“Only idiots drink non-alcoholic beer.” That was the reflection with which a young German named Louis Shirmer responded to Washington Post about the state of beer without in your country. If we think of beer, it is inevitable to think of Germany. It is one of the countries where the most beer is consumedbut in a few years now, something is changing: Europe, is becoming a land of non-alcoholic beer.
And the new ‘liquid gold’ of breweries is also conquering Germany.
Trend. We have said it on several occasions: the non-alcoholic beer market is experiencing a considerable growth. So much so that it is transforming the global industry and what a decade ago was considered a marginal product, with just a few options, has become a segment that is emerging.
The non-alcoholic beers (the 0.0, especially) are more abundant, but there are also many companies that have gone all out with flavor. In some countries, it is a segment with an annual growth of 20% and there are already estimates that it will be a market of almost 44 billion dollars by 2035. Far from traditional beer, but without a doubt a good amount of money.
Beyond fashion. Generational change is something that influences. The surveys point to a majority of ‘millennial’ consumers and Generation Z who choose or would choose an alcohol-free version of your favorite beer, something that responds to lifestyles known as “superb curious” (sober out of curiosity) or lifestyle “damp” (not abstinence, but moderation). Everything needs to be given a name in English. It can also respond to greater health awareness.
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol causes more than three million deaths annually, 5.3% of the total, but apart from this, this aforementioned improvement in flavor allows 0.0 versions of a drink that, like coffee, is something social, to be chosen. The statistics confirm, in short, that alcohol in general is less present in everyday life (although depends on age).
What the industry does. own Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has indicated in one of its latest consumer reports that it is something that is in the doldrums, and the brewers have done what they should: try to ensure that the consumer does not escape their product. If they drink less alcohol, we have to invest more in creating 0.0 versions, and there we have companies like Heineken, one of the giants in the sector, making millionaire investments in its Heineken 0.0 brand.
AB InBev is another of the giants in the beer sector, with Budweiser as the flagship brand, and they estimate that, by the end of this year, at least 20% of their global beer volume will consist of no or 0.0 options. Returning to Germany, the country’s Brewers Association comment that non-alcoholic beer represents 9% of beer production and consumption in the country, but in the coming months they expect it to reach double digits.
In Spain it is estimated that 15% of all beer consumed is non-alcoholic, being leaders in Europe in this segment. Jacobo Olalla is the general director of Cerveceros de España and attributes This success is due to the fact that the Spanish consumer does not drink looking for the effect of alcohol. And in Belgium, another beer country par excellence, the consumption of non-alcoholic beer now represents 5%. It seems little, but it represents a growth of 24.3% since 2021 and in a recent festival it was sold 800% more non-alcoholic beer than in the previous year’s version.
Beer without getting drunk. Now, although breweries are investing to adapt and create alcohol-free alternatives, there are brands such as the American Athletic Brewing that have focused exclusively on alcohol-free products. It is the leader undisputed of its segment in the American market (the second largest consumer of beer internationally), so it is not something insignificant.
And yes, obviously, non-alcoholic beer can have the properties of the cereals with which it is made without the negative side of alcohol (both for the body and in terms of its intoxicating effects), but the English have come to investigate a beer without it being capable of getting drunk.
Behind that beer is David Nutt, a neuroscientist who seeks to ensure that beer continues to be a social drink capable of disinhibiting shy people, but avoiding risks such as addiction, cirrhosis or aggressive behavior. At the moment they are promises, but we would have to see how it affects, for example, the driving of a vehicle.
Not just beer. We have to see if it is a fad or if it is something generational that is here to stay, but the purchase of alcohol in general, according to the International Wine and Spirits Recordhas fallen 20% since 2000 while the 0.0 beverage market has doubled in the last three years. And we don’t just have to talk about beer: there are wine cellars and spirits brands that are investing much in its ‘dealcoholized’ segment.
In the end, Louis, it seems that non-alcoholic beer is not just for idiots.
Images | uk:Користувач:Gutsul
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