Saint Patrick Reaches America
Its official, St Patrick’s Best beer is now available in North America.
Irish brewers Strangford Lough Brewing Company have been working towards the goal of making their range of beers available to Irish markets around the world since 2004. This week they will officially launch two of their Irish Ales into 20 states throughout North America.
Tony Davies, Managing Director said “Naturally it is a very exciting time for SLBC. A tremendous amount of planning and preparation, not to mention online marketing promotions have paved the way for the successful launch of two Irish Ales from our range. The company has developed substantially in the past six years and building up a loyal following of customers in Northern Ireland was an important part of our growth before launching into new Irish markets around the World. North America has always been our goal. With 42 million Irish Americans you can understand why.”
Although their aim is to deliver the taste of traditional Irish barley to the other side of the Atlantic, there is nothing traditional about how the beer is exported to America. Exchange rate fluctuations and quality consistency challenges met by the company meant that the directors of this Northern Irish brewery, Tony Davies and Bob Little had to create an entirely new method of ensuring the beer arrived fresher and more cost effectively than would have been possible by simply shipping the finished bottled product from Northern Ireland. The outcome was a very exciting new way of exporting the product from Ireland, not in bottles, but in a concentrated form. The concentrate is shipped to High Falls Brewing Company, where the SLBC master brewer, George Thompson is on hand to assist the High Falls Operating Company to finish brew the beer by adding the final ingredients brought from Ireland, fermenting and then bottling the beer before transporting it to the existing network of licensees for distribution. This makes SLBC Beer one of the freshest on the market, while still containing all the goodness of Ireland. Strangford Lough’s beers are sometimes called the Immigrant beers because they were ‘Born in Ireland and Matured in America’.
The two Irish ales being launched later this week in 20 states are St Patrick’s Best Ale and Legbiter Ale. Tony Davies also commented “Irish beers or ales tend to have a fuller, more complex taste than many American beers. This is because of the number and combination of malts and hops used to produce that fuller taste. We think St Patrick’s Best and Legbiter will be a hit with people who want something more from their beer or ale. Once tasted, we believe our beers will become their beers of choice, as the flavour and smoothness improve the satisfaction of the drinking experience.” Tony gave a brief description of the ale’s breaking into the American market this week. “St Patrick’s Best Ale is light and refreshing on the palate, with a classic Irish malt and traditional hop aroma (ABV of 4.2%.) Legbiter Ale offers a very different flavour with an inviting citrus fragrance, in a brilliant golden ale giving a full but refreshing clean caramel malt bitter finish (ABV 4.8%.). Whatever your taste we have a beer for you”.
Over the next 18 months Strangford Lough will be producing another 3 beers into the USA; Saint Patrick’s Dark, Saint Patrick’s Golden and Barelegs.
