The Incredible Shrinking Beer Gut: Is Germany Losing Its Taste for Beer?

© Adam Baker

Apparently, the land of busty beer house girls and Oktoberfest is fast losing its fascination for beer. Consumption of beer in Germany has declined rapidly over the past eight years, and 2007 was no different – 112.5 liters per person. That’s 29.7 gallons. Compare this to the eighties when Germans, then the world’s largest consumers of beer, guzzled nearly 41.2 gallons.

This decline is being attributed to demographic factors. The hard core beer drinkers of yesteryear are getting older and, with the country’s low birth rate, there are fewer beer fans taking their place. Young Germans are also making the shift to other beverages, even non alcoholic ones.

The country currently ranks third in per capita beer consumption, behind the Czechs and the hearty Irish. German breweries aren’t panicking yet, but large corporate mergers and acquisitions are a definite possibility.

The Germans aren’t alone in their snooty disdain for beer; the English too seem to be losing their fondness for the brew with U.K. sales dipping sharply over the last several years.