If you’re the world champion, all eyes are in your subsequent transfer — even relating to placing away chilly ones. Final month, the Czech Beer and Malt Affiliation introduced what many noticed as unwelcome and apparently stunning information: Within the nation that frequently drinks essentially the most beer per capita, consumption dropped final 12 months, all the way down to 126 liters, or simply over 266 foam-capped 16-ounce mugs for each Czech citizen, together with newborns.
The information made headlines outdoors the Czech Republic in addition to at dwelling, with articles highlighting the precipitous decline from the nation’s beer-drinking apex of 163.5 liters per capita in 2005. Writers advised numerous causes for the lower, together with increased taxes launched in 2023, rising non-alcoholic beer gross sales, locals “choosing sobriety,” or perhaps a ban on late-night guided pub crawls in Prague. Along with sinking home gross sales, articles famous, exports rose to a brand new excessive, making it appear to be a transparent change: Locals are consuming much less, so Czech brewers are being pressured to promote extra overseas.
However if you speak to individuals right here, the state of affairs is way extra nuanced. To begin, they’ll level out that the quantity Czechs consumed in 2024 — 126 liters — is barely barely down from the 128 liters they drank in 2023. Although the gross sales tax on draft beer did enhance in 2023, it wasn’t a big soar, shifting from 15 to 21 p.c, the identical fee that was utilized to some draft beer gross sales earlier than the pandemic. Banning organized group pub crawls in Prague after 10 p.m. wouldn’t really damage beer gross sales, one native instructed The Guardian. And whereas the general quantity of beer consumed by Czechs did lower, of us at among the nation’s craft producers say that wasn’t the case in all places.
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A Extremely Stratified Market
“I don’t assume these numbers are actually consultant of what’s going on available in the market,” says Dan Hojdar, CEO at Vinohradský Pivovar, a number one craft brewery in Prague. “I don’t assume it went down for small breweries.”
If craft producers didn’t actually really feel the crunch, Hojdar does be aware that the general Czech beer enterprise has modified lots in recent times, turning into extra aggressive, even within the once-chummy world of small breweries.
That may sound just like how issues have modified elsewhere. However what most outsiders don’t get is the pronounced stratification of the Czech brewing panorama. Right this moment, there are round 550 breweries within the Czech lands, although most of these — over 500 — are small to tiny, working as neighborhood brewpubs or at most regional producers. In contrast, the well-established huge manufacturers are completely monumental. Only one group of 4 huge breweries — Pilsner Urquell, Radegast, Gambrinus, and Velkopopovický Kozel, all owned by Asahi — frequently accounts for round 60 p.c of all Czech beer manufacturing. Staropramen and Ostravar, each owned by Molson Coors, prove about 15 p.c. Heineken ČR has three breweries, Starobrno, Krušovice, and Velké Březno, which account for near 10 p.c. The Czech Republic’s beloved nationwide brewery, Budweiser Budvar, presently produces slightly below 10 p.c.
That intense focus signifies that simply 4 CEOs are making selections that have an effect on about 95 p.c of the Czech Republic’s beer. A serious concern at any a kind of makers might change the numbers for the nation as a complete.
And whereas a few of their beers are nice, a lot of that 95 p.c is mass-market lager, the place value is the figuring out issue. One of many huge tendencies in recent times, Hojdar says, has seen locals consuming much less, mixed with premiumization. That hits high-volume producers in two methods, whereas it gives no less than one benefit to small brewers.
“These youthful individuals, they don’t drink that a lot,” Hojdar says. “And once they drink, they don’t actually deal with the value. The individuals who come to our pub haven’t any drawback shopping for the most costly beer that we have now.”
“We’re glad that it will get out of the Czech Republic, however it’s not rising and it’s undoubtedly not the largest marketplace for us.”
Premiumization can be taking place throughout the mass-market lager class itself. For greater than a century, the overwhelming majority of what Czechs drank was within the medium-strength, typically cheaper class referred to as výčepní (roughly that means “taproom”), which has round 4 p.c alcohol. However in 2018, ležák (that means “lager”) beers, with about 5 p.c ABV, began outselling the medium-strength “taproom” class, a pattern that has elevated since. If you’re in any respect restricted by the quantity of alcohol you’ll be able to devour, consuming ležák means you’ll have to cease earlier, in comparison with a session on lower-grade beer.
One other issue: Increasingly Czechs are consuming at dwelling, versus in pubs or eating places, a pattern that has been extensively reported for years. If having a drink means opening one thing after work in your residence, you may simply purchase what’s best to hold up the steps. That may very well be 4 bottles of ležák, as an alternative of 5 bottles of výčepní. (Or, God forbid, it is perhaps a single bottle of Moravian wine.)
