More and more Irish people are saying make mine a craft beer, as they swap their usual pints for a seemingly more sophisticated tipple. But what they don't know is that a single craft beer can contain up to twice as much alcohol as some more mainstream beers, so they may actually be drinking a lot more alcohol than they think.
The craft-beer industry is now a thriving business in Ireland as more and more artisan breweries open up throughout the country to sell their wares to drinkers looking for something different to the beers they grew up with.
Move over Heineken and Guinness, these days every off-licence you go into has a range of exotic-sounding brews that vie to have the most esoteric name and product description, with flavours ranging from coriander to coffee. But it does mean that we need to become far more aware of what our libations actually contain.
If you are a regular drinker of craft beers, you may be over-indulging without realising it.
A survey by the Irish Independent has shown that craft beer on sale in Irish stores can contain up to four units of alcohol per bottle - nearly a third of the weekly low-risk drinking limit for women.
Sales of craft beers have soared in the last few years - there are now up to 50 microbreweries dotted all over the country pumping out 7.1m litres of craft beer a year.
That's a staggering 45pc increase since 2013 and is nearly twice the 3.7m litres produced a year in 2012, according to a report on the Development and Economic Impact of Microbreweries in Ireland, published in 2014.
Source: Aideen Sheehan, Irish Independent, 22/04/15
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