There’s a Wolf in Wicklow – and It’s Leading the Pack!

As I drove into the quaint seaside town of Bray on a brisk autumnal morning to meet Simon Lynch, co-founder of The Wicklow Wolf Brewery, I was aware that there was something changing in the behaviour of beer drinkers in Ireland. As a consumer behaviour academic, I have always been interested in phenomena that fundamentally change consumption behaviour, for example TV in the 60’s and 70’s, video in the 80’s, the internet and of course German discounters in the 90’s and noughties. But I just wasn’t aware that the consumer behavioural change toward beer in Ireland was coming down the tracks like a freight train in the form of ‘craft beer’, and this was knocking a lot of the bigger mass producers out of the way. According to the 2016 report for the Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland and Bord Bia it is estimated that there are some 90 microbreweries operating in the Republic of Ireland, of which 62 are production microbreweries and at least 28 are contracting companies. There has been a 29% increase in the number of production microbreweries from 48 in 2015 to 62 in 2016. The number of microbreweries has more than quadrupled since 2012 and the total turnover of craft beer producers in 2015 is estimated at €40m and at the time of report projected at €59m for 2016. In the five years since 2011, turnover has increased eleven-fold in the industry.