The Guinness Challenge

Bars across UK, even Irish ones, are reporting limited supplies of the black stuff since Guinness owner Diageo announced earlier this month that they were experiencing “exceptional consumer demand”.

 

The Times even reported that the shortage of the staple in pubs for centuries was encouraging “panic buying” – worsening supplies. 

 

TBH, this situation shouldn't have come as a surprise. At Diageo’s results in January, a rare bright spot amid sluggish sales of their core spirits brands was last year's surge in the popularity of Guinness, the dark, creamy liquid, traditionally seen as the drink of choice for rugby fans and middle-aged men with beards, which became the UK’s favorite beer.

 

According to Financial Times on July 06, 2024, Guinness sales in Europe rose 24 percent, driven largely by drinkers in the UK and Ireland, while sales of non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 more than doubled.  

 

Chief executive Debra Crew credited social media “Guinnfluencers” – including Kim Kardashian (right), who posted a photo of herself with the famed Irish stout on Instagram – as key to the brand’s success, declaring consumption was up 24 percent among women, with growth driven largely by consumers aged 25-45 in the UK and Ireland. 

 

Guinness's UK marketing director Anna MacDonald admitted Diageo had done nothing specifically to target women. Instead she credited a simple shift in how the team targeted their media spend to appeal to all consumers, not just the older male that was once their core. 

 

It has been widely claimed that pubs in London’s Soho now teem with cool young drinkers of the stout, in an echo of the US hipster appropriation of blue-collar beers such as Pabst Blue Ribbon and Michelob. In June, designer JW Anderson even showed a collection of Guinness branded jumpers on the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week. 

 

And a viral craze online called “Split the G” has also apparently helped push sales.

 

Note: Pub goers can't agree on the right way to do the Guinness Challenge where you drink your pint, you reckon the line between the Guinness word and the head has gone down to the right spot. 

 

People can agree you're supposed to pick up your pint of Guinness and keep drinking in one go until you think you've reached the right spot with no pauses or tilts to check your progress.

 

But pub goers can't seem to agree where the right spot is. 

 

When it comes to this crucial debate, most people are split into two camps over the right way to do the Guinness Challenge. Some people are "split the G" die hards, meaning they reckon a successful Guinness Challenge is one where you get the line between stout and head in the middle of the 'G' in Guinness. If you're going that way then you have to be extra precise, getting your pint down to the halfway point in the 'G' so it artistically bisects the letters on the side of your pint glass.

 

And the "split the G" crowd faces stiff competition from the people who reckon the right way to pull off the Guinness Challenge is to drink until your line is between the top of the G and the bottom of the harp. 

 

It's another fine line to tread but they think it's the right way to do the challenge, and given the lack of room to manoeuvre, it's not much easier than perfectly splitting the G. 

 

I guess until this issue is settled one way or another, the pubs will continue to be filled with friendly arguments. Anyway, Guinness won't be unhappy as long as pub goers keep on drinking Guinness. For all they care, these Guinness drinkers can argue until the cows come home.