Wednesday 4 February 2015

German off sales by type 1981 - 2010

Table time again. I know. I’m a lazy git. Publishing a big table relieves me of the need to waste time thinking up those word things. It makes my head hurt doing all that brain work.

With a span of almost 30 years, what does the table tells us about the long term trends in preferred beer styles in Germany?

The most obvious – and potentially the most interesting – is that Pils appears to have passed it peak in popularity and is starting a long and permanent decline. That said, there’s no obvious candidate to replace it. After hitting an almost 70% market share in the late 1990’s, it’s dropped back to just 55% in 2010. I wish I had some more recent figures. My guess is that the decline has continued. It will be very significant when it falls below 50%.

The type to shoe the biggest percentage growth over the period is, surprisingly, alchohol free beer. Though for much of the time it’s been pretty flat at just under 3%.

Weizen has shown impressive growth from a tiny share in 1981 to becoming Germany’s third-favourite style in 2010. However, it also seems to be on the way down again from it’s peak of just under a 9% share in 2006.

The numbers for Kölsch and Alt look ever worse when looking at more years. They’ve gone from a combined share of over 11% to less than 3%. It makes you wonder just how much more their sales can drop before they start facing extinction.

I can’t tell you how depressing it is to see Biermischgetränke, vile combinations of beer and other junk, as Germany’s forth most popular “style”. Who the hell drinks those things? Teenagers, I would guess. Which doesn’t bode well for the future of German beer if it’s true.

I’m not sure what to say about Export. I looked like it was heading the same way as Mild in the early 21st century, then made a surprising recovery, only to start slipping again. I’m not going to stick my neck out with regards to its future. It could make a comeback, or it could disappear almost completely.

Here’s the table:

German off sales by type 1981 - 2010
Beer type 1981 1989 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Pils 48.5 57.5 64.1 66 68.1 67.8 67.9 66.9 68.6 62 57.9 60.3 55.7 55.2 55.2 55.1
Export/Edel/Spezial 20.8 10.9 10.1 9.7 8.8 8.8 9 9.5 7.3 9.6 10.4 12.5 10.1 9.8 10.1 9.8
Weizen 1.4 4.9 4.5 4.8 4.9 5.3 5.7 6 6.3 7.1 7.9 8.7 8.1 8.3 7.9 7.9
Hell 7.3 7.4 4.5 4.4 3.7 3.7 3.4 3.2 2.9 3.6 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.5
Alt 6.6 4.5 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.9 1.9 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2
Kölsch 4.5 4 2.7 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.3 1.6 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7
Malz 2.8 2.6 2.1 2 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.8 2.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2
Alcohol free 0.3 2.7 3.7 3.4 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.6 2.6 2.9 3.3 3.7
Leichtbier 1.7 1.4 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6
Schwarzbier 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6
Bock 1.1 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Lager 1 0.9 0.9 1
Märzen 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Diet 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
Berliner Weiße 0 0 0 0
Biermischgetränke 3.6 4.5 6.3 6.5 6.5 6.5
Other 1.5 4.5 3 2.4 3 3.7 3.7 4.1 1.6 4.8 6.6 3.2 3.7 3.7 3.8
Sources: 
1992-2001: Brauwelt Brevier 2003 
2002 & 2006-2010: Deutscher Brauer-Bund, Bonn
Brauwelt nr. 46-47 (2006) page 1431


Maybe we should have a look at regional differences in preferences next.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amidst the data on traditional German beer, is there any indication of how much beer is produced there in the styles of other countries?

A couple of times I've looked at online forums of German home brewers, and I was struck by how much non-German beer their home brewers seemed to be making -- Dubbels, Porters, American Pale Ales, and so on.

I'm guessing that indicates there's something of the same market for non-German craft beers as what you'd see in the US -- do you have any sense whether that's true in Germany, and if so, whether German brewers are trying to meet that demand, or if it's being filled by imports from other countries?

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

I'd say only tiny amounts. The market for those beers isn't very big in Germany.

Porter is a traditional German style. It's been vbrewed there pretty much continuously for 200 years.