Guinness

The amount of Guinness pubs can buy in the build up to Christmas has been limited by its maker Diageo after "exceptional demand" over the past three weeks.




It is understood the firm is working at 100% production capacity, but has still placed limits on orders in Great Britain.
The drink has been rising in popularity with women and young people, and recent rugby internationals have put a strain on supplies.
Diageo has been upping its marketing efforts and working with influencers over the past few years to try and raise Guinness' profile.
The BBC understands that Diageo is allocating supplies on a weekly basis to make sure it has enough stock to meet demand over Christmas.
A Diageo spokesperson said: “Over the past month we have seen exceptional consumer demand for Guinness in Great Britain.
"We have maximised supply and we are working proactively with our customers to manage the distribution to trade as efficiently as possible."
Guinness sales have recently been bucking market trends, according to data from food and drinks industry research firm CGA.
While overall beer drinking was slightly down between July and October, the volume of Guinness consumed from kegs was up more than fifth.
Diageo has been pumping money into its St James's Gate brewery in Dublin, and also building a new brewery in County Kildare.
It has been focusing marketing efforts on trying to expand the appeal of Guinness, with tie-ups with Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi and actor Jason Momoa.
Production issues are not uncommon in the beer world. Belgian brewer Duvel's brewery ground to a halt after a cyber attack in March.
Meanwhile, Carlberg recently cut supplies of 11 brands citing declining demand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2v5z0wvwzo

They shouldn’t have closed their Harlesden plant or their Acton Bridge bottling and canning plant. There are better stouts available in the UK.

Appleton Brews said:

There are better stouts available in the UK.

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I wonder what has caused the "exceptional demand" over the past three weeks.

Chippy_Tea said:

I wonder what has caused the "exceptional demand" over the past three weeks.

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She's drinking it all.
Not a proper Guinness-drinker, though. When Guinness was worth drinking, it was down-in-one and only the regulation "Guinness moustache" remained.

Some Irish pubs in Great Britain have told the BBC they ran out of Guinness this week, after limits were imposed on supply in the run up to Christmas.

The Liffey in Liverpool, where Guinness is usually the top seller, says it has been without the alcoholic drink since Wednesday.

It is one of several pubs to tell the BBC they have run dry in recent days, with some managing to restore supplies but uncertain of how long stocks will last.

Guinness's owner Diageo announced last week that it was limiting how much pubs can buy because of "exceptional consumer demand" in Great Britain.

The limits only apply to pubs in England, Wales and Scotland, not Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

'Bit of a shambles'​

Steven Crosbie, landlord of Irish-themed pub the Liffey, said "it's just a bit of a shambles at the moment and killing me off".

He usually gets 12 lots of 50-litre barrels a week from his main distributor, but said that last week he was told he could only get one - and ran out entirely on Wednesday at noon.

"I'm still waiting at the moment," he told the BBC on Friday night. "I was promised today, it never came around. We've been promised again now for tomorrow, but I'm not going to hold my breath."

He says some of his regulars aren't turning up, others are staying for another pint then leaving, while some simply leave the moment they're told there is no Guinness.

Other pubs say they, too, have grappled with Guinness shortages - but have managed to restore supply after a day or two.

At the Durham and Leicester locations of Irish bar chain Katie O'Brien's, supplies of the drink ran out for two days this week, operations manager Shaun Jenkinson says.

He has not yet seen a widespread impact on sales but previously said its venues had struggled through last weekend, scrambling to order barrels in daily timeslots.

Avoiding panic buying

Kate Davidson, landlady of the Old Ivy House in Clerkenwell, central London has resorted to issuing ration cards to customers - meaning they can only get a Guinness if they buy two other drinks first.

"It's been a bit of a talking point," she says.

She says that she usually gets eight kegs of Guinness a week but was limited to four, leaving her with just one barrel by Friday morning - containing 88 pints.

She expects to run out this weekend and her next delivery is not until Wednesday.

"I don't think it will impact us too much to be honest," she said, staying optimistic that customers will buy other drinks instead.

The Marquis pub in Covent Garden, central London, said it temporarily ran out of Guinness for one night last weekend.

It is understood that Diageo is managing its allocation limits on Guinness on a weekly basis and trying to avoid panic buying before the festive period.

"We have maximised supply and we are working proactively with our customers to manage the distribution to trade as efficiently as possible," the company said in a statement.

Guinness sales have recently been bucking market trends, according to data from food and drinks industry research firm CGA.

While overall beer drinking was slightly down between July and October, the volume of Guinness consumed from kegs was up more than fifth.

Some have pointed to so-called "Guinnfluencers" on social media for helping to bolster the black stout's popularity among women and young people.

Beer shortages in the UK are rare but normally linked to supply chain issues.

In 2021 the Wetherspoon pub chain said some of its branches had ran out of Heineken, Carling and Coors amid a HGV driver shortage.

Seems like an ideal time for pubs to supply an alternative. Who knows, it might stick! I used to find Murphey's infinitely preferable to Guinness. Then there's Beamish, but I can't remember if I liked it, and there seem to be quite a lot of Irish stouts knocking around.

The cynic in wonders if it is a clever marketing ploy?

I find Beamish a very good alternative so i would give Guinness 2 fingers

I've got plenty of the black stuff! The fv jacket is pure wool that the dogs insulin comes packaged in.

Nitrosurge cans seem to be difficult to find as a side effect of this.

I also feel like it's bollocks, artificial scarcity.

They have allegedly known about this for months why not increase output.
Begs a question???

Rodcx500z said:

I find Beamish a very good alternative so i would give Guinness 2 fingers

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Beamish is excellent. It's like a dagger through the heart that they have largely stopped exporting it. Must get a flight out to Cork.

The Baron said:

They have allegedly known about this for months why not increase output.
Begs a question???

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The masters of marketing.

They will sell all they like in the pubs...and what's the betting it'll be a bun fight in the supermarket?

Brew_DD2 said:

Beamish is excellent. It's like a dagger through the heart that they have largely stopped exporting it. Must get a flight out to Cork.

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Yes Beamish is good I also like Murphy's but that may be controversial.
Off at a tangent I had Titanic Plum Porter in the Scarborough taps in Leeds on handpull yesterday and it was lush

The Baron said:

Yes Beamish is good I also like Murphy's but that may be controversial.
Off at a tangent I had Titanic Plum Porter in the Scarborough taps in Leeds on handpull yesterday and it was lush

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Fantastic beer.

No stout shortage here either.

There are some good alternative options to Guinness around now like Black Cab from Fullers and Mena Dhu from St Austell.

The cynic in me says it's an artificial scarcity for marketing purposes. Reading an article in the Telegraph, however, some pubs have switched to Murphys and have found their customers pleasantly surprised with some preferring it. I don't rate Guinness personally, it's all (extremely skillful) marketing of a very average macro beer. Much prefer Murphys in that category, and as has been said already, there are much better offerings from smaller breweries.

Appleton Brews said:

There are some good alternative options to Guinness around now like Black Cab from Fullers and Mena Dhu from St Austell.

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Camden Smooth is another that is great stout.