UK: Diageo starts longer-term test sale of non-alcoholic Guinness on draught

Diageo has started a longer-term test sale of its non-alcoholic Guinness on draught in the UK on-premise, Yahoo Finance reported on September 2.

The zero-alcohol stout will be sold at The Devonshire pub in Soho, London, priced at £6.35 ($8.34) a pint. It will be available on tap until early 2025 "with the possibility to extend", Diageo told Just Drinks.

The move follows a small three-day trial of the non-alcoholic stout on draught in The George pub in Fitzrovia, London, from 15 to 17 March last year.

Diageo described the latest push with Guinness 0.0 as "a momentous moment for on-trade expansion in the UK".

Draught Guinness 0.0 is also available, alongside full-strength Guinness, at stadiums across England that are hosting Premier League football matches from August until May next year. The product was also sold on tap earlier this year at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, London, at the Six Nations international men's rugby tournament from early February to mid-March 2024.

In a statement, Anna MacDonald, Guinness marketing director for Diageo's Great Britain (GB) arm said: “We’re thrilled to be trialling Guinness 0.0 at a select number of pubs in GB, including The Devonshire – a priority stop for any Guinness fans in London.”

MacDonald said Diageo "looks forward to introducing Guinness 0.0 to more pubs across the country as the year continues”.

Diageo declined to comment on where in the UK these other trials would take place and for how long, noting that more information would be shared later this year.

Up until now, Diageo has prioritised building the brand's on-tap presence in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. According to the Captain Morgan rum producer, 0.0% Guinness is sold permanently on draught in more than 1,600 on-trade locations across the island.

In 2023, Diageo announced plans to expand the production capacity for Guinness 0.0 with a €25m ($27.7m) investment into its St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland.

At the time, the Tanqueray gin distiller said it planned to use the money to construct a two-story building at the facility which would feature six processing vessels and a total production capacity of 500,000 hectolitres.

The group claimed the cash injection would help increase production capacity by 300%.

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