Report Manufacturing and Exports
Whereas Czech beer exports are clearly rising, that’s principally taking place on the huge manufacturers, not amongst small producers, explains Michal Voldřich, president of the Czech-Moravian Affiliation of Microbreweries.
“For many microbreweries, export is a really marginal matter, extra like a advertising and marketing instrument,” he says.
That’s roughly how cross-border gross sales line up at Pivovar Matuška, one of many nation’s finest craft breweries and the one Czech maker to choose up a medal — in truth, a gold — at this 12 months’s World Beer Cup. In line with managing director Matěj Šůcha, the brewery’s exports have been regular for years, comprising about 5 p.c of whole gross sales, most of which go to neighboring Slovakia.
“It’s not a major half for us,” he says. “We’re glad that it will get out of the Czech Republic, however it’s not rising and it’s undoubtedly not the largest marketplace for us.”
“Over the previous two years, the variety of microbreweries producing non-alcoholic beer has nearly doubled. Brewers actually display their craft with these beers. The transfer away from stronger, higher-gravity beers is clearly seen.”
Distinction that to a serious producer like Staropramen, which sends about 20 p.c of its beer overseas, or Budweiser Budvar, which exports a whopping 85 p.c of its manufacturing. Final 12 months, that state-owned firm reported hitting a brand new manufacturing file whereas additionally growing its home gross sales by a powerful 1.7 p.c. Its exports gained much more, leaping by 4 p.c.
At Vinohradský Pivovar, exports to Denmark and the U.Okay. have helped gas the corporate’s latest progress, pushing it previous the ten,000-hectoliter (about 8,500-barrel) restrict used to outline a microbrewery by the affiliation. Larger appreciation for conventional lager and a reducing curiosity in craft novelty helped these gross sales, Hojdar says.
At Pivovar Matuška, Šůcha says he’s seen related adjustments.
“We additionally seen that individuals are not so interested by new beers anymore. They’re extra interested by our core beers.”
Greater High quality, Decrease Amount
Although general Czech beer consumption has been trending downward, members of the microbreweries affiliation aren’t seeing fairly the identical shift. Whereas their manufacturing numbers did drop in 2024, Voldřich says, that change was primarily attributable to a number of small breweries, like Vinohradský Pivovar, rising so giant that they “graduated” from membership within the affiliation.
Small producers additionally aren’t having fun with the identical success as giant breweries relating to non-alcoholic beer, which has been rising steadily for over 12 years, now accounting for nearly 10 p.c of the home beer market, apparently additionally chopping into gross sales of mass-market lagers. That stated, N/A beer just isn’t a complete loss for Czech brewing. Tomáš Slunečko, government director of the Czech Beer and Malt Affiliation, one other commerce group, says that consuming extra N/A beer helps native barley and hop growers, in addition to the hospitality commerce — identical to common Czech lager.
“Non-alcoholic beer is firmly established in each Czech beer tradition and pub tradition,” he says. “In pubs it gives an vital various for patrons who wish to meet pals however both can’t or don’t want to drink alcoholic beer.”
That is perhaps true, however in the event you order non-alcoholic beer right here, it’s nearly definitely going to return from an enormous producer. Each Vinohradský Pivovar and Pivovar Matuška say they’re reluctant to maneuver ahead with N/A beers, typically discovering the standard under their requirements. Hojdar believes that the expense of manufacturing N/A beer may completely maintain that class within the fingers of the massive guys. Nevertheless, Voldřich says that extra small Czech brewers are leaping into the fray.
“Over the previous two years, the variety of microbreweries producing non-alcoholic beer has nearly doubled,” he says. One other coming change? A brand new wave of lower-gravity “specials,” brewed under the výčepní class, however with an eye fixed on extra taste and character. “Brewers actually display their craft with these beers. The transfer away from stronger, higher-gravity beers is clearly seen,” Voldřich says.
As with all issues, the adjustments within the Czech beer market could be seen in several methods. Sure, the world’s biggest beer-drinking nation is consuming much less, which some may discover disappointing. However what the Czechs are consuming much less of is comparatively boring, mass-market lager, whereas higher-quality, extra charismatic beer seems to be holding regular. Šůcha says he sees a transparent desire for high quality over amount, in addition to higher service and environment.
“Individuals not wish to drink 10 beers,” he says. “They might fairly have three beers which can be completely taken care of, completely poured, and served in a pleasant, clear glass.”
That broader shift seems to have helpful results past extra smart alcohol consumption. Whereas the Czech capital is rising, many small Czech cities are scuffling with huge demographic shifts. Outdoors of Prague, Voldřich notes, it may be onerous to discover a place the place individuals can sit down and speak as neighbors.
“We’re dropping our social, cultural, and group life in villages,” he says. “Small breweries are sometimes the final locations in these areas with any sort of social life.”
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