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DUBLIN - How about a glass of wine to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin?
That might not sit well on the stomach of many residents of Ireland's capital this weekend as they mark the year's biggest party with copious quantities of Guinness, the rich, dark beer with a creamy head that is the national drink.
But the cliche of the Irish pub filled with Guinness drinkers is giving way to a different picture as new wealth, new opportunities and immigration transform tastes and drinking habits in one of Europe's fastest-growing economies.
Alongside the decline of Guinness is an increasing appetite for wine, spirits, cider and imported beer.
"You'll still sell Guinness, but you'll sell the likes of wheat beers, beers from the Czech Republic, beers from Poland," said Eddy Martin, who runs the Bailey Bar.
"Beer sales are declining while the amount of wine is phenomenal. Before, people would say they wanted a white wine, now they'll say they want a Chardonnay," he said at the bar in the heart of Dublin's smartest shopping district.
Latest figures from global drinks giant Diageo, which owns Guinness, show local sales for the brand down about 7 per cent in the six months to the end of December 2006 from a year before. Wine now accounts for more than a fifth of alcohol drunk in Ireland.
"The lifestyle shift has meant that Guinness has been impacted to a higher degree," said Grainne Mackin, Diageo's head of corporate communications in Ireland.
"Instead of sticking to one sort of drink, there are now two or three that people might have and that has meant we're in competition with a lot more drinks."
The scale of the shift from drinking Guinness, which takes its dark colour from roasted barley, appears even more dramatic given that Ireland has the fastest-growing population in the European Union.
"In times gone past, alcohol in this country was an acquired taste. You acquired a taste for porter, or Guinness," said Paul Stevenson, president of the Vintners Association of Ireland, which represents pub landlords.
"Your father would have brought you to the pub and sat you down and taught you how to drink. That doesn't seem to happen now."
But the decline of Guinness is by no means global.
Sales are doing well in North America and parts of West Africa - where the stronger, bottled local version of Guinness has a reputation, perhaps undeserved, for everything from helping prevent malaria to enhancing male sexual prowess.
The big challenge for Guinness is to win over the new generation of drinkers beyond the March 17 Saint Patrick's Day festivities.
That means looking for new marketing strategies.
"A lot of our Guinness drinkers are older people. A lot of our marketing and branding is focused on attracting younger and newer people," Mackin said. "The difficulty is that you cannot alienate your older Guinness drinkers too."
- REUTERS
