A major beer theft has sparked a police investigation in northwest England, coming just weeks after a similarly high-profile stolen beer case captured public attention across the Atlantic.
Cheshire Constabulary announced Thursday that two full trailer truckloads of Guinness, Ireland’s iconic creamy dark stout, were stolen from an industrial depot near the city of Liverpool this week. The stolen cargo amounts to roughly 800 barrels, which equals around 70,000 pints of the popular beverage. The Guinness itself is valued at 115,000 pounds ($155,000), while the two empty trailers stolen alongside the beer add an extra 50,000 pounds ($67,000) to the total stolen value, bringing the combined worth of the missing goods to approximately $222,000.
The heist unfolded on Monday night, when two suspects driving stolen trucks pulled into the Runcorn industrial park where the depot is located. The pair hooked up the loaded trailers and drove off with the entire shipment undetected before the theft was discovered. The beer was originally en route to local pubs across the region to stock taps for regular patrons.
Detective Sergeant Gary McClatchy, the lead officer on the case, leaned into the brand’s famous advertising slogan in a statement to the press. ‘It is famously said that ‘Guinness is good for you,’ but that is only the case when it has been bought and paid for,’ McClatchy said. ‘We will settle for nothing less than the full recovery of all the items stolen.’
This large-scale beer theft comes amid a strange recent trend of high-value beverage heists, and follows just weeks after a similar stolen beer incident drew widespread social media attention in the United States. In that case, thieves broke into a Southern California warehouse and made off with roughly 34,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a popular budget lager. Officials with the Pabst company valued their stolen cargo at $70,000, and put out a $20,000 reward for any information that leads to the recovery of the stolen beer. The company garnered viral attention for its playful yet firm message to the thieves posted on Instagram: ‘To the thief: we don’t fault you for wanting to brag to your friends how much PBR you have, we just wish you obtained it the honorable way. P.s. this is real and we are deadly serious.’
As of Thursday, British investigators have not announced any suspects or leads in the Guinness heist, and are asking anyone with information about the suspicious activity at the Runcorn industrial park on Monday night to come forward to assist with the investigation.