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Colm Mahady/Fennell Photography

'You're either premium or you're not': Why Wicklow Wolf won't compete with the beer giants

The brewer could increase output tenfold with a new €4 million facility, due to open next year.

DESPITE A €4 million brewery project that could see its output increase tenfold, Wicklow Wolf has no ambition of fighting with the multinational brewers for a slice of market share.

The brewery’s co-founder, Simon Lynch, said “there’s a lot of noise in the industry” with an ever-growing number of craft brewers and major producers with ‘craft-beer lite’ offerings.

“You can only jump up and down and wave your hands so much. We let our beer do the talking,” he told Fora.

Wicklow Wolf was founded in Bray in 2014 by Lynch and Quincey Fennelly, and now employs around 20 staff.

However since it was launched, the craft beer market in Ireland has exploded. According to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, the number of craft breweries in Ireland has quadrupled since 2012, with total turnover in the sector reaching €52 million in 2016. 

The drinks giants have also jumped on board the trend, launching mass-produced craft-style beers, such as Guinness’s Hop House 13 and Heineken’s Cute Hoor.

Foodworks launch Quincey Fennelly and Simon Lynch Gary O' Neill Gary O' Neill

In the face of the stiff competition, which has already forced some small, start-up brewers to close, Lynch said Wicklow Wolf is determined to maintain its premium offering.

“There has been a tendency for others to drop prices. We decided that we can’t afford to do that, but some other craft breweries are trying to compete with the likes of the larger breweries,” he said.

“I think that’s just not a strategy that’s going to work – you’re either premium or you’re not, and if you’re premium you have to command a little bit extra for it.”

Lynch said that Wicklow Wolf was “one of the more expensive beers” on the market, with bottles retailing around the €4 mark, but he added that “people are prepared to pay that little bit extra for something they enjoy”.

Expansion plans

At the moment, the key focus for Wicklow Wolf is on its new €4 million brewery in Newtownmountkennedy – not far from its current Bray base – which Lynch expects to be up and running by May or June of next year.

“The number-one reason for the new brewery is that it will give us a greater capacity. At the moment we’re so strapped for space in the existing brewery that we haven’t got the possibility to export in any major way,” he said.

“But we feel there’s huge possibility for growth within Europe, so that’s why we decided to go and build something that we could grow into over the next 10 or so years. It’s taken us two years to find the right home for our new brewery, but it will allow us to grow into the future.”

According to Lynch, Wicklow Wolf currently exports around 10% of its beer and has only “dipped its toe” into markets such as France, Italy and Denmark.

However, once the new brewery is operational, the team plans to target new markets, such as the Nordic countries, Canada, Spain and potentially China, with exports accounting for “a lot more of the business” going forward.

Lynch said that the new 35,000hl brewery will allow Wicklow Wolf to produce eight to 10 times more beer than it is currently brewing. 

The facility has been funded by around €3.7 million of investment from the Halo Business Angel Network, Enterprise Ireland and private investors.

“It’s a big step change for us. Obviously we’ll scale up as we go along. We’ll have the brew house, which is the engine of the brewery, but we can add fermentation tanks as we increase with our new markets and tap into new sales streams,” Lynch said.

wicklow wolf twaddell Lynch and Fennelly with investor Stephen Twaddell Phillip Leonard Phillip Leonard

The company also plans to grow other revenue streams by increasing tours as part of the shift to the new brewery.

Lynch said there was a “huge appetite” from both locals and tourists for brewery visits, while Wicklow Wolf will also take advantage of new legislation passed earlier this year to allow producers to sell beer to the public from their brewery sites.

“Phase two of our plan on the Newtownmountkennedy site is for a purpose-built building for tastings, food pairings, talks. Allowing people to taste our wares, hear our story,” he said.

“That’s the reason we chose this site – it’s two acres, and it gives us scope to expand not only production but also build a visitor experience.

“It’s a bit further down the line because we don’t have the finances for it just yet. But it’s a big part of what we want to do in the not-too-distant future.”

Collaboration

Although Wicklow Wolf has been operating for nearly five years, Lynch said that he and Fennelly had stuck to the same plan they first had after completing a joint Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc-run Food Works accelerator programme. 

“We made a decision early on that we didn’t just want to be a small brewery. We had a strategy to produce beers for the locality to begin with, then roll it out nationally, and then look at international markets and exports when we were ready,” he said.

