Despite hosting the Euro 2024 football tournament, Germany actually sold less beer in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Germany sees disappointing beer sales during Euros

Germany’s Bock auf Bier is dwindling; despite 10 German cities hosting millions of thirsty fans for the Euros this summer, the country sold fewer brews in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

Beer consumption between January and June 2024 was down 0,6 percent compared to the same period in 2023, amounting to around 4,2 billion fewer litres sold, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

In June, the month that the Euros began, 777 million litres of beer were drunk in Germany in 2024, the smallest amount since June 1993, according to Destatis. Unpredictable weather in the first half of the year may have had an impact on sales.

A 2023 study led by the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and published in the journal Nature Communications found that weather conditions are expected to reshape the German beer industry in the near future, as global heating caused by climate change is already changing the taste and quality of beer in Europe.

Non-alcoholic German beer boom continues

At the taps, another option is being draughted. Alcoholic beer sales may be on the decline in Germany, but since 2010, the number of non-alcoholic German beer brands has doubled and soon, one in 10 German-brewed beers will be non-alcoholic.

The recent Destatis figures did not include non-alcoholic beer sales, but, "According to industry figures, non-alcoholic beers recorded double-digit growth rates in sales and turnover in retail nationwide in the first half of 2024," a spokesperson from the German Brewers' Association clarified, following the Destatis announcement.

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