Going Flat: Beer and Soft Drinks running out of fizz...

The UK’s biggest wholesaler has begun rationing beer, cider and soft drinks as rising demand amid the heatwave and England’s World Cup campaign comes up against a shortage of food-grade carbon dioxide gas (CO2) which is hitting supplies.

Booker, which supplies thousands of convenience stores including the Londis, Budgens and Premier chains, as well as restaurant chains including Wagamama and Carluccio’s, is limiting beer and soft drinks purchases to 10 cases per customer and cider to five cases.

A spokesperson for the wholesaler, which was recently bought by Tesco, 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 and to optimise availability with the stock that is available. Therefore, we cannot comment further at this stage.”

The UK’s biggest wholesaler has begun rationing beer, cider and soft drinks as rising demand amid the heatwave and England’s World Cup campaign comes up against a shortage of food-grade carbon dioxide gas (CO2) which is hitting supplies.

Booker, which supplies thousands of convenience stores including the Londis, Budgens and Premier chains, as well as restaurant chains including Wagamama and Carluccio’s, is limiting beer and soft drinks purchases to 10 cases per customer and cider to five cases.

A spokesperson for the wholesaler, which was recently bought by Tesco, said: “Due to the international shortage of CO2, we are experiencing some supply issues on soft drinks and beer.

Supplies of Heineken’s John Smith’s Extra Smooth and Amstel kegs have already been hit. The brewer said: “Like many other businesses in the food and drinks industry, we are affected by this shortage.

“We continue to work hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible within our European supply base, and are working with customers to minimise disruption to their business.”

Coca-Cola has also said that it has “temporarily paused” some production because of the shortage of gas.

Retailers said they were also seeing some shortages of supplies of Pepsi and had expected difficulties with other beverages supplied by Britvic including 7Up, Tango and Mountain Dew by next week.

Hime wrote:I knew global warming was bull gooseberry fool!

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max

Bring it.

I bought 48 cans of Pepsi Max the other night and if this gooseberry fool goes all Mad Max on us then the only way anyone is getting hold of those cans is if they prise them out of my cold, dead hands!

Hexx wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max

Bring it.

I bought 48 cans of Pepsi Max the other night and if this gooseberry fool goes all Mad Max on us then the only way anyone is getting hold of those cans is if they prise them out of my cold, dead hands!

Oh so the cans will be chilled in your hands?

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max

Bring it.

I bought 48 cans of Pepsi Max the other night and if this gooseberry fool goes all Mad Max on us then the only way anyone is getting hold of those cans is if they prise them out of my cold, dead hands!

Oh so the cans will be chilled in your hands?

Damn it - played right into your hands!

Sadly I think the shortage of CO2 is likely to be short lived, otherwise I was starting to hope the value of my 48 cans would increase enough to allow me to retire early. But then what would be the point of retiring if there were no Pepsi Max to enjoy?!

Hexx wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max

Bring it.

I bought 48 cans of Pepsi Max the other night and if this gooseberry fool goes all Mad Max on us then the only way anyone is getting hold of those cans is if they prise them out of my cold, dead hands!

Oh so the cans will be chilled in your hands?

Damn it - played right into your hands!

Sadly I think the shortage of CO2 is likely to be short lived, otherwise I was starting to hope the value of my 48 cans would increase enough to allow me to retire early. But then what would be the point of retiring if there were no Pepsi Max to enjoy?!

I have some of this in my cupboard

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Trek-Ener ... B00290DOQ6

Bought cans for £2.50.
Now it's unavailable! It can only go up in value!

Hexx wrote:I will fight anyone in a Mad Max style thunder dome for the last bottles if there is a shortage of Pepsi Max