Lynch added that the business had “exceeded expectations” in Ireland so far. Last year Wicklow Wolf produced around 7,000hl of beer and recorded turnover of more than €1.3 million.

The brewery produces six core beers as well as a range of seasonal and collaborative brews, which it distributes to 1,000 off-trade and 200 on-trade locations around Ireland. 

As a way to kick-start its international expansion, Wicklow Wolf has been collaborating on beers with other breweries in Europe. Recently, it teamed up with Denmark’s Anders Kissmeyer and London brewery Anspach & Hobday.

“It’s a great way for us to experiment and grow. It opens up people in Ireland to new breweries from around the world and vice versa, so it will help us in new markets overseas,” Lynch said.

“We’re not just leaping off the cliff going into new markets. We’ve already started relationships, we’ve been to international trade shows and festivals, trying to line business up for when we have the capacity to be able to produce more.

“Obviously getting into production in the new brewery is the most important thing because the beer is the engine of our business. Without good beer there’d be nothing else.”

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Written by Sarah Harford and posted on Fora.ie

Written by Fora Staff and posted on TheJournal.ie

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    Mute Patrick Daly
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    Dec 10th 2019, 9:48 AM

    By all means protest but now they’re preventing people from working and breaking the law so it should be broken up by gardai

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    Mute Karl Charlie
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:00 PM

    @Patrick Daly: garda wont do nothing against farmers they dont have to follow the same laws as the rest of us, the processing plants should lower the amount they pay farmers until they cop on and stop preventing people from working especially so close to christmas going around blocking roads in their 100k tractors their job is to throw out a bit of food and water every day then go back to their big farm houses and do nothing the rest of the day

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    Mute pat seery
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:12 PM

    @Karl Charlie: you must live in Bubble

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    Mute ruairi
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    Dec 10th 2019, 1:51 PM

    @Karl Charlie: An effective demonstration of your ignorance of farming there Karl.

    22
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    Mute Paul Mcnevin
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    Dec 10th 2019, 4:22 PM

    @Patrick Daly: Block the farmers in.

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    Mute Karl Charlie
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    Dec 10th 2019, 8:56 PM

    @Paul Mcnevin: Gardai would be straight down moving you on

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    Mute Conall
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    Dec 11th 2019, 9:47 AM

    @Karl Charlie: Have you been on a farm recently? How many self-employed people do you think have time to do nothing the rest of the day?

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    Mute John gaughan
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    Dec 10th 2019, 9:57 AM

    Farmers are the biggest shower of moaners in this country we all work and if we don’t like conditions we have two choices stay or get out
    If it not beef it’s milk crop’s so my advice to you farmers get out of it if there’s no profit and stop protesting and stoping people going to work
    I had sympathy for your case at the start but I think you had your say and there’s blockades are not on

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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:05 AM

    @John gaughan: the irony that follows “shower of moaners” is delicious *chef’s kiss*

    51
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    Mute @at
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:20 AM

    @John gaughan: you ignorance on the subject is astounding. You won’t be a FFG cheerleader by any chance ?

    FG gave the beef processing price control to one man. The same man is a big FG donor. The same man that flooded the Irish market with horse meat. The same man who’s niece is married to the then minister for agriculture

    This is a protect against corruption as much as anything else. You seem to have no problem with corruption

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    Mute John gaughan
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:27 AM

    @@at: as I said I did have sympathy for them but blocking others going to work is not on
    I am not a ffg cheerleader

    51
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    Mute Dermot Foley
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:56 AM

    @@at: and how is it that the farmers have no coop? Chickens come home to roost.

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    Mute Stephen Walshe
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:04 AM

    @Keelan O’neill: ha ha

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    Mute @at
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:05 AM

    @Dermot Foley: another one with complete ignorance on the subject. Are you not embarrassed commenting on a subject here that you clearly don’t have a clue about ?

    Simon Coveney basically blocked independent processors/co ops etc from operating in this country by licensing the disposal of the animal waste/Offal to one man

    This gives the one man control of all the beef processing in this country. Control the waste disposal, you control the processing. Control the processing, you control the prices

    This one Man has a niece that is married to Simon Coveney. This one man is a big donor to FG

    Next time do a bit of research before you come out with daft comments

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:08 AM

    @John gaughan: tune in next week when John sorts out the Middle East crisis.

