Food & Drinks
With beer in mind
Beer has been on my mind a lot lately and it is not because of the hot weather!
With the Football World Cup going on and the 200 year anniversary of the Munich Oktoberfest coming up, it seems that everyone is thinking of beer.
Everywhere you look, you can see advertisements for beer.
So, when I went to the local supermarket here in Switzerland just before the first match of the World Cup, I was amazed at the selection the store carried.
Choice of beers at a Swiss store
Beer, a popular drink
I did a little more research. Apparently beer is the third most popular beverage in the world after water and tea.
But then, why is there so much more wine stored in the stores?
And why when you do a search on google for wine you get 199,000,000 entries and and 124,000,000 entries for beer?
When I was a child I remember my father used to drink Kronenbourg, a beer from one of the biggest French breweries. I was never interested in beers and never found it good until I started feeling competely dehydrated during a summer concert. Blocked in the middle of a crowd, the only salesmen who were passing by, were selling beers. I had to make a quick decision, no drink or a beer!
From that point on, I started drinking it from time to time in the summer and noticing some differences just like I do with wine.
Interestingly in Austria (Salzburg) and in Germany (Munich), it is possible to learn how to become a beer Sommelier.
Beer global revenues and amount per person
In 2008, the total global revenues for beer was $453.9 billion while it amounted $259.8 billion for wine.
In the Czech Republic, one drinks about 42 gallons (159 liters) of beer per person per year!
South Africans where the World Cup is playing drink the most beers in Africa about 15.9 gallons (60 liters) each yearly. Normally most drink the brand Castle but during the matches in the stadiums, everyone will have to drink Budweiser.
Appenzeller beer
Why? Because the company, which supports sport and football in major tournaments around the world, is a sponsor of the Fifa World cup and the official beer sponsor.
Budweiser exists since 1876 with the brewery Anheuser-Busch. A a German, Adolphous Anheuser, immigrated to the US to Saint Louis and started the company. In 1896 the brewery introduced Michelob.
Who has not heard of Budweiser and Bud light?
Anheuser-Busch alone has half of the beer market in the US.
But there are other beers such as:
Holland: Heineken – Dutch beer makers estimate to sell 3.9 million gallons (15 million liters) more during the Fifa matches than afterward until the summer end.
South African beers: beer makers expect to sell 20 million more beers than usual.
Ireland: Guinness
Austria: Stiegl
USA: Miller
Germany: 1300 breweries in total like Paulaner and Lowenbräu.
Swiss Beers: Feldschlösschen brewed in Rheinfelden near Basel
Beer is a big business and sometimes campaigning goes too far despite strict rules in stadiums. In South Africa during a game last week at the Football World Cup, there was an arrest of Dutch women. They were apparently trying to do an ambush marketing campaign for a dutch beer Bavaria.
Beer from Baar (Switzerland)
According to Martijn de Rooi a sociologist in Holland, discussing the topic of beer on the radio, beer is a “cultural phenomenon”, a drink people love maybe because it is more affordable compared to wine. The young crowd feels like belonging and being part of the same group.
Where to drink beers this year:
There will be other opportunities to drink beer this year.
Züri-Fäscht: July2d-4th
Fifa World Cup matches ending July 11th
Canada Toronto Beer festival: August 5th-8th
USA Denver Great American Beer Festival: Sept 16-18th
Germany Munich Oktoberfest: September 18th-October 3rd
Germany Stuttgart Cannstatter Volksfest: Sept 24th–Oct 10th
