Contacting pubs
We’ve been contacting pubs directly, asking if they currently stock drinks from local producers, or if they would be interested in starting to stock them. If they are interested, we’ll pass on their contact details to the local breweries/cider mills/distilleries etc. We’ll also offer to help with advice on promoting the drinks with customers and encouraging them to try them.
As you can imagine, this is slow progress. Most pubs ignore you or aren’t interested, but there has been some interest and hopefully, the idea of pubs supporting other local businesses will gain traction over time.
Tap tracker web application
I have been working on a tap tracker web application. This will be open to anyone to track beers available in any pub across Ireland (32 counties). Users can log beers they know are available in a pub they were in or saw on social media. Publicans or breweries can also log the information themselves.
As part of this, I have built a comprehensive directory of all breweries in Ireland. I’ll soon be adding cider mills and distilleries. I built the list by first updating the address and contact details of all Irish breweries on OpenStreetMaps. I then linked those to my site and added extra details like their independent status, size, memberships and list of brands.
I’m doing something similar with pubs and other venues. The details are updated on OpenStreetMaps and then imported onto the tap tracker website.
I’m currently working on the ability to add beers to breweries, and once that’s complete I’ll start on the actual tracking of beers against specific pubs.
If you’d like any more information or would like to see it. Let me know (see below).
How you can help
Ask for local
Ask for local beer, cider, whiskey or whatever you’re having in the pub. Even if you know they don’t have it, just letting them know there’s a demand can help. You can contact them through social media either if you prefer. If you’d like help, or to let us know how you get on, contact us (see below).
Help with the tap tracker application
There are loads of pubs and other venues to be added to the tap tracker application. If you’d be interested in updating address and contact details of pubs on OpenStreetMaps that would be great! You could maybe start off working on an area you now. Once they’re updated, they can be imported into the tap tracker application.
You could also help with testing the application or giving general feedback.
If you’re interested, contact me (see below) and I’ll let you know exactly what I need.
Be active on social media
Small producers don’t have a lot of money for advertising, so social media is the best way to spread the word! If you’re having a pint, bottle or glass of any drink from an independent Irish producer, take a picture, put it up and tag us (and use #DrinkIrish!).
I’ve also started putting together “pub spotlight” blog and social media posts, highlighting pubs that do a good job of supporting local producers. If you know a pub that would be good for this or would like to help writing the posts, contact us (see below).
Write blog posts
Writing blog posts on here would be a great help! I’d be happy to give you a login to contribute posts about whatever you like (somewhat related to beer/cider/spirits/pubs etc!). Contact us below if interested.
Join our meet-ups
Our meet-ups are on the first Wednesday of every month at 8pm. They’re on a video call, and I usually send a reminder on the Signal or Craic Beer Community group beforehand. All welcome, you don’t even have to be involved in anything: you can just join for a chat!
Contact details
You can email me at hello@drink.irish or DM on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
We also have a Signal group, a group on the Craic Beer Community network and an email newsletter group. Contact me for details on the Signal CBC group, or sign up to the email group here.
