BEER drinkers will be shedding tears into their pints after a brewer warned of big price rises on the way.
Heineken, the world’s second biggest producer, said it has been “significantly impacted by inflation” which its bosses called “off the charts”.
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It did not say how high prices might climb for its popular beers, which include Foster’s, Sol, John Smith’s and Amstel.
But the Dutch giant, which has 2,400 pubs in the UK, said the cost of production was set to increase by a percentage in the mid-teens.
Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink said: “These kind of price increases and inflation, I think, we have not seen in a generation.”
It is the latest business to be hit by soaring costs as the global recovery from the pandemic drives up demand.
Bosses blamed the “sharp increase in the prices of commodities, energy, and freight”.
More than 90 per cent of the beer Heineken sells in the UK is brewed here. It also makes Bulmers Cider.
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Yesterday, it emerged that consumer price inflation hit 5.5 per cent last month, up from 5.4 per cent in December and deepening the cost of living crisis for millions.
Official figures showed the price of booze was 3.2 per cent higher in January compared with the year before.
Many household staples soared by even more, according to the Office for National Statistics. Margarine rose by 37 per cent, pasta by 15 per cent and jam, marmalade and honey by 14 per cent.
