TOPIC:

I just love the line in the article that goes "Heineken Ireland has brought the cosmopolitan drinking experience to Ireland..........beers for the sophisticated and discerning beer drinker." And then lists it's portfolio; Zywiec, Sol, Birra Moretti, Affligem Blond and Paulaner Weissbeer. Branted, the last two mentioned have a certain merit but come on!! Sol!! To compete with Corona and Brahma, I suppose.

Heineken Ireland are not interested in bringing beers to Ireland for the sophisicated, but is only interested (rightly so) in selling beers from breweries that the Heineken empire owns.

The breweries that they do have, which produce decent beer are relatively recent acquisitions. It's Heineken's reaction to the growing interest in craft beers and frankly, it's the cleverest reaction I have seen to date, from a multinational other than InBu (InBev? Interbrew? Which is it these days?).

Don't try to make a decent beer to compete with the micros. That won't work. Buy an established craft brewery, with an established reputation for decent beer and distribute it, increasing production as the market demands.

Heineken don't care what beer they sell you, as long as you buy it from them.

It's good business practice initially, but I wonder that if they start trying to change the craft breweries bottom lines, they will change the quality of the craft breweries product, lose customers, therefore lose market share, and dump a now useless brewery. Not sure it's a good thing in the long run for the consumer unfortunately.