City Hall brew up message in a bottle

IT MUST be every students’ dream — an invitation from a city’s first citizen to skip lectures for free beer.

But despite two hours of solid drinking, not a drop of alcohol passed their lips.

It was all the brainchild of Cork’s lord mayor Brian Bermingham, who threw open the doors of City Hall yesterday for a tasting session of some non-alcoholic beers.

It marked the launch of a week-long campaign, devised by Mr Bermingham, to encourage drinkers to consider switching to non-alcoholic beer.

“It’s all about positive peer pressure,” Mr Bermingham said.

“The idea is to create awareness that there are a range of non-alcoholic beers and drinks that are of a good quality.” It will also involve tasting sessions on both University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology campuses, free giveaways of non-alcoholic beers at junctions across the city and special deals for pubs that stock certain brands.

It is supported by the students unions in both UCC and CIT as well as by city vintners and drinks distributor, The Gleeson Group — one of the biggest distributors of non-alcoholic drinks in the country.

The Fine Gael councillor said he timed the event to coincide with the start of the new college term. And he invited several UCC and CIT students to attend.

“We are always hearing about pubs closing and rural isolation, so it is in the interest of publicans to help promote the initiative,” Mr Bermingham said.

“There are also very obvious health benefits to drinking non-alcoholic drinks.”

CIT students’ union president Gearóid Buckley said: “This is a step in the right direction. I’ve had some of the non-alcoholic beers and there is no difference in the taste. Once the market accepts that it is normal, their popularity can grow.”

Frank Cunningham of the Vintners Association, which represents 250 city centre pubs, said he hoped the initiative could help to address some of the problems in pubs.

The mayor, whose usual tipples are Heineken and Budweiser, said he decided to take the step after tasting alcohol-free beer at a function recently.

“People talk about the dangers of binge drinking and drink driving. With alcohol-free beer, there are no issues about driving or health, and yet people do not sit down and have alcohol-free beers. We need to start promoting this alternative.”

Meanwhile, Mr Bermingham has also added a new dimension to the traditional annual school visits. Starting on Thursday, he will visit over 100 city schools in three weeks.

But this year, he has invited schools to present a short performance, showcasing the schools’ music activities.

The lord mayor will be accompanied by Dr Evelyn Grant of CIT Cork School of Music.

Together they will select a number of schools to perform at a special concert in the new CIT Cork School of Music later in the year.

The selected schools will receive prizes of musical equipment courtesy of the companies sponsoring the initiative.