Galway Bay Brewery growth fizzes on craft beer boom
Speaking yesterday, Galway Bay Brewery director Jason O’Connell said the business has been able to flourish because the overall product for Irish drinkers “had been pretty lame” before the growth of the Irish craft beer industry.
Mr O’Connell said the business “hasn’t been an overnight success”, pointing out its first pub was opened 10 years ago.
He said the business — which employs around 150 people — has plans to expand further after the pending opening of its 12th pub in Limerick.
“We want to keep expanding here and eventually expand into the east coast of America,” he said.
Mr O’Connell said when the business opened its first pub in Dublin in 2010 the firm was delivering 12 kegs a week into the capital and now the firm is investing in a truck to transport its beers.
“Things are going pretty well. Every penny we earn is put back into the firm.”
The firm will shortly open up a new brewery in Galway.
Mr O’Connell said: “We have a good crew around us and we want to stay number one, stay innovative and keep pushing boundaries. It has been a long haul, but we enjoy it. We are discovering something old and bringing it back and modernising it.”
Galway Bay’s expansion coincides with new figures from the Department of Finance showing the rapid growth of the craft beer industry here.
In a Dail reply to Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, Michael Noonan said the amount claimed in tax relief on beer produced by the industry last year jumped by 71% to €4m.
