On Saturday night at the Old Ivy House pub, drinkers looking for a Guinness were greeted with an overturned glass dangling over a tap handle.
The Old Ivy ran out of the iconic Irish stout on Friday night. It isn’t the only one.
Pubs up and down the U.K. say they are running low on Guinness after a surge in demand that caught the beer’s brewer off guard. The timing couldn’t be worse, with millions across the country heading to Christmas parties and other gatherings as the festive season here kicks into high gear.
Guinness owner Diageo says it has seen “exceptional consumer demand” for the brand in Britain over the past month. In response, the company is limiting the amount of its stout that pubs can buy to prevent stockpiling and ensure supplies last through the peak Christmas season. The issue affects both cans and kegs of Guinness in Britain.
The shortage has become a national talking point in the U.K., generating a wave of publicity for Guinness across traditional and social media as drinkers weigh in on whether the stout’s disappearance is a good thing, a bad thing or just a clever marketing ploy.
While traditionally the preserve of Irish pubs and rugby lads, Guinness became Britain’s bestselling beer at pubs, bars and restaurants in December 2022, having won fans among young and female drinkers in recent years.
The brand’s surge in popularity is partly down to a social-media phenomenon called “splitting the G,” which requires drinkers to down enough Guinness in a single gulp so that the beer sits halfway across the G on a branded glass.
Diageo has also sought to broaden the brand’s appeal, spending more on advertising and launching a successful alcohol-free variant. The company is building a second brewery in Ireland to meet global demand, but it isn’t expected to open until 2026.
At the Old Ivy, landlady Kate Davidson first learned of the Guinness shortage on Monday of last week when she tried to order eight kegs but was told by her supplier she could only get four.
To make stocks last, the pub—which has a “Split the G” leaderboard hung over the fireplace—introduced ration cards requiring patrons to buy two drinks before they could get a Guinness.
“It’s a bit of fun, rather than saying we’re out of business like every other pub,” said Davidson.
The ration cards slowed but couldn’t halt the inevitable. The pub’s next regular delivery isn’t until Wednesday.
So far only one customer has walked out upon learning of the lack of Guinness. “I don’t know where he went because everyone’s in the same situation,” shrugged barman Tsakane Mageza.
Guinness was among Diageo’s fastest-growing brands in the fiscal year that ended June 30, growing 15% from a year earlier. The company didn’t offer an explanation for why this latest surge in Guinness sales took it by surprise. Many U.K. drinkers have flocked to pubs over the past month to watch the annual Autumn Internationals rugby tournament.
Guinness stout sold in the U.K comes from Ireland. That is the case in the U.S. too but the country hasn’t seen the same surge in demand and isn’t experiencing a shortfall.
Some publicans question how a big multinational like Diageo ended up so ill-prepared that it allowed Guinness supplies to run low. “It’s sort of bulls—,” said James O’Hara who co-owns Fagan’s, an Irish pub in Sheffield in the north of England, along with six other pubs. “I’m not sure it’s anything more than unbelievable PR.”
Still, when O’Hara heard a rumor about an impending shortage two weeks ago, he said he promptly placed six weeks worth of orders, breaking with his usual pattern of ordering once a week. Guinness accounts for half of all the drinks sold at Fagan’s, which currently isn’t in danger of running short.
While some have drawn parallels between the Guinness shortage and pandemic-era stockpiling of toilet paper, Guinness, once kegged, has a shelf life of about three months. An open keg of Guinness is only good for a week.
Not everyone thinks a shortage of Guinness is a bad thing. The Campaign for Real Ale is using the opportunity to push cask-conditioned beers, promoting a list of “12 stouts of Christmas” to “help stout fans through the ongoing Guinness shortage.”
“No draught Guinness shortage here!!” tweeted the Steel Coulson Southside, an Edinburgh-based pub and beer shop. “Well, ok, that’s because we dinnae stock it!” It urged drinkers to try Extra Black, a porter made by Campervan brewery.
Guinness rival Murphy’s—owned by Heineken—is getting a boost from the shortages. At the Lamb, a pub in north London, a handwritten Murphy’s sign was stuck on the Guinness tap. The pub is also offering drinkers Eccles stout, made by an east London brewery.
For pubs looking for extra kegs of Guinness, much depends on who their supplier is, said Paul Fletcher, office manager for Small Beer, a wholesaler based in Lincoln in the east Midlands.
“Any new customers trying to get Guinness off us have no chance,” said Fletcher, whose phone has been ringing far more than usual. “Nearly every other call is ‘have you got any Guinness?’”
Small Beer is limiting its existing customers to one or two kegs.
Fletcher said Small Beer has received many inquiries from stout makers hoping pubs that once ignored them will carry their drinks. The alternative stouts are almost always cheaper than Guinness, but Fletcher said it is hard to woo drinkers away from the Diageo beer.
“If people want a stout they’ll order a Guinness without thinking about it much,” he said. “People are very loyal to the brand.”
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at Saabira.Chaudhuri@wsj.com