producers. Find them, stock them, promote them, talk about them. Every single tap given to a local independent producer in a pub makes a huge difference to that area’s employment and uniqueness to visitors (more about this on my previous post here).
So, if you own or work in a pub and want to support local, you can get in contact with us via social media or hello@drink.irish and we’ll advise on what your options are, suggest drinks to stock and ideas for promoting them.
Otherwise:
- Find your local brewery/distillery/cidery and talk to them. A tap is best, but failing that: start off with bottles and see how it goes.
- Share pictures of your local tap on social media. They usually can’t afford much advertising, so they rely on others to help promote them.
- Consider doing promotions, temporary tap takeovers or “meet the brewer” type events to encourage people to try the drinks, and to gauge reactions from customers before committing fully to stocking them.
Finally, customers need to play their part too. If you see a local tap or bottle, try it. Even if it’s just one or two, it all makes a difference.
