Exceptional consumer demand is usually hailed as a great thing for businesses, but is not without its disadvantages when supply can’t keep up.
Guinness maker Diageo has been facing this issue, forcing it to place limits on pub and bar purchases of the Irish-made stout across Britain.
Last week, it said it was managing allocations of kegs on a week-by-week basis after seeing a recent spike in demand.
Some pubs have been surviving customer demand by the “skin of their teeth”, while others have turned to local brewers to plug the stout gap.
A recent TikTok trend and so-called “Guinnfluencers” have been blamed for bolstering the drink’s popularity among Gen Z.
“Splitting the G” is a social media trend that sees people try to drink enough Guinness on their first sip that the line between the liquid and the foam ends up halfway through the G on a branded glass.
It’s become so popular that there’s an app that shows you if you have successfully “split the G” when drinking from an unbranded glass.
Even Mean Girls star Renee Rapp and her band have given it a go…
Social media expert Will Francis said St Patrick’s Day was when Google searches for the term “split the G” first spiked, with celebrities like Ed Sheeran and Niall Horan helping to boost it even further.
“Now, in December, searches have surged and it’s going more viral than ever,” he told Money.
“Google searches are currently around seven times what they were in December 2023. They are four times what they were in mid-September.”
Data expert at research platform GWI, Chris Beer, told Money the trend had “likely been a major factor in Guinness’s explosive growth” in the past year.
He has been analysing data that shows it has risen to become one of the UK’s favourite drinks. (Skynews)