“If I can’t get it, I’ll probably be paralysed.”

That’s what Steven Crosbie says about the current problems affecting the supply of Guinness. As the owner of the Liffey, an Irish pub in Liverpool, Guinness is his best-selling product.

Steven usually receives 12 50-litre kegs a week from his main distributor. But he says he was told on Wednesday that he could only get one keg this week because of allocation limits imposed by Diageo, which owns Guinness.

Landlords across the country say their distributors have been allocating them less Guinness than usual, to ensure there is enough stock to meet demand over Christmas.

“Over the last month we have seen exceptional consumer demand for Guinness in Britain,” a Diageo spokesman said. “We have maximised supply and are working proactively with our customers to manage distribution and marketing as efficiently as possible.”

Pubs are ‘on their bare bones’

Enda Murray, owner of three pubs in London, says his supplier has restricted its supply of Guinness to one or two kegs per pub – barely 10% of what they need. He says he has managed to secure some from another supplier and should have enough “for the next week or two”.

Pub managers say they have been struggling to secure supplies at reasonable prices.

“It’s been hard work,” says Shaun Jenkinson, operations manager at Katie O’Brien’s. He says he is not sure whether the chain’s seven Irish pubs will have enough Guinness to get through the weekend.

Other operators he has spoken to are “really broke” as some ran out of Guinness on Friday night, he says.

Some landlords say pubs have been “panic-buying Guinness”. Patrick Fitzsimons, owner of the Faltering Fullback in Finsbury Park, London, says this has “dried up the market even further”. He says his pub has a small cellar, which means it needs continuous deliveries; it can’t store like others.

Few alternatives

Landlords say the uniqueness of Guinness means it is difficult to offer an alternative.

“Guinness has a very niche market,” Enda says. “A lot of pubs don’t sell other stouts.”

Some pubs say people had been stocking up on Murphy’s as an alternative to Guinness, but they claim that has led to Murphy’s also limiting allocations.

Guinness sales have risen in 2024. Volumes of Guinness sold in kegs rose by more than a fifth between July and October compared with the same period last year, contrasting with a slight decline in overall beer sales, according to data from food and drink research company CGA.

While a Diageo spokesperson said there has been “exceptional demand” over the past three weeks, Enda notes that Guinness sales have grown significantly since the pandemic at his pub.

“We have seen a massive increase in young people, especially in Guinness consumption,” he says. He attributes this to “the trend of splitting the G, all the Guinness influencers, everyone seems to want to be a Guinness influencer.”

“Splitting the G” is a trend where drinkers try to take a first swig of Guinness large enough so that the stout reaches halfway up the “G” in the word “Guinness” on the pint glass.

And as more and more people drink non-alcoholic beer, sales of Guinness 0.0 non-alcoholic beer are also strong – it now accounts for almost 3% of total Guinness volume globally.

The limits on Guinness supply come at a particularly busy time of year for pubs, which host large gatherings for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Liffey’s Steven says that if pubs do run out of Guinness, he expects people to go “bar hopping” looking for places that still have it in stock.

‘There’s more than just Guinness’

Not all landlords are worried about supply restrictions, however. Ashley English, one of the owners of the Kings Head in Docklow, Herefordshire, says his wholesaler had not imposed any restrictions on him because he only orders one or two kegs a week anyway. He says he is “not too worried” about running out of stock.

And Bryan Fitzsimons, owner of Skehans in Nunhead, London, says he is not worried about selling out because he has multiple suppliers and was able to secure some in advance.

The BBC understands the company is still working at 100% of its production capacity and that allocation limits only affect Britain.

A Diageo spokesperson told BBC News NI it would make its planned deliveries to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland “without disruption”.

Patrick, at the Faltering Fullback, says he is worried about running out of Guinness on Wednesday but said he has managed to secure a supply of Camden Stout as an alternative.

“We hope customers will realise there is more to the market than just Guinness,” he says.