The social drinker

Guinness has a pretty poor record when it comes to introducing new drinks. The abject failure of Guinness Light (aimed at young men, but rejected for being effeminate) and Draft Guinness (which came with a bizarre in-can device to inject nitrogen into the drink when the can was opened, in a bid to replicate actual draft Guinness) seems to have convinced St James’s Gate to stick to the basics, and very slowly watch the brewery’s market share wither away.

There is no shame in this. Coke is so good at being Coke that consumers abhor change there as well.

This long procession of failures has been halted lately, with a string of new beers that seem to be doing well, like Hop House 13. A record that bad makes it risky to predict success, but I suspect Guinness has a winner on its hands with a new non-alcoholic beer called Pure Brew.

Pure Brew is a first-class addition to the small but important collection of nonalcoholic beers available in Ireland. Hoppy with a smooth malty finish, it tastes like a superior craft beer where the head brewer has been kept under control and away from the self-indulgent excesses that blight many craft brewers.

The attractively packaged Pure Brew is simply much better than most of the bigname non-alcoholic beers — which taste fine for a bottle or two, and then suddenly feel too gaseous to continue drinking, and inevitably make you want to burp.

For the moment, Pure Brew is only available in Dublin pubs, but it will be sold across the country from next month. As a refreshing and distinctive alternative to the best non-alcoholic beers such as Becks and Erdinger, it will be fascinating to see whether this latest addition to the St James’s Gate stable is able to win a place in drinkers’ hearts, or whether it will go the way of Guinness Light and Cherry Coke.