Guinness Draught In Cans

I've said a few times that the Malaysian love of Guinness Draught, a love that keeps the local market as amongst the most lucrative for the brewing giant, is even more impressive when you consider that two thirds of the country aren't allowed to drink and, of the ones who can, they don't drink draught Guinness at home. Or more to the point, they can't. Well, now they can, because the beer is back! 

Haven't we been here before? Yes. Back in 2017 Heineken Malaysia tested the local market by selling 4-packs of Guinness Draught in cans with the hope of finding a permanent home for the beer on the shelves of our local stores. Sadly, however, it was a bit of a failed experiment and within less than a year all the stock was gone, the campaign was over and we've been unable to have a pint of the black stuff at home for the past 5 years. 

So what went wrong? Heineken Malaysia told me at the time that the campaign was actually a success, but it just wasn't financially viable to sell the product as the local tax and import duties forced them to sell the drink at a higher retail price than they would like, much higher than locally brewed equivalents. (Not there there were any locally brewed equivalents at the time, but more on that later).

Heineken aren't wrong. Any craft beer drinker in Malaysia knows that imported beer can be off-puttingly expensive. So that will certainly be a factor on the success of a product launch.

The thing is, that fact hasn't changed today. In fact taxes and duties have risen since 2017. And, indeed, the returning Guinness Draught In Cans (as the marketing insists we call it), will be retailing for more than it did 5 years ago. So if the cost wasn't the reason the launch failed back then, what was?

Well, it was a mixture of things. Some odd choices on the retail of the product didn't help. But the main culprit was poor marketing that didn't differentiate the Guinness Draught in cans from other beers available in the stores, including their own locally brewed Foreign Extra Stout. This caused a fair amount of confusion with potential customers.

So, five years have passed and in the meantime, their one and only rival in the Malaysian market has released a very similar locally brewed product, with a unique selling point. 

I can't can't say for certain that the launch of Connor's Draught in cans is the reason Heineken decided to give Guinness Draught In Cans another go in Malaysia, but their marketing for the re-launch specifically takes aim at Connor's by pointing out that you don't need to shake a Guinness. 

And that's why I think that canned draught Guinness might gain some traction this time. There is actually some Marketing behind the product! Praise be!

Heineken and Diageo (the owners of Guinness) seem to be fully behind the launch this time around and are certainly doing things differently. They're retailing the new stock at a growing number of outlets, starting with 7Eleven and Jaya Grocer with the aim to have it in all stores soon. And they'll be selling it in individual cans, 4-packs and even 24 can slabs.

They are also going to heavily market the difference between Guinness Draught in Cans and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, linking the new beer with the draught sold in bars and promoting the "widget" technology; the little ball of nitrogen that rattles inside the can, which provides the "pub-like" creamy surge of beer that you expect from Guinness draught. If only they'd done this back in 2017 before there was a like-for-like competitor on the scene.

Still, that does mean it will be interesting to see how the sales of both canned Guinness and Connor's Draught will match. One suspects the huge pulling power of the most famous beer brand in the world will probably win out. But you never know. 

And with that in mind, I think I'll do a little blind taste test between Connor's and Guinness draught in the comfort of my own home (because you can't do that test in a bar in Malaysia). Should be interesting. I'll keep you updated. 

I am genuinely happy to see Draught Guinness back on the shelves and I'm really pleased they're doing things properly this time around. 

Guinness Draught in Cans remains a 4.2% nitrogenated sweet stout, brewed in Ireland. It's available now from 7Eleven, Jaya Grocer and an increasing number of other stores very soon.