Irish Lads and Lasses: Say it Ain't So!

[3113]

Tell us ye not be giving up that pint of the black stuff for a "boodweiser"!

Irish eyes are roving, to beers other than Guinness

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- The two men drink standing near the back of the long bar at Davy Byrnes, one of the many watering holes in this city that, in the words of writer Samuel Beckett, who once lived upstairs, have been known to house "broken glass and indiscretion." In the back, because that's well away from the "whippets" and "blow-ins" who tend to wander in, armed with neither intellect nor wit, if one distinguishes between the two, settle on the first available stool and ask for a "Boodweiser" from the barman....

...Guinness is Ireland's best-selling beer...But even Guinness, it seems, is not immune to the forces of open markets, suburban sprawl and Ireland's evolution from an impoverished backwater of emigrants to one of Europe's economic powerhouses, a country that imports cheap labor now from Eastern Europe. Even as sales have boomed elsewhere, Guinness has seen its business decline in Ireland over most of the last seven years, a trend that eased only slightly last year with a growth rate of 3.5%. The problem is, Irish traditions are something many Irish simply no longer have time for. In Dublin, working and commuting now take up much of the time once spent stopping at the pub for a pint after work. And as the Celtic Tiger begins, like everyone else, to feel the effects of the global credit crunch, with home prices declining and unemployment rising, it doesn't help that a pint of Guinness costs $7.20.

"I've got a hundred-mile round-trip commute every day. So you're out of the house for 12, 14 hours a day, and by the time you do get home, all you're fit for is a couple of hours of TV, maybe dinner, and go to bed. It would never, ever cross my mind to go for a pint on the way home," said Cormac Billings, a 33-year-old investment banker who works in Dublin's city center but lives in the suburbs. "Maybe six, seven times a year, you might meet up with your mates for a few pints, but it's always a hassle to organize," he said. "People are busy. They're married, they're having kids."

Ireland is still the second-biggest beer-drinking market in the world, after the Czech Republic. But beer consumption has declined 15% since 2001. Rural pubs were closing last year at the rate of more than one a day, victims of high taxes, increasing supermarket sales and a nationwide smoking ban that went into effect in 2004. Add to that an explosion in demand for wine and high-end coffee here, and Guinness now sells more beer in Nigeria -- "there's a drop of greatness in every man," the ads for the extra-robust, 7.5% alcohol foreign extra stout tell Nigeria's receptive males -- than it does on the Emerald Isle.

Full story here.

 

[JagFarlane]

-sigh- I still think an Irish lasses brogue is sexy as all hell

 

[SlickTony]

Guiness will always be drunk somewhere, as long as my husband is alive. And only a small part of him is Irish.

 

[TE999]

Ah, tis a sad, sad day in the Emerald Isle when a man can no longer hoist a pint with his mates because he has to drive an hour home to the wife and kids.

As far as drinking a "boodwiser" instead of a Guiness, sacrilege!

That's like comparing a lightning bug to lightning.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

That's not the worst of it. They're banning smoking in French cafes!

The world's gone mad!

 

[SlickTony]

That's not the worst of it. They're banning smoking in French cafes!

The world's gone mad!

I've heard they're getting around it in various ways, but in a way that the cafe owners don't like.

 

[rgraham666]

That's not the worst of it. They're banning smoking in French cafes!

The world's gone mad!

Nah. Just the West. We've become so afraid of death we're working to ban anything that might kill us.

Except overwork. It's still cool to drop dead at work.

 

[3113]

I've heard they're getting around it in various ways, but in a way that the cafe owners don't like.

Actually, I heard the opposite. The French can smoke outside, so the cafe owners have started serving higher priced food and drink for anyone outside--the poor smokers have to pay more if they want to indulge in their habit.

 

[rgraham666]

We smokers deserve no pity.

 

[SlickTony]

We smokers deserve no pity.

I'm really conflicted about smoking. For several years, I was a card-carrying member of the Liberterian Party, and think people should be able to smoke if they want to. OTOH, in my personal life I hold no brief for smoking: when my husband smoked, which he did from age 16 or so to about five or six years ago, I complained about the expense and the fact that whenever we went away for the weekend and came back to our home, it smelled like an old fleabag hotel compared to the places we'd been. He got pneumonia one time and quit for a few weeks, and I was so glad, I offered it up as a praise in church, and then damn if he didn't start back. I was very glad when he quit for good. The house smells better since he quit, and I say this even though we have a cat who pisses in the foyer on a regular basis.

But don't we remember the cigarette as a mode of expression; the way people used it to gesticulate, the way a person's face would briefly light up if they lit up in a dim light, the way cigarettes were used as trade goods and in some places still are. It just seems weird that they're banning cigarettes in France. In Puritan America, but...France? It boggles the mind.

 

[TE999]

That's not the worst of it. They're banning smoking in French cafes!

The world's gone mad!

Indeed it has! Where has the legendary Gallic pride and elan' disappeared to?

Next they'll be banning overpriced wines, cheese that smells like sweaty feet and cunnilingus. Is there no end to the horror?

And now the Irish are drinking Bud Lite? Gahhh!

 

[3113]

We smokers deserve no pity.

Nope. Which is why you're not allow to jack this thread to whine about smoker's rights or lack thereof. Go start your own. This one's about beer!

And besides, the two aren't equal. Guinness hasn't been outlawed. It's just been outsourced.

 

[rgraham666]

All I know is if they ban tobacco I'll be rich.

I'm already setting up my supply and distribution systems.

 

[SlickTony]

Nope. Which is why you're not allow to jack this thread to whine about smoker's rights or lack thereof. Go start your own. This one's about beer!

And besides, the two aren't equal. Guinness hasn't been outlawed. It's just been outsourced.

When we were in England in the winter, my husband drank one Guinness after another. This was how we kept warm when we weren't drinking Irish coffee. I can't believe anyone would prefer Bud Light over Guinness.

Speaking of beer, has anyone encountered Tooth Sheaf stout? It was one of my dad's favorite beers, he used to buy it in Spec's in Houston, Tx, and we looked for it when Total Wine (which is really Total Alcohol) came to our city, and we were astounded to find that it was not there.

 

[rengadeirishman]

the day Ill turn down guinness for budweiser is the day i am to be taken out behind the shed and put out of my misery.

I will stand true, no matter the cost.

 

[neonlyte]

We used an Irish pub regularly on an Island south of Cork in 2004-05 in connection with an arts programme. The island was a fifteen minute small ferry ride from the original town of Baltimore, the pub faced the mainland. Once the Irish began clamping down on late night drinking, the pub on the island gained popularity - funnily... it's run by a Frenchman Jean Paul. The deal was the last ferry to the island left at 10.30, crammed full of people. The pub stayed open most of the night on Fridays and Saturdays. The Garda took to spying with a telescope from the mainland, Jean Paul and the locals built a terrace out the back where the Garda couldn't see them, and of course... if the Garda decided to send a launch to investigate, the pub had a good twenty minutes to get itself in order. A status quo was reached and the pub continued to operate to local requirement, though when they introduced the smoking ban in 2005, every smoker immediately complied with the rules and smoked outside. Stout was the main drink... three different labels, including Guinness but no one complained if you went for lager.

 

[shereads]

That's not the worst of it. They're banning smoking in French cafes!

And beret wearing!

Check your bill carefully before you add the traditional beret-wearers' gratuity. Some restaurants are adding it automatically now, especially for large groups.