Guinness has been placed into the basket of goods which national statisticians use to calculate consumer price inflation.
Well, other brands are available, so it’s not just Guinness, but any old stout.
I thought maybe it was a side effect of an aging population – those who remember when Guinness was so good for you that your doctor could prescribe it on the NHS – but no “the item has not been added because spending has increased or because the product is new on the market. It is purely as part of the rebalancing of the basket to improve its representation of overall price change.” And it is cans, not bottles, which are being added.
If the oldies are buying more Guinness it is more likely to be in a bottle.
First you can buy cans only in packs of four at a time.
And secondly Guinness may well be the one remaining beer which comes in a bottle with a screw cap. This means that if all you want is to drink one small glass at a time – never underestimate the value of a small aperitif in helping you find the appetite which may sometimes wane – or as a nightcap, then you can safely store the rest in reasonable condition.
If the government really wants us to cut down on alcohol consumption it should pay attention to questions of minimum (or should that be maximum) quantity, not just price. Cans rarely come smaller than 440 ml these days, & once opened they have to be finished.
Whatever happened to the good old British half pint? Or even the gill. Or the third of a pint of school milk.
