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 (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery. History ...

lager beer sold only in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was launched there in 1995.

The Beer

Dutch Gold was originally brewed in

Breda, Netherlands Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

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

Tallaght Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The central village area was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres. Up to th ...

, County Dublin. The beer originally contained 4.2%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of Alcohol (drug), alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest ...

. This was changed initially to 4% and then in 2022 to 3.5%

in order to align prices with Ireland’s 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, a brand of Belgian company 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 is a filte ...

and

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch 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 February 1864, ...

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 AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

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

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

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

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 A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

, 23 March 2005

References

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