Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site

The brewing industry is booming in Europe. Pretty much everywhere (with one notable exception).

I had some idea of what was going on, but was still slightly shocked by the figures.In most European countries tha lastcouple of years have seen crazy growth in the number of breweries. Even the Czech Republic, where the number of breweries had been quite stable, has suddenly started sprouting dozens of new ones.

The one exception? Germany. The number of breweries hasn't changed significantly in the last few years. Which has left it lagging far behind. For the first time since the 19th century, it doesn't have the most breweries in Europe. The UK caught up in 2012 and has since powered ahead. If you'd told me 10 years ago that there would be over 1,500 breweries in the UK, I'd have felt your bumps.

The effect has been to drastically reduce Germany's share of the breweries in Europe. From over a third in 2009 it fell to less than a quarter in 2014. While the UK's share has risen for just under 20% to almost 25%.

Paricularly striking is the growth in countries that aren't traditionally beer drinking. In Italy, France and Greece the number of breweries doubled. While in Portugal the increase is fivefold. In Spain almost sevenfold.

Number of breweries in Europe 2009 - 2014
Country 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Austria 172 172 170 173 194 198
Belgium 127 135 123 150 160 168
Bulgaria 8 8 13 13 13 16
Croatia 7 7 7 6 6 6
Cyprus 2 2 2 2 2 4
Czech Republic 133 151 191 213 308 338
Denmark N/A N/A 150 150 150 150
Estonia 6 6 6 7 10 15
Finland 18 25 25 30 43 49
France 322 387 442 503 580 663
Germany 1,331 1,333 1,347 1,340 1,349 1,352
Greece 11 11 17 18 20 20
Hungary N/A N/A 24 50 50 50
Ireland 26 26 26 26 30 50
Italy 256 308 350 421 509 599
Latvia 17 15 16 16 25 29
Lithuania 49 41 73 73 73 75
Luxembourg 6 7 7 7 7 7
Malta 1 1 1 1 1 2
Netherlands N/A N/A 125 165 N/A 263
Norway 22 30 33 40 54 77
Poland 89 103 117 132 155 133
Portugal 7 7 9 10 18 35
Romania 21 18 17 17 18 22
Slovakia 15 19 25 30 38 44
Slovenia 22 22 N/A N/A 30 51
Spain 47 65 88 132 221 332
Sweden 30 45 65 75 100 151
Switzerland 280 328 360 375 409 483
Turkey 11 11 11 11 12 9
United Kingdom 745 828 948 1,300 1,490 1,700
Total EU 28 3,468 3,742 4,384 5,060 5,600 6,522
Total All 3,781 4,111 4,788 5,486 6,075 7,091
Source:
The Brewers of Europe Beer Statistics 2015 edition, page 21.

Very exciting times. I wonder what the future will hold? Obviously, there's a limit somewhere to the number of breweries that can operate. But I suspect we're still a long way shy of that.






More...