The success of Guinness 0.0 on draught at the George last year and now at the Devonshire – priced at £6.35 a pint – has led to the move but Diageo has not revealed which pubs will be serving the non-alcoholic beverage.
Diageo said with 47% of adults switching between alcohol, low-alcohol and alcohol-free drinks on the same occasion (source: The Guardian 2024), more pubs are embracing the growing trend towards moderation.
It added Guinness 0.0 has gone from strength to strength, becoming the biggest non-alcoholic beer in the UK off-trade this year (source: Nielsen), and the trial on draught marks a momentous moment for on-trade expansion in the UK.
“Guinness’s commitment to quality means they will be running small scale trials at pubs over the coming months, with the aim to expand into more outlets before Christmas,” Diageo said.
Priority stop
Anna MacDonald, Guinness marketing director at Diageo GB 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.
“We’re so proud to be offering patrons more choice through the introduction of an alcohol-free alternative with the same smooth, recognisable taste of draught Guinness, and look forward to introducing Guinness 0.0 to more pubs across the country as the year continues.”
Oisin Rogers, who operates the Devonshire, on Denham Street, Soho, told The Morning Advertiser: “With the huge volume of Guinness we already sell and the fact the zero product actually tastes really great, I thought it would be good to put a 0% option into the range on draught and that Guinness was the best one to do it with.
“People do ask what they can enjoy when they're not drinking and there's a lot of people who do need to have something that feels and looks right for the pub. It makes them feel good to hold a decent pint that looks the same as the real thing and tastes almost as good.”
Football grounds
Diageo added Guinness 0.0 will also appear on draught at football grounds across the UK, alongside its alcohol variant.
Guinness 0.0 is created at the St James’s Gate brewery, Dublin, Ireland, by brewing it in the same way as the alcoholic version before removing the alcohol through a cold filtration method.
The cold filtration process allows the alcohol to be filtered out without presenting thermal stress to the beer, which is said to protect the integrity of its taste and character.
Brewers then blend and balance the flavours to get the right flavour profile.
