A pint of the black custard, Irish Champagne, ebony nectar or simply Guinny: is any other iconic beverage known by quite so many nicknames as Guinness? The Irish stout celebrates 65 years since its first draught beer - and 36 since it was launched in a can - but its popularity has gone from strength to strength since younger generations started discovering its incomparable taste. Parent company Diageo reported back in January that sales soared by 24 percent in Europe over the last half of 2023, driven mainly by booze-guzzlers in the UK and Ireland, while sales of its non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 offering more than doubled over the same six months.
And it’s no surprise that celebrities have been jumping on the bandwagon. Kim Kardashian , 43, was pictured holding aloft a pint of plain at a London pub - followed by a ‘baby Guinness’ shot chaser, which is made using coffee liqueur and Irish cream, in March 2023. Vampire singer Olivia Rodrigo, 21, snapped herself sipping the black stuff on Instagram , and cemented her love of the booze by wearing a handmade t-shirt proclaiming ‘Guinness is good 4U’ at Dublin gig in April.
Ali Dunworth, author of A Compendium of Irish Pints, believes more women are ordering Guinness because there’s “a rebelliousness in drinking pints”, while Diageo’s CEO Debra Crew credits the growing number of social media ‘Guinnfluencers’ with getting Gen Z to try the stuff. Brand marketer Bonny Dellow, 33, runs @TheGuinnfluencer account on In.