Joe Totale Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Seems that Wetherspoons have had a big fall-out with Heineken: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30396012 My old mates will now have to try some proper beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosterboost Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Seems that Wetherspoons have had a big fall-out with Heineken: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30396012 My old mates will now have to try some proper beer I was just about to post the same. What are Heineken thinking of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorky15 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Shame I know, but been in the Swim Inn today and the Abbot Ale is very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Totale Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 Shame I know, but been in the Swim Inn today and the Abbot Ale is very nice! Swim's great value, some of the ale - Bradfields Belgian Blue - is 70p a pint cheaper than the boilerhouse (Benjamin Huntsman). Of course its not just Heineken Lager & John Smiths that will no longer be sold. Heineken own many more brands: Kronenbourg Bulmers Fosters Deuchars etc and then there's the bottled stuff: Moretti Desperados Amstel Tiger Newcastle Brown etc That's a huge amount of stock to re-source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 There's plenty of smaller breweries that would be more than happy to step in and fill the void, it's probably good that a big player has taken a slap as it will help improve all the little guys. Having said that I'm sure the two will resolve their dispute over this. The reaction from the boss at Heinekin was pretty poor tho, he'd barely noticed what had gone on and didn't seem to care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxman Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 I read this article first on an Irish website and some of the comments were hilarious. They didn't seem to appreciate the fact that Wetherspoons were attempting to break a cartel of the big 3 beer companies who operate in most Irish pubs but instead slated British pubs as being all corporate pubcos (unlike their oh so original, "independent" and character laden twee local boozers) and slated Wetherspoons in particular as a pernicious, evil empire set on destroying the fabric of their society. It basically boils down to Wetherspoons wanting to sell big named brands 40% cheaper than everyone else. Guinness was done a few years for effectively price fixing in pubs throughout Ireland and Heinekan appear to be trying to do the same. If it means more scope for decent brewers to sell their stuff in JDW pubs then good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Heineken is one Dutch company I will never respect. When I worked in the trade (however briefly) I got insight in how Heineken operates when they took over all leases on the most popular bars in Groningen. They didn't buy them though, they just made it a condition of delivery. The situation was massively complex as it was, with the freeholder leasing different parts of what was effectively one huge establishment to over a dozen different sub-leaseholders who all leased it out to other sub-leaseholders. Basically Heineken simply forced yet another layer of leasehold, creaming some 12% of turnover, not profits, turnover. When the whole lot threatened to switch to another brewer Heineken threatened the freeholder and sub-leaseholders who all had massive interests in other establishments that it wouldn't supply them anymore. Not only that, the beer tastes of canal water filtered through three centuries of sewage anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxman Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Not only that, the beer tastes of canal water filtered through three centuries of sewage anyway. When I went to Amsterdam in the 90's I thought Heineken was great. Especially compared to the pishwater under-strength faux Heineken brewed under licence in England by Ind Coope. If you thought your Heineken was bad, our pale imitation was even worse. Have you ever had Skol? Or Harp? Heineken was manna compared to that garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Hans Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 I think they will iron out their differences, it won't be long before Fosters etc are back on the taps at Weatherspoons. And I'm not going to be one of those idiot hipsters like "HURRRRR DURRRRR IT TASTES LIKE P*** ANYWAY I ONLY DRINK REAL ALE DURRRRRR", if it's beer I'll drink it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxman Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 I think they will iron out their differences, it won't be long before Fosters etc are back on the taps at Weatherspoons. And I'm not going to be one of those idiot hipsters like "HURRRRR DURRRRR IT TASTES LIKE P*** ANYWAY I ONLY DRINK REAL ALE DURRRRRR", if it's beer I'll drink it. Are you just a bit of an ignoramus who will just drink any old crap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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