As taps started to run dry, stout-lovers in the UK were left reeling from a Guinness scarcity so bad that some bars had to ration pints of the “black stuff” in the days before Christmas.
According to reports, supermarkets are still in danger of running out of stock because of consumers’ hoarding, and Diageo, the company that makes the well-known stout, has ordered backup Guinness supplies from Ireland.
It has now come to light that criminals seem to have taken even more drastic measures to avoid the drought, committing a robbery that made the shortage worse.
In mid-December, a truck carrying 400 50-liter kegs of the stout, or 35,200 pints, vanished from a logistics hub in Northamptonshire, close to Daventry.
Guinness’s owner, Diageo, remained silent about the purported theft. However, people with knowledge of the matter attested to the fact that a subcontractor employed by a business in the Diageo supply chain had informed the authorities about the theft.
Guinness’s recent surge in popularity among Generation Z, many of whom enjoy posing on social media with a pint in hand, has contributed to the shortfall.
Over the past few years, Diageo, which makes the stout at its St James’s Gate plant in Dublin, has increased its marketing efforts and collaborated with influencers to increase Guinness’s visibility.
In the run-up to Christmas 2007, a vehicle broke into the St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin and took 180 kegs of Guinness, 180 kegs of Budweiser, and 90 kegs of Carlsberg, or 40,000 pints.
The alleged theft is part of a string of recent cases involving the theft of tasty treats. A Michelin-starred chef publicly urged the robbers who took his van full of 2,500 pies to “do the right thing” and donate them to those in need in December.
Two months prior, a 63-year-old man was detained by officers looking into the theft of 22 tonnes of cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy on suspicion of handling stolen goods and fraud by false representation.
950 wheels of cheddar, valued at much to £300,000, were supplied by the London cheese specialist to a suspected scammer who was acting as a wholesale distributor for a major French shop.
