Guinness trials black lager

Guinness has announced plans to trial a new “black lager” in selected markets including Northern Ireland.

The news comes as sales of black lager from other producers, such as Budweiser Budvar’s Dark and Brewdog’s Zeitgeist, rose 42% last year.

The 33cl bottle will be available to both the on and off-trade and is set to be supported with a big advertising campaign.

John Kennedy, Diageo Ireland’s managing director, said the new beer was an evolution in lager making.

“With this lager, the master brewers of Guinness have built upon 250 years of rich brewing heritage to take lager enjoyment to a new level," he said.

Previous innovations from Guinness have not fared at all well. Guinness Light and Breo White Beer all struggled to fire the consumer’s imagination in the manner of the classic stout and were swiftly withdrawn.

The trial in Northern Ireland is anticipated to last five to nine months to allow Diageo to properly assess sales figures and see if a more permanent set-up would work as well as it hopes.

The 4.5% beer will be sold at a “comparable” price to other high-end lagers.

Rupert Millar, 24.03.2010