Guinness scarcity disaster sees pubs run dry by 10pm – and rationing pints is not sufficient
Demand for the black stuff has soared by 20.6% with sales of the Irish tipple overtaking draught beers – meanwhile taps have been running dry in the UK and celebrities could be to blame
Guinness is running out and no this isn’t a drill. Dublin’s infamous black stuff is in short supply and for pubs that means rationing pours. For punters like yours truly on Saturday night, it means the miserable sight of cups plonked on Guinness taps across the bar signifying that’s your lot.
So how’s this happened? Well apparently the warning signs were there in *ahem* black and white for team Guinness as its popularity in Britain has soared exponentially. The figures for the week to November 30 signalled the first signs of a turnaround for struggling publicans after years of decline, said industry analysts Oxford Partnership, which released the data.
According to The Times, we are drinking 20% more of the iconic stout now than last year, which has been attributed not only to social media influencers but celebrities too. Kim Kardashian being snapped with a pint of it in London can’t have done sales any harm.
A sea of shut off Guinness taps this intrepid reporter clocked at The Grain and Hop Store in Cambridge has become a scene all too common across the country, not least in the capital.
Phil Inzani had no Guinness left to serve at Polo Bar in central London on Saturday evening and admitted to The Times, he’s now desperate a new delivery. He said: “When you fancy a Guinness, you fancy a Guinness, so it’s creating an awkward situation for us. We do have stocks of Guinness without alcohol but it’s not quite the same.”
Rationing the drink all week got The Old Ivy House in Clerkenwell only as far as Friday night. To do so the pub opted to hand a Guinness token to those who’d bought two other drinks in a kind of buy two, permission to buy a third deal.
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“I normally make sure I have seven barrels per week and I would up that in the run up to Christmas,” Old Ivy House landlady, Kate Davidson said. “But I was restricted to only four [by our brewery]. So on Wednesday, when I got my order, we only had half a barrel left in the cellar at the busiest time of the year. And we’d run out by 10pm on Friday night.”
She added: “People understand it’s a national shortage.”
Kate’s clientele may be understanding so far but for Fiona Hornsby, who runs three boozers across Liverpool, the situation isn’t going down well at all after one pub ran out on Saturday. She now expects to next run out by Wednesday.
Kate told The Times: “We have a dark craft beer and cask beer as an alternative but most Guinness drinkers won’t drink them. Guinness has told us nothing, only that they hope to resolve the issue soon.
“Surely Guinness has seen the increase in sales this year and could have planned better?”
In a statement, Diageo 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.”
