Drinks companies collect 300,000 expired kegs

OVER 300,000 kegs of expired beer, stout and cider are in the process of being collected from pubs around the country ahead of their reopening over the summer.

Heineken Ireland’s commercial director Sharon Walsh told the Sunday Independent that the drinks company would shoulder the cost of replacing 100,000 kegs — equating to 10 million pints — which are expired or close to expiring.

Stocks in pubs were particularly high as they had been preparing for St Patrick’s Day ahead of the Covid-19 lockdown.

It is understood that

Guinness-owner Diageo is ‘uplifting’ more than 150,000 kegs and has offered pubs credit for the expired alcohol. Other drinks companies such as C&C are also collecting kegs in what one source described as one of the biggest logistical challenges ever to face the industry.

Walsh said Heineken was offering a range of supports to pubs and its quality team is visiting more than 1,000 on-trade outlets per week to clean all its beer and cider dispensing lines.

She said collecting the kegs was a mammoth operation. “We have 7,000 pubs who all bought in stock for St Patrick’s Day.

“In Heineken alone we have about 100,000 kegs out there,” said Walsh. Cider would have up to nine months’ shelf life but most beer would be out of date by the time pubs reopen, she added. “We’re taking all that beer out from every single customer and that’s the big contribution we will make to customers. We shoulder all that cost, so it’s a massive deal for our company. It’s the equivalent of replacing 10 million pints across Ireland.”

The unused draught product will be used to produce green electricity and fertiliser through anaerobic digestion. Heineken will fully fund the sustainable initiative.

A spokeswoman for Diageo said: “In March we committed to taking back all unsold and broached kegs, and a significant operation is currently under way to return these to St James’s Gate. We have been providing the trade with huge levels of support since the beginning of this crisis on all aspects relating to their evolving needs, including extended lines of credit and the establishment of a €1.5m Guinness Fund for bar staff and communities impacted by Covid-19.”