How gen Z helped drink Guinness dry – and its stout rivals cashed in
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Ireland’s best-selling brew has found new favour among women, the young, and celebrity drinkers. Now a shortage of supply in UK pubs has opened the door to competitors. At the Lamb, a pub on London’s Holloway Road, Hamish Goodwin is nursing a pint of Murphy’s.
![[A pint of Murphy's stout on a bar ledge]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/36c11575cf95c9b60a2e35502dd9e1abf172217c/0_695_3342_3902/master/3342.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A Guinness drinker, Goodwin recently fell in love with the lesser-known stout, which he calls “slightly richer”. Though generally less common, Murphy’s has been “creeping up” in pubs and bars in the capital recently, he’s noticed. Another Guinness drinker at the Lamb, Chris Wold, says he opts for an alternative stout wherever possible. “Guinness is hugely reliable, but it’s a bit vanilla. When I noticed they didn’t have Guinness on, I was happy to see Murphy’s.”.
![[A 1954 advertisement for Guinness showing a man and a toucan holding glasses of stout with the caption 'Lovely day for a Guinness'.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a7fdcbde3dc2a31ae28354688b49808e24346982/0_0_4349_5591/master/4349.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Yet thanks to social media – with accounts like Shit London Guinness (dedicated to incorrect pours), posts on the “splitting the G” challenge, and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Olivia Rodrigo drinking it – the popularity of Guinness, once considered an “old man’s drink”, has risen dramatically. And especially among women and gen Z.
Guinness 0.0 is now Britain’s best-selling non-alcoholic beer, and Diageo, which owns the brand, is almost doubling its output. Soaring Guinness sales – 20% up in the four weeks to November compared with the same period a year before – led to a Christmas shortage. A spokesperson for Diageo said in December the company was planning to ship more Guinness to Britain than it had for St Patrick’s Day, traditionally the busiest time of the year. Supplies were rationed and some pubs were unable to stock it.
