Breweries increase production of non-alcoholic bee

It has long been known that less and less beer is being drunk in Germany. Therefore, one can hardly speak of a trend, at best of a long-term trend. A new awareness of health in the younger generation, an ageing society and most recently the Corona crisis are cited as causes here. Unless a vaccine or an enzyme against ageing is discovered in barley, hops and malt, there is no cure for the latter causes. The breweries have recognised this and developed a beer for a clientele for whom health is more in focus: with zero alcohol content.

Alcohol-free beer has a long tradition in German breweries

Purists can have the wind taken out of their sails right here or, better still, the foam wiped away from their mouths. Beer without alcohol is not a sacrilege. After all, beer without alcohol has been produced in German breweries in other times of crisis. When thirst could not be quenched safely using well water because it was contaminated, i.e. at the time when the German Purity Law came into being, alcohol-free beer was already being brewed. Soberly considered, the building of imposing cathedrals, groundbreaking inventions and social developments would hardly have been possible under a constant alcohol level.

Beer consumption without alcohol in figures

The ideas of health and fitness, i.e. of one's own body as a cathedral, were certainly different back then than they are today. Nowadays, it is the spirit of the age to be healthy and fit, so quenching one's thirst with beer does not quite fit into the picture. Breweries are countering this by brewing alcohol-free beer. The Federal Statistical Office recently released figures on this: 411 million litres of non-alcoholic beer were brewed in 2021, which is 74% more than in 2011, when 236 million non-alcoholic beers were brewed. These figures do not include low-percentage beers, Radler and other mixed drinks.

Significance for breweries

The development is not new, but steady. However, the core business for breweries remains the brewing of beer with alcohol content. Especially for smaller breweries in Germany, this parallel production is a problem, because brewing kettles are available to a lesser extent here and the conversion to other types of beer involves a lot of effort.

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