The legendary advertising slogan Lovely Day for a Guinness is ringing truer than ever as the beer’s popularity has surged after an increase in the number of people drinking at bars.
The trend became particularly noticeable as punters ventured out more after the COVID-19 pandemic. And the famous Irish stout is especially fashionable among younger drinkers.
Cities with large Irish American populations are where sales have boomed the most, according to Joyce He, the company’s US brand director.
Areas like New York City, Chicago, Illinois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Boston, Massachusetts, were some of its top-performing markets.
The brand was ‘disproportionately affected’ during the pandemic, but fans looking for a drinking experience has helped with sales, the marketing boss told the New York Times.
‘Americans preferred craft beers. That changed during the pandemic. You would look up and down the bar and everyone was drinking Guinness. Men, women, young and old,’ Mike O’Sullivan, an owner of the New York pubs Hartley’s and Grace’s told the paper.
Sales for Guinness products in bars have become ‘completely bananas,’ and the brand is no longer considered a ‘meal in a glass.’
Guinness is the fastest-growing imported beer in the US based on 2023 pub, restaurant, and brewery sales.
Guinness was created after Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a brewery in Ireland in 1759.
The brand was in its financial prime worldwide until 2000, when it suffered its first sales drop in 241 years.
‘Most people increasingly favor bland and sweet mass-produced beers while ale lovers prefer a real bitter to a stout,’ then-Camra research director Iain Loe told The Independent in 2000.
‘Guinness is stuck between a rock and a hard place as a result. It just goes to show that however good the advertising, it is the drink itself that decides success.’
Its sales dropped even more in 2001, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Guinness sales in the US and the UK were continuing to fall.
Diageo, the company that owns the Guinness brand, initially feared there could be detrimental lasting trends from the pandemic.
‘There are new habits developing, including making cocktails at home. Some of that will stick,’ then-Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes told The Guardian in 2021.
‘But the consumer orientation to return to socialising outside the home is very high so as conditions get back to normal we expect consumers returning to pubs, bars, restaurants and sporting events, so our business will rebalance.’
Guinness has confirmed its net sales in North America increased by six percent this year.
Guinness was also voted the nation’s most popular beer in this year’s third quarter for adults and number one in popularity for millennials by YouGov.
Guinness has notably lower alcohol content compared with other beers and shifting attitudes to drinking could account it being a favorite among younger pubgoers.
The Guinness Draught and Guinness Extra Stout have a 4.2 percent ABV (alcohol by volume) – lower than a ‘standard’ alcoholic drink in the US.
A typical beer in the US has closer to 5 percent alcohol, while wine has 12 per cent, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Celebrities like Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi have participated in Guinness marketing campaigns, and Jason Momoa teamed up with the brand for its Lovely Day campaign.
‘For years, he’s been a huge fan of ours and of course we’re huge fans of his,’ the Guinness US brand director told Forbes in March 2024.
‘But this is more than just another partnership: together with Jason, we are starting a new chapter in our iconic story that will bring Guinness to more people, places and celebrations.’
Other celebrities have gotten a kick out of promoting Guinness through social media trends rather than official marketing campaigns.
One of the biggest trends involving Guinness is ‘splitting the G,’ which requires fans to drink a sip of the beverage so that the line between the beer and foam is halfway through the ‘G’ on the Guinness logo.
Experts first noticed the trend in 2017 and it then spread from London and Ireland to the US.
Guinness drinkers who have participated in the trends have taken pictures or videos for social media to prove they completed the task.
Horan and Ed Sheeran also attempted to ‘split the G’ in August 2024. While the ‘Shape of You’ singer was able to do it, the former One Direction member could not.
American actor John Cena later admitted he was ‘ignorant’ when it came to his attenot at ‘splitting the G’ this year.
Cena claimed it was ‘heavy’ and ‘tough to drink’ but insisted a Guinness beer was his ‘drink of choice’ during an August 2024 interview.
Other celebrities who showed their love for Guinness this year include Olivia Rodrigo and Kim Kardashian.
Today, Guinness offers more than 20 beers, and bars, breweries, and restaurants and sells non-alcoholic beverages.
It’s also considered the beer of choice for Americans who earn $150,000 a year, according to a report from YouGov.
Nearly two billion pints of Guinness is sold worldwide every year and around 180 million of those pints are in the US.