A truck carrying 400 kegs, each filled with 50 litres of the stout, was stolen from a depot in Northamptonshire in mid-December, according to The Guardian.

While Guinness owner Diageo declined to comment on the theft, it was said to have been reported to police by a subcontractor.

The volume of stolen stout is equivalent to around 35,200 pints of Guinness.

The theft coincided with widely-reported Guinness shortages across Britain, fuelled by an unexpected surge in demand attributed to viral social media trends.

Days before Christmas, Diageo said it had decided to raid its “security stocks” – special reserves for the Irish market only – to meet the UK demand.