ENTERPRISING Wiveliscombe publican Jon Coward has come up with a way to cope with a looming nationwide shortage of Guinness - by brewing his own.

Mr Coward, who owns the town’s Bear Inn, is to brew his own stout in time for Christmas through the Black Bear Brewery which he also runs on the pub’s site.

Guinness brewer Diageo has been forced to ration weekly orders across the UK following a period of ‘extraordinary demand’ driven by the drink’s increasing fashionability.

Some public houses around the country have started to run out of the stout, which has been brewed in Dublin, Ireland, since the 18th century.

Mr Coward was among the publicans who were facing a potential shortage but realised that having his own micro-brewery next door meant he could brew his own stout.

The new beer, to be called ‘Stout of Stock’, will be available from Christmas Eve at The Bear, as well as Mr Coward’s other local pubs, The White Horse, in Bradford-on-Tone, The Royal Oak, in Hillcommon, and Langford Budville’s Martlet Inn.

Mr Coward said of his new product: “It is all very tongue in cheek really.

“We respect Guinness, our customers love Guinness, we love Guinness, but with the recent stock shortages, we see it as an opportunity for us to stretch our legs and let our customers try something different, provide them with more choices, and also promote small, independent brewers.

“We were light-heartedly talking about the upcoming shortage when it dawned on us that we could do something ourselves.

“So, we have done something which is very similar to an Irish stout, but it is not designed to be a clone.

“We think it is going to be a lovely stout, full-bodied.

“If you like stouts, we think this will be right up your street.

“We think of it as a Somerset stout.”

Black Bear Brewery’s head brewer Tom Davis said: “We think we can do pretty good beers.

“We are trying hard to do that, and to get the word out.

“We are a very personal company, we are more than happy to have people come and talk to us here and I will show them round the brewery.

“As a small brewer we are flexible and agile, so when a situation like this does come up, we can respond pretty quickly.

“Beer drinkers are more conscious about carbon miles, and how far their food has travelled, and here the brewery is literally 20 metres from the tap here at The Bear.

“You cannot get more local or fresher than that.”

The Guinness brand, meanwhile, has been doing spectacularly well in a moribund market.

While the overall amount of beer sold in the country fell slightly between July and October, demand for draught Guinness during the same period apparently rose by more than 20 per cent, according to industry analysts.

Diageo said it was not able to increase supplies of Guiness because its Dublin brewery was already working at full capacity.