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Small Beer Proves to Be Big Business Neal Ellis raises his glass to the micro-beer revolution. Until three years ago Ireland hadn't even one micro-brewery. Fine beers, if you were interested, were imported from Germany or the Czech Republic. But nowadays even Uncle Arthur is getting in on the act with their new St. James's Gate micro-brews, which are currently on trial in some pubs in Dublin. Although still very much in its infancy - there are only five micro-breweries operating in the Republic - the success of the industry in the most difficult early days has shown that the beer revolution is definitely under way...

"It was like when Ballygowan started off," says Kieran Finnerty, founder of the Dublin Brewing Company, one of the first to attempt what many said would be an impossible task. "Where at first nobody would believe it would catch on now every county in Ireland has their own bottled water. It's going to be the same with beer. In three or four years I reckon every county will have their own brewery."

Roscommon-born Finnerty was publishing magazines in New York when he decided to return to Ireland to start up the Dublin Brewing Company in September 1995. With an investment of £1 million he soon found a premises in Smithfield and a master brewer - Liam McKenna, a Canadian "with vague Irish roots."

Fifteen months later the first pint of Beckett's was being pulled in a city-centre bar and now, as well as supplying 40 pubs in Dublin city-centre the Dublin Brewing Company makes four other beers and have tapped into the export market, primarily to the UK. They now sell 35,000 pints a week, and have plans to double their capacity in the next two months. Their D'Arcy's Dublin Stout won awards for best stout, as well as the best overall beer at the 2nd All Ireland Independent Brewing Festival, held earlier this month at The Porter House in Temple Bar.

"The first 12 months were difficult." he remembers. "People were sceptical, bars weren't sure if it was going to take off and since micro-brewing had just arrived the overall market awareness wasn't great. But it's worked out brilliantly due in part to the amount of other micro-breweries that have started up. As far as most of the people in the industry are concerned the more competition the better because it opens up the market for micro-brewed beers."

A rescue mission is being launched by Dublin's newest brewery to help save one of the capital's oldest churches. The tiny Dublin Brewing Company, based in Smithfield, is the neighbor of the famous St. Michan's Church, founded by the Danes in 1095. The brewery opened for business in December 1996 and has launched its own beer, Beckett's, on the market. Managing Director Kieran Finnerty said: "It would be tragic if St. Michan's was forced to close due to indifference and inertia." He added: "As proud members of the northside community we cannot allow that to happen. It's our intention to serve as a wake up call to other businesses. We want to demonstrate the benifit of a strong community presence."

The present St. Michan's Church dates from 1685 and is a magnet for visitors. Its attractions include vaults where the remains of ancient monks, knights and crusaders have been perfectly preserved. The church also boasts the organ on which Handel practiced his most famous work, composed in Dublin, The Messiah. However the church needs urgent restoration, costing over a quarter of a million pounds, as its roof and ceiling crumble.

The Dublin Brewing Company will host a £20 a head benifit night in its premises on Friday March 14 with food, entertainment - and a free bar.

Small is beautiful, we've always been told. However, if the cliche is true, then there is a glowing future for Ireland's new micro breweries. Already they've been springing up faster than bank drafts from Ben Dunne's back pocket. Pint-sized pint makers such as The Dublin Brewing Company in Smithfield...are taking on the big guns of Guiness and Beamish...So why has the micro brewery phenomenon taken so long to get started in Ireland?

In the States, micro brewing has been in full swing since the early 1980s. There are over a thousand micro breweries Stateside with names like the Sierra Nevada brewing company and Anchor Steam collectively grabbing 2pc of the market. However, the first Irish attempt by the O'Dwyer brothers stalled in 1982 for technical reasons (remember the Dempseys?). Dublin has come a long way since 1982. Kieran Finnerty, managing director of the Dublin Brewing Company, became aware of our Fair City's growing trendiness and was lured here from New York. Now he has brought Beckett's beer to the market at a cost of £1m with his eight-man operation just across the River Liffey from the Guiness Brewery. "The big guys think they have already got everyone on the books with their big marketing spend but there are people out there who like to know they are buying from a small brewery," he says. How far can the micro brewing experiment go in Ireland?..."Authenticity is increasingly important. I think someone like Guiness is selling itself on what it used to be and not what it is today"...The industry feels there will be 30 or so micro breweries here in three or four years time. Sounds optimistic? Well, there were 33 breweries in Dublin alone in 1790, so there is scope. And I'll drink to that!

A new Dublin pint has been born. A light pale ale called Beckett's is being brewed in a former soap factory in Smithfield. The Dublin Brewing Company delivered its first pint of Beckett's last month. And the new honey-amber brew is going down well in a dozen city pubs. Master brewer Liam McKenna (30) was brought over from Canada to "design" the taste of the fresh unpasteurized beer. As a chemical-free real ale, its character has some of the attributes of grapefruit, plum, sour apple, and nuts, he said. He is confident his new creation would have a lot of appeal to those used to drinking mass-produced but blander beers.

The company was set up by Roscommon-born Kieran Finnerty (34). Mr. Finnerty, managing director, hopes the work-force will grow from six to 30 by the end of next year at the large North King Street premises and the company aims ultimately to supply its beer to 100 of the city's 1,000 pubs. "We expect other parts of Ireland to follow the trend with their own regional beers in the near future," he said. Naturally-brewed beers are becoming increasingly popular and pubs such as the Porterhouse in Temple Bar, which brews its own beers, is stocking Beckett's, along with neighbours Eamon Dorans and the Palace.