Guinness has a plan to solve UK shortages ahead of Christmas

Guinness is to raid its Irish reserves to help ease UK shortages, it's been reported.

A social media-fuelled surge in demand has left pubs across the UK at risk of running dry. But now reserves known as security stocks, usually earmarked for Irish customers, are being used to supply landlords in the UK, the Sunday Times reports.

A spokesperson for Diageo, which owns Guinness, said demand was at 'unprecedented levels' and thanked customers for their patience. They added: "We are producing more Guinness today than we ever have in our 265-year history, and we continue to work closely with customers across our network to manage Guinness distribution as efficiently as possible, ensuring we maximise supply and minimise disruptions for pubs and retailers."

As the Manchester Evening News reported some pubs even went to the extreme lengths of issuing 'ration cards' to limit the amount of Guinness punters could buy, to ensure everyone got their fair share. There were also reports that some breweries started capping the number of kegs pubs could acquire at once due to the national shortage.

Speaking last week Jonathon Barnes, manager at Northern Quarter pub Gullivers, said: "We ran out of our last barrel yesterday, the shortage is going into the new year, I feel like we’re definitely going to be losing money with it."

Guinness, which used to be the drink of choice for elderly men and rugby union clubs, has had a resurgence in recent years. It now has a new, young and trendy fanbase fuelled by online influencers and trends such as 'splitting the G', a party trick where drinkers aim to finish their first sip of a pint halfway across the 'G' on the Guinness glass.