Beer will be in short supply this holiday season after a suspected shipping mix-up has cut off the Island's supply of Foster's, Bass and Amstel Light.

Shocked bar managers expressed concern about holiday sales, some telling The Royal Gazette that there will be no supply from Goslings Distributors until the New Year.

One MR Onions customer, who wished to remain anonymous, said Gosling's "just lost" a lot of customers.

Popular Front Street establishments The Beach and Blue Juice are already short of some supplies - a Blue Juice employee telling The Royal Gazette the bar is out of Foster's and Bass.

Meanwhile Flanangans Pub and Restaurant said they have been out of Amstel Light for "a couple of days", and a manager at the pub noted that this is the third time this year that a shortage in beer supplies has compromised business.

However, he said he was not concerned, as he expected regular Amstel Light drinkers to switch to drinking another light beer.

And at The New Captain's Lounge a spokesman said that as of Sunday, he only had six cases left in stock of Amstel Light.

"Yes, stock is down," he said. "But we know how to cover that up - we have other light beers too."

But Pickled Onion manager Philip Barnett said the holiday season "will be interesting" with the shortage and questioned how the distributor could run out during the holidays.

And one manager of a Front Street location said: "It's the worst thing they can do. We're not going to have people stop coming in here because the Island ran out of Amstel Light, they're just going to drink something else.

"And it's going to be hard to get them to switch back. If a guy's got a taste for Foster's and develops a taste for Carlsberg (beer) because we don't have any (Fosters), it's going to be hard to get him to switch back.

"The only person they're hurting are themselves," he added.

Goslings Brothers Limited representatives were unable to return calls yesterday.