More Beer Crime: Guinness Kegs Stolen In UK

American Craft Beer|September 8th, 2026|

Apparently stealing enormous quantities of beer is becoming a thing.

British police are searching for thieves who made off with more than 70,000 pints of Guinness in a massive beer heist near Liverpool.

The theft took place on the evening of August 31 at an industrial estate in Runcorn, Cheshire, where two drivers arrived separately, hooked their trucks up to trailers loaded with Guinness and simply drove away.

And we’re talking about a whole lot of stout.

More than 800 barrels of Guinness, approximately 70,400 pints in all, disappeared in the two thefts. The beer alone was valued at roughly £115,000 ($155,000), and with the two stolen trailers included, police estimate the total haul at around £205,000 ($276,000).

The Guinness, which is always better on draft, had been destined for pubs.

According to Cheshire Police, the first truck entered the Aston Lane industrial estate at approximately 7:45 p.m., connected to a trailer loaded with Guinness and was gone about 10 minutes later.

Then, roughly an hour and 15 minutes later, another truck showed up, hooked up to the second Guinness-filled trailer and drove off.

That’s a pretty serious beer run.

Cheshire Police Detective Sergeant Gary McClatchy even managed to work one of Guinness’ most famous advertising lines into the investigation.

“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 told the AP.

Police say they will settle for nothing less than the full recovery of the stolen beer and trailers and we, of course, wish them luck.

And if all of this sounds strangely familiar, it should because beer theft has now become an international enterprise

Just two weeks earlier, thieves pulled off another massive beer heist on the other side of the Atlantic.

On August 17, approximately 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon and non-alcoholic Old Milwaukee disappeared from an Anheuser-Busch distribution center in Montclair, California.

The stolen shipment totaled 1,602 cases and was valued at approximately $70,000.

American Craft Beer reported on the theft when the beer first went missing, but now the story has taken another turn.

Pabst wants its beer back.

Badly.

Pabst Brewing CEO Greig DeBow has personally joined the hunt, announcing that the company is offering a reward for new information that leads to the recovery of the missing beer.

And he’s given whoever has it a deadline.

Pabst says it will pay up to $20,000 for new information that leads to the recovery of the stolen beer.

And he’s given whoever has it a deadline.

DeBow says Pabst wants the beer returned by September 9.

“I’m sure they look cool with a garage full of PBR,” DeBow joked while announcing the reward, but clearly he wants it back.

And if all of this sounds strangely familiar, it should.

Beer theft has apparently become an international enterprise.

So somewhere in England, somebody may be sitting more than 800 kegs of Guinness.

And somewhere in Southern California, there’s still an awful lot of PBR that Pabst would very much like to get back.

Two massive beer heists. Two countries. And a ridiculous amount of missing beer.

Who knew beer crime was having such a big year?

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