E-Malt.com News article: Germany: Brewers hope for Euro 2008 win to boost sales

German brewers have called on the country's national football team to get Germans drinking beer again by winning Euro 2008, The Telegraph published June 11.

Beer consumption in Germany, once the highest per capita in the world at more 150 litres per year, has plummeted in recent years, as Germans switch to wine.

But major sporting events, with large crowds frequently gathering in front of big screens and beer tents, have helped reverse the amber tide.

The 2006 World Cup in Germany proved a major success for brewers as fans quenched their thirsts in soaring summer temperatures while watching the national team make it to the semi-final.
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This summer, Germany is favourite to make it all the way and win the Euro 2008 football title.

After that, brewers say, the sporting action gets underway at the Beijing Olympics, providing another excuse for thirsty sports fans to indulge.

"The breweries are completely euphoric," said Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, spokesman for the German Brewery Association.

Until the Euro, German brewers had recently faced little but bad news, with the country's more than 1000 breweries undergoing mergers and closures as competition stiffened.

Now however, they estimate the temporary footballing respite will push consumption back up to 116 litres a head for the year - still well short of record highs, but better than last year's dismal low of 112 litres.

For that to happen however, the weather must stay fine and Germany will have to storm to the final.

"The national eleven also has to contribute," said Mr Huhnholz.

The brewers, like many German fans, will be hoping that striker Lukas Podolski, who scored two goals in the team's opening game against Poland, can fire them to victory.

Mr Podolski, known fondly as Prinz Poldi, is considered the rising star in German football, but sometimes appears to have had one too many himself.

"Football is like chess," he is famous for saying, "except without the dice."


13 June, 2008