'Unprecedented boom' in microbreweries helps boost European beer volumes and variety

The latest statistics from trade organisation The Brewers of Europe highlights the rise of no and low alcohol varieties - the EU now produces nearly 900 million litres of non-alcoholic beer (0.5% ABV or below), equivalent to 2% of total production, while the combined volumes of both non-alcoholic and low alcohol beer take a 6% share.  

“This, coupled with the rise in the number of microbrewers and SMEs over the past year, shows how consumer demand is evolving and how the sector is diversifying to meet it,” ​says the organisation.

Eight year high​

Released this week, The Brewers of Europe’s annual beer statistics highlight record exports, a rise in microbreweries, and the increase in low and no alcohol beers.

“While beer production volumes are still a good way off their level prior to the economic crash nearly one decade ago, this same period has coincided with an unprecedented boom in the numbers of SMEs and new microbreweries springing up all across the continent,” ​said Pavlos Photidas, president, Brewers of Europe.

“In one year alone, the number of breweries active in the EU grew by nearly one thousand. In the last five years the number of microbreweries has doubled, and the EU now counts an estimated 9,500 breweries! While our members from Norway, Switzerland and Turkey are also bringing a further thousand breweries to the party. ​

“These new brewers have been helping to drive the exports that first led to the stabilisation and then the incremental growth in the European beer sector. They are also pushing all brewers to strive for even greater excellence and to innovate, meaning that beer consumers now have available to them an ever-diverse range of high quality beer brands, styles and flavours.”​