Guinness owner Diageo has vowed not to hike costs for the rest of this year.
Some pub bosses responded to the announcement by calling on Heineken to do the same.
Heineken last week sparked a revolt amongst pubs across the country when it revealed plans to increase the price of a pint by an estimated 17c to 25c on December 1.
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Bar owner Nathy Towey (44), who said he would stop selling Heineken rather than ask customers to pay more, welcomed today's move by Diageo.
He told the Irish Mirror: “We have been told by Diageo that they are going to hold back on any price rises for the rest of the year.
“It’s welcome news and it puts pressure on Heineken.
"Their prices are not due to rise for another two weeks, so they still have time to change their mind.
“I would encourage them to do that. The Diageo decision eases things a bit for us, gives us some certainty.
“But Heineken must realise that every industry has experienced increased costs.
“We can’t all just keep passing the buck to customers. Sometimes we just have to hold.
“If other brewers are holding, why can’t Heineken as well? We all have to take some pain.
“There comes a tipping point and when you start going over that, you risk excluding customers and losing them.”
Nathy started working in his pub Darkey Kellys on Dublin’s Fishamble Street in 1999 and took it over in 2011.
He added: “The pub is where people go after they have paid all their bills, so we have to give value for money.”
When Heineken last week announced its decision to hike the price on all draught kegs from December due to “unprecedented cost increases”, the move was received as a blow before Christmas amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Pub-goers feared increases for drinks such as Heineken, Moretti, Orchard Thieves, Lagunitas, Beamish, Murphys, Tiger, Coors, Fosters, and Island’s Edge.
Heineken calculated that its increases would mean a 17c rise at the bar, but pub bosses reckon that would rise to at least 25c when VAT is added.
One pub said: “A 17c increase before taxes means that the price at the taps could increase to close to 50c a pint at the counter.”
The CSO’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows a pint of lager costs an average of €5.55 – meaning a 50 cent price hike would push pint prices to over €6.
Dublin publican Noel Anderson, the former chairman of the Licensed Vintners’ Association, which represents businesses in the capital, tweeted that the move was a “huge kick in the balls”.
Vintners’ Federation of Ireland president Paul Clancy said: “These price increases are the last thing publicans or customers need.”
General inflation hit 9.2% in Ireland in the last 12 months, but prices for beer and spirits rose even higher, up by over 12% in the same period, according to the CSO’s most recent CPI figures.
Customers of some Dublin pubs reported that pints of Guinness had reached close to €8 in recent weeks.
It cost €7.60 for a pint of Guinness in March in the city centre but that had increased by 4.5% to €7.95 by last month, while a pint of Heineken was up to €8.95 due to soaring energy bills, according to publicans.
Meanwhile, the Budweiser group is continuing to monitor its prices and costs.
The American company said cost pressures are growing due to prices of grain, energy and also glasses because furnaces used in bottle production need massive energy resources.
A Budweiser Brewing Group spokesperson said: “We are also facing increases in waste packaging and other taxes.”
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