The Inchicore Brewery, founded by the husband and wife team, have been landed with notice that the cost per kilowatt of gas has risen from two cents to twenty cents.

“It is actually ridiculous,” Co-Founder Cathal O’Donoghue told The Irish Times.

Beer production involves heating ingredients to create a happy place for yeast to turn grain into beer, cooling the beer and keeping it cold, each of which requires a lot of energy.

These are not the only cost increases. Aluminium for cans of beer has gone up recently. The price of cardboard has gone up dramatically since 2020. All accounted for, the cost of production of a can of beer has risen by thirty per cent in the last year, according to O’Donoghue. He said was reaching an “unsustainable” level.

Realistically the team can not double the price of their beer. The consumer simply won’t pay for it. According to the Irish Times, O’Donoghue, like many other small business owners, feels immediate Government action is required to help all businesses get through what is shaping up to be a harrowing winter.

The government announced this week that individual households would receive energy credits to the tune of six hundred euros this winter. They have not addressed the issues business will face.

This is not an isolated issue. Recently a coffee shop in Athlone received a nine thousand euro bill. The same period used to average out at three thousand euros. As did one in Westmeath.

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