Pictured presenting Dungarvan Brewing Company (DBC) with their ‘Best New Producer’ award at the Blas na hÉireann awards recently held in Dingle were, from left: Artie Clifford (festival organiser), Tom Dalton (DBC), Angela Blaney (Superquinn, award sponsors), Cormac O'Dwyer (DBC) and Peter Ward (Country Choice, Nenagh).
Such has been the level of its initial and welcome success that it’s hard to believe the Dungarvan Brewing Company has only been in business since April.
To describe the six months that have followed as a whirlwind is something of an understatement. Just ask co-owners Tom Dalton (32) and Cormac O’Dwyer (36), the brains behind this operation who also happen to be brothers-in-law.
“We’re delighted with the reaction; the level of local support has been fantastic” said Tom, speaking on the shop floor at their unit in Dungarvan’s Westgate Business Park.
“Blown away by it, to be honest,” Cormac added. “The reaction has been really uplifting; it’s validated all that we’ve done and the decisions we made to get this off the ground.”
The acclaim for their product has come from near and far and the brand they’re building is already award-winning.
Said Tom: “We won a Blas na hÉireann award a few weeks ago for best new producer with the beer, particularly for the Helvick Gold, so to win an award, to have picked up local support and to have guys coming back for more is the real acid test for us. And that seems to be happening, which is great.
“And we could never have bought the level of advertising we’ve got through word of mouth, through media coverage and through the social networks – well we couldn’t have bought any advertising since we’ve no marketing budget!”
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