Germany’s non-alcoholic beer production has enjoyed a boom in the last 10 years, according to a new report. Low-alcohol drinks like Radler are also seeing increased sales.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, published a new report on Tuesday highlighting that drinkers across the country are increasingly turning to alcohol-free varieties for their after-work or weekend choice of beer.
In the last ten years, the production of non-alcoholic beer has more than doubled in Germany. In 2023, that amounted to some 556 million liters (147 million gallons) and €548 million ($593 million) in sales.
The new statistics were published to coincide with International Beer Day, which is August 2.
Destatis also noted that the production of low-alcohol drinks like Radler, a mixture of beer and lemonade, has also increased from 328 million liters in 2013 to 363 million liters in 2023.
“However,” the report said, “there is still much more beer with alcohol being produced” in Germany than non-alcoholic.
The only real pro of alcohol is that it’s fun and helps you let loose and relax a bit. At least for most people, beer is an acquired taste but if it didn’t get you drunk it would quickly fall out of favor. And I say this as someone who loves beer and its cousins
Beer tastes great though. Non-alcoholic just tastes different, much sweeter.
My main counterpoint is for those of us who’ve acquired the taste, the rituals around beer (out at a nice place, away from your home/office, listening to decent tunes and drinking something cold, foamy, and a little bitter) are such that you can get that loose and relaxed feeling without the alcohol.
I’m not the biggest fan of getting drunk anymore, so I find myself grabbing a non-alc beer pretty frequently these days. Sometimes just that, other times once I’ve already had two normal beers but want another drink.
I could grab a soda, but I don’t like how sweet it is most of the time.