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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:40 AM

    @@at: Dead right my friend but I have to warn you that trying to explain the facts to that shower of anti-farmer, anti rural morons is like trying to teach the virtue of chastity to a pen of yearling bulls

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:49 AM

    @@at: to be accurate, it wasn’t the government that sold the processing business to Goodman.
    That would have been the farmers.

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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:29 PM

    @@at: he has a point – farmers were happy enough to vote Co-ops out of existence when there was a pay out to be had

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    Mute Smiley
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:34 PM

    @John gaughan: sorry “milk crops”…whatever your into. Says it all.

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    Mute Sam Cairns
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:21 AM

    I am going to come out in support of the farmer and will not buy red meat again this year.

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    Mute Bernard Sweeney
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:37 AM

    @Sam Cairns: That’d be an honorable gesture Sam if it was March or something.

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    Mute Ivor McCormack
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:03 PM

    Why not camp outside Larry Goodman’s home?
    Why not put a blockade on Larry’s businesses?
    Beef prices are set by the processors, not the supermarkets.
    I’m not sure why this hasn’t been highlighted by the meeja, but it is something that people don’t seem to be very aware of.
    The profits for beef are ripped from the hands of the Farmers by the processors and they are being protected by the politicians who are happy to let people believe that it’s all the fault of the buyers, shops and customers who want to have their beef at the lowest price.
    Anyways, this will probably be lost in the noise… Feel like i’m shouting in a forest that a tree has fallen, but can’t be heard above the storm….

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    Mute Mick Byrne
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    Dec 10th 2019, 1:33 PM

    @Ivor McCormack: I hear you & agree.

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    Mute Michael Reilly
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    Dec 10th 2019, 5:50 PM

    @Ivor McCormack: Larry would be upset and stop the deductions that keep the IFA lads on mega salaries and expenses.
    Why not camp at the gates of a former IFA president that has a sweet heart deal with Larry to fatten his cattle.

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    Mute Smiley
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:36 PM

    @Ivor McCormack: best comment on this mess so far

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    Mute Kev Kev
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:24 AM

    Why is 90% of our beef exported?? And why are we selling imported beef?? Makes fcuk all sense

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    Mute Dermot Foley
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    Dec 10th 2019, 10:57 AM

    @Kev Kev: money and money.

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    Mute Stephen Walshe
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:06 AM

    Go on lads the whole country could learn from the farmers!!!! Bring the country to a standstill. They’d soon come to heal.

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    Mute Roger Paltry
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:14 AM

    @Stephen Walshe: The people who could not get to their hospital appointments when the moaners blocked the city centre will be delighted with you. If the whole country behaved like spoilt brats our economy would be fupped.

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    Mute Decko49
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:27 AM

    @Roger Paltry: Our economy is f#cked. We are relying on corporate tax to keep our economy going. When the other countries go as low as our corporate tax rate we are f#cked too

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    Mute Karl Charlie
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:04 PM

    @Stephen Walshe: you wouldnt see farmers protesting against the health system or homeless crisis they care about one thing and one thing only…. Themselves and to hell with the people who have to work 40hrs+ per week to put food on the table where you inherited your farms from the family, you dont like it then build houses on your land and get yourself a job

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    Mute Eamonn O Connell
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:54 PM

    @Karl Charlie: do you protest about various things that don’t affect you or do you expect the people affected to do it. Stop spouting rubbish., farmers are protesting about the low price of beef being paid by factories and retailers who are making huge profits from itAs for the 40+ hours. Well that would be a short week for a farmer.

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    Mute Roger Paltry
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    Dec 10th 2019, 1:38 PM

    @Decko49: So you think Irekand should revert to an agrarian economy? These moaners are freeloading off of the taxpayers.

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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:26 PM

    Here’s a thought stop selling to people you feel so t give you a fair price – go and find another market liver every other business in the world

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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Dec 10th 2019, 12:31 PM

    @Thomas Harrington: fat fingers like a farmer!

    If you don’t like the price find another market like every other business has to do

    18
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    Mute Sheila Teehan
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    Dec 10th 2019, 2:12 PM

    Will the supermarkets be able to rid us of the 4 moves limit and the 30 months age limit ? Joe Healy must not be thinking at all.

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Dec 10th 2019, 11:48 AM

    Yes!!!!

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    Mute Councillor Bill Clear
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    Dec 10th 2019, 7:08 PM

    Ifa piggy backing on beef plan group. They did all the heavy lifting

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