KEGXIT – SHEBEENS DRY UP SUPPLY
Brewers stop dealing in keg sales amid fears of spread in illicit trade
DRINKS companies are so concerned about being inadvertently lured into the illicit shebeen business that they have banned their sales representatives from selling kegs of beer.
And some firms have become so circumspect about the thriving underground trade that the 88-pint barrels – which once did not warrant even a second glance on the streets of every village and town in Ireland before Covid – have become so scarce, they are now a collectors’ item.
A drinks industry source revealed: ‘Sales of kegs of beer such as Heineken and Guinness are now so restricted that if a sales rep wants to sell a keg they have to go to a higher up, like a very senior manager.
‘Before Covid it would have been unheard of for a sales rep to have to consult with a senior manager before they sold a keg of beer.
‘Everyone in the trade knows that the Government is not keen on shebeens and that is why these sales restrictions have been introduced.
‘None of the big firms are brewing at the moment because there is nowhere for it to go and the only work that’s been done by the big firms is cleaning lines.
‘Whatever kegs there are are being sold just to hotels that cater for essential workers and the amount being sold is minuscule.’
The source added: ‘Because of all these restrictions, kegs of beer have become so scarce now that you can’t get one for love nor money.
‘The only place you could buy a keg is from a publican that might have some left, and after that all you can do now is go to the supermarket and buy four and a half slabs of beer which isn’t the same as beer on draught.’
Traditional pubs were closed last March because of the pandemic and despite the easing of restrictions after the first and second lockdowns, the doors to many of these premises have remained firmly shut because they were never set up to serve and sell food. However, gastro pubs were allowed to reopen but they were shut down in December as part of the third lockdown.
Since then, some bar and restaurant owners have opted to provide their regular customers with a pint and cocktail delivery service. However, the forced lockdown of the traditional pub has led to a boom in home bars with more and more people building pubs in their own homes.
And so keen are they to replicate the atmosphere of their now-closed favourite watering holes that they have invested in pool tables, flat screen TVs, high bar stools and counters, professional bar standard refrigeration units, the vital gas supplies and connections needed to pour the perfect creamy pint, as well as the optics and holders needed to ensure only a pubsized measure of spirits makes it into a glass instead of a more generous home-sized measure.
Indeed, so many people have opted to build their own ‘pub’ that they have even set-up social media accounts where they swap tips and get advice about where to source equipment, gas supplies and even the much soughtafter kegs of beer.
So popular has the DIY pub phenomenon become that one social media home bar page has more than 11,000 members.
Among those who has built his own pub is Donegal rapper Kristian Shortt. His father Frank was at the centre of one of the country’s most sensational miscarriage of justice cases and was awarded €4.5m in 2007 for being wrongly convicted of allowing drugs to be sold at his Point Inn in Quigley’s Point.
Kristian has built his pub around an old tree on the grounds of his parents’ home and the musician tried to replicate as best he could the family pub that first opened its doors for business a century ago.
He said: ‘I built this pub as a means for family and friends to socialise over a few drinks when such activities are now banished from the land. I built this little sanctuary to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the opening of my great grandfather James Shortt’s bar in Quigley’s Point… I duplicated the old sign above the bar and used it here. I also used old barrels similar to what was used for the interior back then.’
He continued: ‘My pub is not a shebeen. But what’s happening now is completely over the top and I would support any shebeen in my area and any pub if they decided to open up against the so-called “rules”.’