GUINNESS have assured Irish drinkers that there will be no shortage of the black stuff over the Christmas period after it emerged supplies will be cut in the UK on the back of soaring demand.
Diageo is working at 100 per cent production capacity, but has still placed limits on orders in Britain after seeing a surge in popularity for Ireland’s favourite drink.
But the supply of Guinness to pubs here will not be affected, the drinks giant has assured boozers.
A spokesperson for Diageo said: “As we move into the busy Christmas period, we will make all deliveries to our customers across the island of Ireland, as planned and without disruption.”
But in the UK, pubs have been told that supplies will be limited following weeks of rumours.
Publican Shane Long, who owns The Hope in Fitzrovia, and Uxbridge Arms in Notting Hill, both in London, said: “We’ll get through it. People are going to go out anyway, and there is a lot of competition in that space which wasn’t there before, so I’m not as worried as I would have been a couple of years ago.”
Guinness has grown in popularity in the UK in recent years, particularly among young people.
Mr Long believes the surge in demand also stems from the pandemic.
He added: “I think after Covid, people were looking for things that they couldn’t replicate at home – draught stout was one of them and cocktails was the other, so we saw a spike in both of those.”
A pint of the black stuff has also become the focus of a viral social media challenge called ‘Splitting the G’.
The craze sees punters taking their first gulp and not stopping until the dividing line between the stout and cream lands in the middle of the G in the brand name etched on the glass.
Guinness sales are bucking market trends in the UK, according to data from food and drinks industry research firm CGA.
Overall beer drinking was slightly down between July and October but the volume of Guinness consumed from kegs was up more than a fifth.
And while the non-alcoholic stout, Guinness 0.0, is growing in popularity in Ireland, it has yet to take off in the UK, according to Mr Long.