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A non-alcoholic Guinness could be available in your local pub after Diageo’s global head of innovation, Michael Ward, said that the company has been working on a non-alcoholic version of the black stuff, as reported by Campaign Live.
Speaking at a media event for Diageo, Ward said that while the non-alcoholic brew is on their agenda, there are still “a lot of challenges to work through”.
He adds: “You would certainly expect that we would (launch a non-alcoholic Guinness). But it needs to be a no-compromise proposition.”
At this point, Ward reaffirmed the difficulties of achieving a perfect balance between brand quality and the requirements of making a no, or low-alcoholic product.
In terms of Guinness, Diageo has traditionally exercised caution when it comes to rolling out non-alcoholic brands.
In January 2018, Diageo Ireland launched ‘Open Gate Pure Brew,’ a non-alcoholic lager from the Guinness Open Gate Brewery. However, the drink was only made available to 250 Dublin pubs initially.
At the time of its launch, Lead Brewer John Casey said: “Many non-alcoholic beers are made by taking a conventional beer and boiling away the alcohol which can impact the taste. From the start we were determined to brew a non-alcoholic beer with the same process we’ve perfected over the last 259 years. It has taken two years of experimentation but we’ve come up with a way to fully brew beer using a special yeast strain that only produces a very limited amount of alcohol.”
In recent months, Diageo also launched the spoof brand Guinness Clear, which was revealed to be a campaign that was aimed at normalising ordering water for rugby fans in an effort to promote responsible drinking.
Speaking with JOE, Diageo released the following statement: “We are always considering a wealth of new innovation ideas – but don’t comment on speculation or have any news to report. Guinness Zero has been available in Indonesia since 2014, and last year we announced the launch of a 0.5% ABV lager, ‘Open Gate Pure Brew’.”
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