Those hoping for a pint of cold Guinness in Wales this Christmas will be disappointed to know many Cardiff pubs have completely run out of the black stuff.
Amid a UK-wide shortage, The City Arms and the Head of Steam are both out of the popular Irish stout.
Diageo, which operates Guinness, said demand this year is at ‘unprecedented levels’, forcing them to raid their reserves to increase shipments to the UK.
City Arms landlord Gary Corp told WalesOnline: ‘It’s terrible. We can’t get it. It’s a great shame and it doesn’t help my pocket. We are under the Marston’s umbrella so we’ve just been having in what the brewery is sending us.
‘It lasts a day or two and then it’s gone. I won’t have it until Friday at the very earliest, which is not great at this time of year because it’s one of my biggest sellers.’
Normally the City Arms sells around 22 barrels’ worth of Guinness each week, but since the scarcity began around three weeks ago, Mr Corp’s weekly deliveries have only contained around 10 barrels.
‘It’s been really busy in fairness, so I can’t grumble,’ the 64-year-old added. ‘But we would have been busier if we’d had Guinness in. Often, Guinness drinkers are Guinness drinkers – they don’t like anything else and they will walk somewhere else if you don’t have it.’
Some have suggested the closure of Holyhead port in Ireland could partially be to blame for the shortage.
But Mr Corp is hopeful that things will return to normal soon: ‘We’ve got the Six Nations coming up and Ireland will be visiting for that, then we’ve got St Patrick’s Day and the Gold Cup, so it needs to get back on track.’
Ben ‘Woody’ Ringwood-Walker, deputy manager of the Head of Steam, said the pub usually gets six to eight kegs of Guinness each week but in recent weeks that has dropped to three or fewer.
The latest delivery came on Thursday – and all the Guinness was gone on Friday. Mr Ringwood-Walker said the stout is one of the pub’s biggest sellers.
He said: ‘A few years ago it was seen as an old man’s drink but now there are lots of 18-year-olds getting a pint of Guinness.’
According to the Guardian, the Guinness reserves are usually earmarked for Irish customers but are now being used to ease pressure on UK pubs struggling to satisfy new fans of the stout.
The newspaper reports that some pubs have been using Guinness ration cards to make sure customers get their fair share.
A spokesperson for Guinness said: ‘We are producing more Guinness today than we ever have in our 265-year history, and we continue to work closely with customers across our network to manage Guinness distribution as efficiently as possible, ensuring we maximise supply and minimise disruptions for pubs and retailers.’
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