The most successful pub to open in many years, the Devonshire in Soho, has now become the first in the UK to serve Guinness 0.0 on draft.
While Guinness 0.0 — widely considered one of the most convincing non-alcoholic beers on the market — is readily available in cans across the capital, and indeed England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it had yet to make it into any pubs in a keg until today, when the Devonshire began pouring it around noon.
Bizarrely, former footballer Peter Crouch, who was in the pub while recording his podcast, was the first customer to get a pint.
“We think it's the best zero product available on draught,” Devonshire landlord Oisín Rogers told the Standard. “It's a great substitute for people who are driving or avoiding alcohol for whatever reason.
“And,” he added, perhaps alluding to the reputation of his pub as one of the best places for a pint of plain, “it's very Devonshire.”
He continued: “The Guinness 0.0 out of the tap is far superior to the canned version. It genuinely tastes amazing, and comes through the same installation that we designed for the Dev’s usual Guinness. I was genuinely hugely surprised by the quality of the flavour and its texture and all of that.”
Rogers said his team would serve the alcohol-free pints in “a new tulip glass” supplied directly by Guinness, which he claimed to have had a hand in designing. The price will be £6.35 a pint, compared to the price of regular Guinness, which is £6.90.
Punters will be able to distinguish the zero tap from the others on the bar thanks to a distinct, one-off blue keg badge. “Diageo created the tap lens for us,” Rogers said. “It is the only one in existence, and fits onto the Irish style retro tap.”
More than 1,000 pubs in the Republic of Ireland have been able to serve Guinness 0.0 from a keg since late last year.
Guinness first announced Guinness 0.0 in late 2020, before taking it to market in 2021. It has since gone on to become one of the UK’s most popular zero per cent beers, as Guinness itself has seen a stratospheric rise in popularity, with it thought that one in nine pints sold in the UK now comes from the Dublin brewer.
