World-renowned Irish stout fights to recover from Covid

Production dropped by half during lockdown with stout being popular in the on-trade

The industry is banking on a strong Christmas season.

Ireland’s stout sector was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with production and domestic sales down between 2019 and 2021.

Data from representative body Drinks Ireland show that consumption of stout by volume in the domestic market recovered by 25.7% between 2020 and 2021, but was still down by 10.3% compared to 2019 pre-pandemic sales.