Dutch Gold is a low-cost, imported,

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...

lager beer sold only in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was launched there in 1995.

The beer

The beer is distributed in Ireland by ''Comans Beverages'', an importer and distributor of beers wines and spirits located in

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, County Dublin. The beer originally contained 4%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

. This was changed in 2022 to 3.5%

in order to align prices with Irelands newly introduced minimum alcohol unit pricing laws. It is described by the distributor as having "a crisp, clean, fresh flavour".

Irish retailing

In the Irish canned beer market, Dutch Gold has a market share of between 11% and 14%, making it the nation's third most popular beer after

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

and

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Febr ...

as of 2007. Dutch Gold is not advertised in the media, rather favouring in-store advertising. Competitive pricing and a variety of multi-pack offers are the primary promotional methods.

Social and cultural implications

In 2006, the Gardaí launched a campaign against anti-social behaviour in

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

under the name 'Operation Dutch Gold'. The distributors of the product, Comans Wholesale of

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, complained that the naming of the project was unfair to them. In 2005,

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

had a ''Dutch Gold Society'' on campus, in a tribute to the beer."Why there's now more to student life than boozing and beans (... seriously!"

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

, 23 March 2005

References

{{Reflist AB InBev brands Beer in Ireland Beer brands 1995 establishments in Ireland