If you are planning to drink draught John Smith’s beer or Strongbow cider in a Wetherspoons any time soon you may be disappointed.
The chain says some of its pubs do not currently have those drinks because of the carbon dioxide shortage that has hit the UK.
But the maker of the two popular brands, Heineken, says supplies will be available again in a couple of days.
It comes as food and drink companies put plans in place to minimise disruption for consumers.
A Wetherspoon spokesman said: “Wetherspoon has the advantage that it sources its wide range of drinks from a number of suppliers, so has not been too badly affected.
“Heineken has been the company with the biggest issues and they have told us that all is getting back to normal.”
A Heineken spokeswoman said: “We’d like to reassure beer drinkers that all our breweries are operating at full capacity, and we’re working 24/7 to get beers to our customers as quickly as possible.”
The country’s largest wholesaler Booker said it was limiting sales to 10 cases of beer and five cases of cider and soft drinks per customer per day to prevent “sub-wholesaling”.
Image: Some Wetherspoons pub have run out of draught John’s Smith’s beer and Strongbow cider
The Tesco-owned retailer, which is used by bars, restaurants and traders, said the move was to preserve availability and satisfied the “vast majority of Booker customers”.
A Booker spokeswoman said: “Due to the international shortage of CO2, we are experiencing some supply issues on soft drinks and beer. We are currently working hard with our suppliers to minimise the impact for our customers.”
Tesco said the CO2 shortage had not resulted in any availability issues on any product lines.
However, Booker’s move to ration sales followed Scotland’s largest pig processing plant suspending its slaughtering process and Coca-Cola temporarily pausing some production lines.
Also, Morrisons and Ocado have said the shortage had led to disruption to some frozen product lines.
Quality Pork Limited in Brechin, Angus, carried out its last slaughter on Tuesday due to a lack of the gas used to stun animals before they are killed.
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There are plans to send around 1,000 pigs to another plant near Manchester this week, but operators say the CO2 shortage could have serious implications if the shortage continues.
The problem has been largely caused by shutdowns for maintenance at plants which produce food grade CO2, which is also used for things such as carbonated drinks, beer-making and vacuum packing.
Source: Sky