Changing consumer tastes are nothing new – especially when it comes to food and drink – but if you’ve been out in pubs or bars around the UK over the past couple of years, it’s likely you’ll have noticed a pint of the black stuff being a favourite again for many.

In short, Guinness sales are soaring. In fact, Wetherspoons cited the Irish stout as a “standout performer” allowing the pub chain to continue to open new branches and bringing in surging revenue that draught beer sales have notably contributed to.

With a world-famous brand performing so well you’d be forgiven for thinking the company which owns it would be smiling. But the complete opposite is true.

Diageo is the third-worst performer, in share price terms, in 2025 to date among FTSE 100 firms – down a whopping 29 per cent. Its chief executive left suddenly a few weeks ago. Today, it revealed profits are down by more than a quarter (27.8 per cent). And there are further uncertainties ahead for an incoming CEO to deal with.

So what gives, and what’s stopping Guinness propel its own parent company to growth in the way it’s doing so for some of the pubs which pour it?