Latest news with #Zingibeer
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Irish rents continue to rise, with average cost nationally now more than €2,000 a month
In breaking news this morning, Ryanair has blamed a lower air fares after it saw profits fall 16 per cent last year to €1.6 billion. The airline, which is headed up by chief executive Michael O'Leary, said in its results for the year ended March 31st, 2025, that traffic grew 9 per cent to a record 200 million passengers at 7 per cent lower fares. Rents are now climbing faster than at any point over the past 20 years with the national monthly average between January and March surpassing €2,000 for the first time , new figures from property website suggest. Conor Pope has the details. In her weekly column, the FT's Pilita Clark explains why it pays to use AI on the sly at work. READ MORE In our Your Money Q&A, a reader wonders how to calculate any potential tax liability from Bank of Ireland shares given in lieu of a bonus and dividends while employed by the company some years ago. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers. Germany used to drive growth in the European economy but now it's an anchor , writes our economics correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy. They want to be 'Ireland's answer to Hollows & Fentimans'. Hugh Dooley meets the father-daughter team behind Dublin-based Zingibeer who are chasing Gen Z drinkers as customers. In Me & My Money , Jessica Bonenfant, creative director at Greywood Arts, recalls buying a coffee in Cork recently and for 'the first time in ages' it cost less than €2. She spoke with Tony Clayton-Lea The slow pace in progressing multibillion Irish offshore wind projects is leading to investment in clean energy and critical skills going to other European countries , according to Limerick Chamber of Commerce. Kevin O'Sullivan has the details. The Press Council of Ireland has initiated a review of its membership procedures and criteria against a backdrop of 'rapid change' in Irish journalism amid a slew of new entrants to the market, its chairman has said. Ian Curran reports. Insurance companies should be forced to 'show their sums' and r eveal what calculations are behind any price increases imposed on their customers, the Green Party has said. Conor Pope has the details. The Government could provide sites for microchip-makers in a bid to lure companies like Nvidia and get them to build high-tech production facilities in the Republic, writes Ian Curran of a new national strategy on semiconductors. Apple's India pivot has ignited tensions with Donald Trump. Stocktake explains why. In our Opinion piece, Robert Whelan , MD of Rockwell Financial Management, says there should be no more delays with the auto enrolment pension scheme. Debt levels among Irish SMEs jumped last year according to the results of a survey being published by the Department of Finance on Monday. Cormac McQuinn reports.
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘Ireland's answer to Hollows & Fentimans': The father-daughter team behind Zingibeer are chasing Gen Z drinkers
Founded by a father and daughter team in 2021, Smithfield -based ginger beer brand Zingibeer topped the €500,000 turnover mark for the first time last year, despite a challenging period which saw them forced to rebuild their distribution model. 'We want to be Ireland's answer to Hollows and Fentimans,' co-founder Rachel Byrne told The Irish Times. A former banker with AIB, she said the brand's ginger beer is 'very, very popular amongst students.' The company has sought to stand out from the pack by targeting Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) as their main customer demographic, securing strategic placements in Dublin bars frequented by college students. 'We are in all the student bars, we are in UCD, in DCU, we are in the Pav in Trinity.' And research showing that young people now are drinking less alcohol than in previous generations doesn't concern Ms Byrne; 'I get the sense that young people now are looking for a little bit more quality over quantity'. READ MORE 'Young people are more considered in their spend. 'What am I actually buying? Who is making this product? What's actually in it?'' She says this trend helps Zingibeer which is vegan, gluten-, preservative-, and sulphite-free and thus more friendly to people with allergies or dietary choices. Zingibeer is manufactured by JJ's Craft Brewing Company in Limerick, a strategic move Rachel and her father Kevin Byrne made to reduce the company's risk. 'We did look at setting up our own brewery, but when it came down to it we didn't want the risk and stress of it,' Ms Byrne said. In an effort to improve its profit margin, Zingibeer changed distributor and has looked to supply some of its product directly to on-trade customers, pubs and restaurants. That decision has boosted margins to a healthier level. The transition, however, left Zingibeer without any distribution for a number of months. Despite this, revenue at the company still grew. 'We hit €500,000 in revenue last year, that was exciting. I remember thinking, 'That's a good chunk of money'.' Revenue grew by 30 per cent to €660,000 in 2024, and the company is expecting growth of 30 per cent to more than €850,000 this year. Zingibeer's rhinoceros hornbill icon will soon be on the sides of cans, as the company looks to continue to develop its product with younger generations in mind. 'It's not a toucan,' Ms Byrne said in a reference to the use of that bird by Guinness. The company created its branding around the national bird of Malaysia, where it first sourced its ginger. Their ginger beer may have entered a relatively small market, but it is growing and they are competing in Ireland against offerings from two large global brands, Hollows & Fentimans and Crabbies. 'We are definitely second to Hollows & Fentimans in terms of volume, and we're winning in a lot of the on-trade accounts,' she said, but the brand is fighting against companies with a '10-year head start'. Being a domestic brand has helped so far, with bars being 'happy' to offer Zingibeer 'because it's Irish and because people really like it.' Outside of Ireland, the Byrnes have begun working with a Danish distributor to bring its brand to an international audience.
