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.
Pubs run out of beer
Pubs running low on beer in the UK is normally linked to supply chain issues.
In 2021, Wetherspoons said some of its pubs had run out of brands including Heineken, Carling and Coors.
The brewers had been hit by a shortage of HGV drivers.
Pubs in Scotland were also hit by supply problems due to labour shortages.
In 2018, Britain’s biggest pub group at the time, Ei Group, said some pubs were being hit by a carbon dioxide shortage.
