Argument brewing over Cork beer taps
Saturday and Sunday saw bumper crowds in the city, with two All Ireland hurling quarter finals, the Munster Fleadh, and the Lee Swim all taking place in Cork over the weekend.
The increased numbers was a boon to the hospitality industry over the two days.
However, one Waterford-based craft brewery took to Twitter to allege that Diageo — the company behind Guinness — had influenced publicans in Cork this weekend in order to have rival brands removed from the bar.
“Hey @DiageoIreland can you tell us why you took our #Waterford beer off taps in #Cork pubs this weekend please? I didn’t get the memo,” Metalman Brewing tweeted.
Diageo, in turn, replied to deny the accusation.
“Cheers for the tweets @metalmanbrewing. Taps are controlled by the pubs themselves so we didn’t get the memo either,” the company replied.
The Irish Examiner asked Diageo if the company made requests of bars to only stock its drinks, or if it made incentivised offers to these pubs to stock its products exclusively.
Hazel Chu Head of Brand and Corporate Comms at Diageo Ireland said this was not the case.
“It is Diageo’s policy not to interfere with the pricing or allocation in pubs. This has, and always will be, up to the publicans,” Ms Chu said.
The Irish Examiner also contacted Goldbergs bar — a pub located close to Pairc Ui Chaoimh that is listed on Metalman Brewing’s website as a stockist — and it said any suggestion it was influenced was false.
This newspaper made several attempts to contact Metalman Brewing, which has yet to reply at time of going to press.
