An ale produced by a Thurles micro-brewery has been shortlisted at the Millennium Beer Competition in England as one of the top three in the world in its category.
Dwan's Rich Ruby Country Ale, produced by the Tipperary Brewing Company, is vying with two other ales, including Murphy's Irish Red, an export beer produced in Cork, for the top accolade when final judging is held in London on April 4th.
"This is the Rolls-Royce of beer festivals," Mr Cuilan Loughnane, the brewer of the ale, said.
He said the company was producing between 2,000 and 3,000 litres a week of ale, stout and lager, made from water, yeast, hops and malt. The ale, which is up against another 70 from around the world as one with an alcohol content over 4.1 per cent, is based on a recipe provided by the brewery builder, Mr Brendan Dobbin.
The micro-brewery was established in July 1998 and is attached to a bar and restaurant at the old granary building in Thurles. Mr Loughnane said the product was popular with people in their 30s and with tourists. The company has also developed a niche export market in Sweden, after winning a gold medal for one of its brews two years ago.
From Templemore, he has seen the micro-brewery industry develop in Canada when he worked in Vancouver in the early 1990s. He describes the phenomenon as a reaction to the blandness of large-scale brewing. "If you want a product to appeal to lots of people, you cannot have a specific taste. You have to make it as bland as possible," he said.
He began home brewing, graduated to in-store brewing - where, for $100, you could brew 100 pints of beer - and, on his return, trained under the master brewer employed in Thurles during the company's first year in operation.
"It is a tough game in Ireland. It is something that is going to take a while. People's drinking habits are the last thing to change," he said.