It’s estimated 2.4 million pints of Guinness will be drunk in Australia the lead up to and on St Patrick’s Day this Sunday. But it’s not just the Irish holiday that’s fuelling Guinness sales growth.

Sales are soaring among young women, fuelled by the beer’s popularity with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and the Princess of Wales.

Kardashian made headlines last year when she posted shots on Instagram of herself holding a pint of the Irish stout while on a St Patrick’s Day pub crawl in London.

She also drank a ‘baby Guinness’ shot, which is made with coffee liqueur and Irish cream.

Princess Kate has been spotted with a Guinness in hand several times, including during a visit to Ireland in 2020 and on St Patrick’s Day in 2017.

Guinness sales in Europe were up 24% in the first six months of its financial year according to parent company Diageo. And women now make up about a third of Guinness drinkers. 

“In Britain the number of women drinking Guinness is up 24% and it’s the 25-44 year age group that have grown in Guinness drinker numbers most,” said Diageo CEO Debra Crew.

“You know, you see people like Kim Kardashian all the sudden drinking Guinness when she’s in London, or Kate Middleton – these things catch on and especially in the social media world.”

Crew added to The Telegraph: “It looks kind of intimidating, right? And it did come from this kind of rugby lad culture. And yet I think when women find that they try it, actually it’s lighter than what they think it’s going to be.”

Last year the hashtag ‘#giantwoman’ also began trending on TikTok, with women creating an optical illusion with a pint of Guinness to make themselves look like giants. 

First brewed in Dublin in 1759, there are now 49 breweries around the world and Guinness is sold in more than 150 countries.

Guinness 0.0 launches in Australia

 A new non-alcoholic version of the famous Irish stout has also landed in Australia just in time for St Patrick’s Day.

The brew is a low-calorie option for those choosing to moderate, with just 16 calories per 100ml or just 70 calories per can.

In July last year, Guinness Ireland announced it would triple production of the non-alcoholic version of the famed beer to meet a surge in demand in the domestic and global markets.

Global volumes of the non-alcoholic Guinness 00 doubled in the second half of last year and that it now makes up 4% of Guinness output at the St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin.