During the 'Green Week', Germany's bigge
st food trade fair, two Irish Ministers visited
the Murphy stand. Minister for the Marine,
David Andrews, serves a pint of Murphy's
to his colleague, Minister Joe Walsh of
Agriculture.
litre kegs of Murphy's Irish Stout
were shipped to Germany and, of
course, McLaughlin's own pub was
the first to boast a Murphy's dispenser
on its bar.
Optimistic
McLaughlin's enthusiasm for
Murphy's Irish Stout is infectious.
Perhaps that partly explains the prod
uct's success in Germany. Meanwhile,
Murphy's Irish Stout is available in
almost one hundred pubs in Germany
and that number is steadily increas
ing. Apart from a few exceptions they
are all Irish pubs.
The fact that the product is
meanwhile also available on a small
scale in the typical German bars
makes Tom McLaughlin optimistic
about the product's future. And yet he
remains a realist when asked about
the brand's position in five years'
time: "I am convinced that the brand
will be the strongest stout brand in
Germany five years from now. That
does not automatically imply high
volumes because, despite the growing
interest for stout in Germany, the seg
ment is still small."
In January this year Tom
McLaughlin introduced the Draught-
flow can in Germany during the
Grüne Woche ('Green Week') trade
fair in Berlin. In the home
consumption channel he does see
some possibilities, but these will be
very modest. The on premise trade,
and particularly the hotels and res
taurants which would like to include
Murphy's Irish Stout in their range
but do not have sufficient sales to
justify the installation of a draught
dispenser, can be offered an excellent
alternative in the form of the
Draughtflow can.
McLaughlin continues to aim his
sights at the bars and specifically at
the Irish pubs. Pubs in which the
relaxed atmosphere is the main at
traction, like the 'Oscar Wilde' in
Berlin. The pub's proprietor is Jack
Stout in their range. Kennefick says
24 that the American organisation is
"enthusiastic and surprised by the
success of Murphy's. The sales reps
have gained a brand they feel an
affinity with."
Steadily, the distribution of
Murphy's Irish Stout is being expan
ded in the United States. Not only
Irish 'strongholds' like Boston,
Chicago and New York already sell
Murphy's Irish Stout on draught. It is
also available in California, Oregon,
Washington and Florida.
Both O'Sullivan and Kennefick
have very high expectations for future
sales in France and Germany. In
France Murphy's Irish Stout is mar
keted by Brasseries Heineken, a
Heineken subsidiary. The brewery
has a portfolio of foreign beers which
Bob Kennefick chats to Tom McLaughlin,
the agent for Murphy's Irish Stout in
Germany.
are offered to the trade under the title
'Bières du Monde' (Beers of the
World). O'Sullivan is satisfied about
the developments of Murphy's Irish
Stout in France. Particularly in Paris
and the West of France bottled
Murphy's sells well.
Germany
Tom McLaughlin is a full-blooded
Irishman, a wide smile, enterprising
and friendly. At the end of the 1980s
he sought and found success in Ger
many and started what so many Irish
men start abroad: an Irish pub.
In Düsseldorf the
McLaughlin Pub
has been estab
lished since 1989,
his own local pub
offering Irish hos
pitality: easy
going, relaxed.
Naturally,
McLaughlin did
not deny his Irish
heritage when se
lecting the range
to sell in his pub.
One of the prod
ucts he offered his
customers was
stout, but he was
not satisfied with
the service provi
ded by the other
brewery. In March
1991 Tom decided
to seek contact
with Murphy's
Brewery in Cork.
He talked at
length with Bob
Kennefick and the
negotiations ulti
mately resulted in Tom McLaughlin
being appointed the Murphy import
agent. He shares the import agency
with Jürgen Keith, one of the Coca
Cola bottlers in Germany, who also
handles the distribution.
In November 1991 the first thirty-
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
