Brazen thieves stole two trucks containing more than 70,000 pints of Guinness from a depot.
About 800 barrels of stout, estimated to be worth £115,000, were taken from the Whitehouse Industrial Estate in Runcorn on Monday, a Cheshire Constabulary spokesman said.
Police are hoping to recover the stolen items and have appealed for witnesses who may have seen a truck entering the Aston Lane area at around 7.45pm.
Detectives said the truck connected to a truck carrying the Guinness and left the site towards the Mersey Gateway bridge at around 7.55pm.
A second truck arrived at the same location at 9.12pm and was linked to another trailer, which also contained barrels of Guinness, before leaving at 9.30pm towards Rainhill and Watkinson Way, police said.
The stolen barrels, containing around 70,400 pints of Irish liquor, were waiting for delivery to pubs.
Diageo, which owns Guinness, has a packaging warehouse on the Whitehouse Industrial Estate on Aston Lane.
According to police, both trucks were probably driven by men.
Brazen thieves stole two trucks containing more than 70,000 pints of Guinness from Whitehouse Industrial Estate in Runcorn (pictured)
One of two truck trailers stolen from the depot, containing hundreds of barrels of beer
The first driver is described as white with a short dark beard and wearing a beanie, while the second is believed to have been wearing a cap.
It is estimated that the total value of the stolen items, including the trailers and Guinness, is approximately £205,000.
The trailers are described as white three-axle curtainsider trailers with branding from logistics company GXO on curtains and rear doors.
They also have unique ID numbers on the rear doors in the upper left corner. The ID numbers of stolen trucks are DL736 or DL542.
Detective Sergeant McClatchy said: ‘It is said that ‘Guinness is good for you’ but that is only the case if it is bought and paid for.
‘With this in mind, we have wasted no time in launching investigations to identify those responsible for the theft of £115,000 worth of Guinness and the two trailers containing the kegs – we will settle for nothing less than the full recovery of all stolen items.
‘As part of our investigation into what fully happened, we are now appealing for anyone with any information relating to the theft to come forward and speak to officers.
‘We would also ask any motorists who were driving in the area at the time of any of the incidents to review any dashcam footage to see if you have captured anything that could assist our investigation.’
Anyone with information is asked to contact police via the website, or by calling 101 and using incident reference number IML-2408641.
