Guinness price warning issued as cost of pint skyrockets by 10 per cent

The Irish stout is set to skyrocket in price, UK drinkers have been warned, just months after a massive shortage.

A Guinness price warning has been issued as the cost of a pint looks set to go up 10 per cent in UK pubs ahead of St Patrick’s Day. The Irish stout is set to skyrocket in price, UK drinkers have been warned, just months after a massive shortage.

The alert has been issued ahead of potential US tariffs on European goods, and follows Diageo’s announcement of a 4.2 per cent increase in wholesale prices, effective from 1 May.

The cost of a pint has already seen an 8 per cent increase over the past year, with the average price currently at £4.48. Should prices climb by a further 10 per cent, the average cost of a pint could approach £5 nationwide and reach approximately £6.22 in London.

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Diageo’s finance chief, Nik Jhangiani stated that the company expects its profits could fall by around $200 million if the US imposes tariffs on Mexico and Canada in March. John J. Hardy, global head of macro strategy at investment platform Saxo, suggested that Diageo’s warning serves as a form of “insurance policy”.

He said: “A 10% increase is a reasonable baseline estimate for tariffs on European imports, but [but] just like us, Diageo has no idea where the Trump administration will end with these tariffs.

“Diageo’s move to warn of a potential loss on tariff impacts is like the prudent purchase of an insurance policy as they try to assess the potential downside risks to their future results in a ‘base case’ scenario of tariffs being implemented.

“This allows them to justify the risk of weak performance beforehand and to claim some positive news upside should the tariff impact prove far smaller.”

On St Patrick’s Day, one of the age-old traditions of the holiday includes “drowning the shamrock”, which is a custom where a shamrock is placed at the bottom of a cup, which is then filled and drank as a toast either to everyone present, to Ireland or St Patrick.