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
How Irish-made ginger beer has become a booming trend
Spicing up Ireland's craft drinks sector, ginger beer is emerging as a blossoming new brewing trend in 2025, popping up in production across the land from Donegal to Waterford. Refreshing, cooling and effervescent, ginger beer is ideal on its own over ice but is also a top addition to cocktails like a Moscow Mule and usually sits around the 4 per cent ABV mark. You have probably seen a couple of producers crop up in cans and bottles around the country, but ginger beer is becoming an increasingly popular draft option in select outlets across Ireland. We delve into five different Irish ginger beer producers to get a taste of this exciting new frontier of the Irish craft drinks industry. Zingibeer "When we launched nearly four years ago during the pandemic, we were the first Irish-made ginger beer and then the first ginger beer on draft," Zingibeer co-founder Rachel Byrne explains, "and since then several others have entered the market, which is a good sign the category is growing pretty quickly". The Dublin-based ginger beer brand is a family business, with Rachel's father Kevin as head brewer, bringing over 20 years of experience in food manufacturing. Kevin's lifelong hobby of home brewing turned into a business by starting Dublin's Persistence Brewing Company, which supplied craft brews on keg to a number of locations around Dublin. However, with the onset of the pandemic and on-trade closures and lockdowns, business disappeared overnight. This quiet time sparked innovation and a pivot to producing the perfect ginger beer recipe. "We were working from a tiny warehouse in Smithfield and all we could do was draft because we didn't have a bottling line so started putting kegs out into the trade, and people were like "oh my God, this is really different, we have never had ginger beer on draft before and even better that it's Irish," Rachel explains, "so that's when we knew we had something". Zingibeer, like a number of other ginger beer producers, is gluten-free as it uses a gluten-free malt base and puréed ginger root with a handful of botanicals and lemon juice and zest to add a slight cloudiness. "People are often surprised how clear our liquid is," Rachel explains, "ginger beer is actually quite pale, naturally, as there is nothing that goes into ginger beer that naturally has that kind of electric, dark colouring, you would have to add those colourings in". Aside from kegs and on-trade, they supply kegs to around 15 outlets, from the Dew Drop Inn and Cadell in Galway to Hogan's in Dublin, their best-selling outlet. Zingibeer is also produced in 500ml bottles and is widely available in independent retailers, off-licences and multiple supermarkets. Their packaged product has seen a 60 per cent growth in the last 12 months alone. Having won a number of Blas na hÉireann awards in 2022 and 2023, Zinigibeer has also taken part in SuperValu's Food Academy and the Food Works business accelerator programme for food and drink start-ups supported by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc. What is driving the growth? "Ginger beer as a flavour is kind of nostalgic but it's also quite modern and new," Rachel explains, "and I see a really diverse age range of enjoying ginger beer, from older customers to students, it actually sells really well in the student market". "We like our products to prove themselves rather than banging the drum in advance," says Rick LeVert, Managing Director and Head Brewer at Kinnegar, the independent Donegal brewery based in Letterkenny, which quietly launched its 'Jackrabbit' ginger beer late last summer. "Ginger beer is enjoyed by many consumers who might not drink the 'normal' beers in the Kinnegar range," Rick adds, "they're often younger and it's quite likely that they began their exploration of drinks in a different place to traditional beer drinkers". Remarked for their craft brews wrapped in expressive illustrations by Dermot Flynn, a long time Kinnegar collaborator, Kinnegar's new ginger beer is no exception. Inspired by a far-flung cousin of the local Kinnegar hares, the name and branding on the new bottle is in honour of the jackrabbits found in the desert areas of Mexico and California. The ingredients are water, barley, ginger, raw cane sugar, pear and yeast and Jackrabbit (€3.99, 500ml) is available in leading off-licences nationwide and is also popping up on tap in various outlets like Blue Note and Róisín Dubh in Galway and Bonobo, Kodiak and Caribou in Dublin. Ollie Brewed by Hopfully Brewing Co. in Waterford City (in the former Metalman Brewing Co. Premises), Ollie uses a pear juice and elderflower syrup base for its Irish-made ginger beer, so it offers a slightly more fruity and floral flavour while also containing double ginger: ginger juice and ginger extract plus a handful of additional botanicals. It balances citrusy, zesty, spicy and sweet notes harmoniously and uses a gluten-free malt extract and less sugar than some of its counterparts. "Ollie Ginger Beer is not technically a beer," they describe themselves, "but a refreshing alcoholic blend of fresh ginger, water, sugar, fruits, and selected botanicals, fermented with yeast, then carbonated and packaged in 440ml cans (4 per cent ABV)". Another fun illustrated label, you will easily recognise an Ollie can from its monochrome colouring and the illustration of the tan-coloured dog wearing a cardboard box on its head, designed by Mayo-based illustrator Jacob Burrill. Aside from their signature ginger beer the Hopfully team has also recently brought out a new, special edition yuzu flavour of Ollie, which is a citrus fruit native to East Asia that has a tart, sour flavour, like a hybrid of lemon and grapefruit but with an intense and unique aroma. Non-Alcoholic Ginger Beers Black Castle Black Castle produces a range of craft sodas, which includes a non-alcoholic 'Fiery' Ginger Beer that combines natural ginger root flavouring and extract with zesty lemon and floral pear juice concentrate. Also in the mix are spices like cinnamon, allspice and cardamom, sweetened with a hint of rich muscovado sugar. A great alcohol-free alternative, their suggestion is to serve over ice with a wedge of lime. Poachers Well known for its range of mixers from tonic waters and soda waters to ginger ale and ginger beer, Poachers' Irish Ginger Beer is the hottest member of its family and even includes some uniquely Irish components including chilli grown outside Galway, organic Irish apple syrup, Irish spring water and organic ginger and lime zest. They call it the perfect addition to an Irish take on a mule cocktail.
