Non-alcoholic beer is gaining more and more popularity in the beer country Germany. Where in the beginning it was not yet fully accepted socially, it now has a market share of more than seven percent. That means it can be a lifesaver for many struggling traditional breweries, says German correspondent Derk Marseille.
‘Germans lead the way when it comes to drinking beer and will remain so for the time being. But the fact that even a higher percentage are switching to non-alcoholic beer shows that this is an increasingly important factor,’ explains Marseille. The fact that drinking 0.0 beer is now more socially acceptable contributes to a large extent.
“Production of non-alcoholic beer in Germany has doubled since 2007”
Previously, when drinking a non-alcoholic beer, people were often asked if anyone was sick or if things were going well, says the correspondent from Germany. It’s less and less like this now. “Production of non-alcoholic beer in Germany has already doubled since 2007 and has certainly increased very rapidly in the last two years,” says Marseille.
Small breweries
In Germany, the beer market is dominated by established large breweries who also advertise in the Netherlands. But there are also hundreds of smaller breweries producing local beers and they can hardly compete with the dominant producers on the German beer market. “Those small breweries sometimes market specialty non-alcoholic beers and that’s often their salvation, because they can stand out with that,” says Marseille.
However, producing non-alcoholic beer is not yet a solution for all German breweries. ‘A number of breweries just don’t want to venture into it. They say it doesn’t fit into the idea of why they started brewing, and customers aren’t expecting it either. The more modern breweries producing non-alcoholic beer are therefore a very good buyer, because if they don’t switch to non-alcoholic options, they can close their doors.’
Source: BNR
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