Guinness will almost triple production of its zero-alcohol brand in response to a growing consumer taste for non-alcoholic drinks.
Owners Diageo has invested €25 million in a new facility at its St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin to meet a surge in demand for alcohol-free stout in the domestic and global markets.
The new production facility includes six processing vessels with a total capacity of 500,000 hectolitres – almost 90 million pints – and a two-storey building where the alcohol is removed through a cold filtration system to create Guinness 0.0.
Guinness 0.0 was launched in 2021 and the company forecasts it is on course to account for 10 per cent of all Guinness sales on the island of Ireland in the coming years.
The main export markets for the zero-alcohol stout include Great Britain, Europe, the United States, Canada, the Middle East and South Korea.
Managing director of Diageo Ireland, Barry O’Sullivan, said Guinness 0.0 is now the top-selling non-alcoholic beer in four-pack format on both the island of Ireland and Great Britain.
“This expansion in production capacity at St James’s Gate is a testament to the quality of Guinness 0.0 and the growth of the non-alcoholic category as consumers look for more choice on different occasions,” he said.
“We expect the growth of Guinness 0.0 to be another export success story for Ireland.”
Publican Oliver Barden from O’Donoghue’s in Dublin said zero-alcohol stout is becoming very popular.
“It’s a great tasting alternative for those that want to experience the atmosphere and craic in the pub without any alcohol,” he said.
“I imagine this demand will continue to grow as the availability and quality of non-alcoholic products becomes more widespread.”
Price Hike
The news comes as the price of a pint increases in Ireland today.
For the second time in six months Diageo is increasing the cost of stout and beer.
This time it's by 4 cent while in February it was 12 cent.
It'll affect drinks like Guinness, Smithwick’s, Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13 and Carlsberg.
Business costs are being cited as the reason for the increase, but the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland has said the price rise is "poorly timed and deeply unfair to both consumers and publicans".
By David Young, PA & Beat News
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