German beer market

Douglas, would you be willing to expound on this phenomenon?

How can German beer be priced the same today as it was 30+ years ago? I can see how consumers might wish for this to happen but how are the myriad of German breweries able to do this and remain in business?

Do you think that a German beer industry that prices beer at 10 Euros a crate is a 'good thing' for German beer going forward? What will the German beer market (and German beers) be like 10 years from now?

Cheers!

 

So, the breweries have 'right sized' their employees? There are less people involved in the brewery to produce and distribute the same amount of beer so that beer is priced the same today as it was 30+ years ago?

Cheers!

 

It would appear that we are reaching a point of diminishing returns in this discussion.

I am personally having difficulty understanding how the German breweries are able to stay in business if they are selling the beer at the same prices in 2020 than they did 30+ years ago. According to an online inflation calculator what would have costed $100 in 1990 would cost $200 in 2020. How an industry can 'absorb' that cost difference is beyond me here.

Cheers!

 

But the price has fluctuated over those years with peaks in 2007 and 2014 - a function of supply and demand?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/236854/retail-price-of-milk-in-the-united-states/

Which is why I asked in post #42:

"Do you think that a German beer industry that prices beer at 10 Euros a crate is a 'good thing' for German beer going forward? What will the German beer market (and German beers) be like 10 years from now?"

Cheers!

 

From an outsider looking in it just has the appearance of a 'race to the bottom'.

As long as German beer consumers refuse to pay an extra Euro(s) for a crate of beer it seems like what will happen over the next decade is the breweries that stay in business do so via 'cheapening' their business operations:

• Utilize ever cheaper ingredients
• Utilize less and less of those ingredients
• 'Cut corners' elsewhere in their brewing operations
• etc.

Cheers!

 

Another factor is the entry of discounter supermarkets into the market.

Lidl, Aldi and Netto etc sell their own brand, sometimes as cheaply as .25€ a can.

Lots of people seem to buy these brands.

 

It's already happened a few decades ago. That's where you get the terms Fernsehbier and Einheitsplörre [standard - dishwater]

 

Tony, this is the first time I 'heard' that word.

Above you can read the comment from @jonb5 concerning supermarket branded beers (Lidl, Aldi and Netto). Are these popular selling beers in your area?

You are in a somewhat unique position since you are aware from growing up in the US that when you were a kid beers like Bud (and later Bud Light) were the beers. When I was a kid all that my father drank was Piels Real Draft (likely since it was very cheap?). Then in the US the craft beer movement became ever more popular. AAL beers are still indeed the best selling beers but we beer consumers have lots of options now. These craft beers are not cheap and some of my small, local craft breweries are selling 4 pack/16 ounce cans for $16+ but we have the choice to pay that much (or not). It seems like vast majority of German beer consumers demand cheap (e.g., 10 Euros a crate) and they are willing to drink whatever beer meets that demand. Do you see any genuine signs that German beer consumers will get off that price mark? Will German beer still be 10 Euros a crate 10 years from now?

Cheers!

 

Einheitsplörre [standard - dishwater]. I've used it more than once here, but it's probably not a word that's easy to learn.
Like you, I remember in college drinking Canadian Black Label or some other super cheap $1.50/6-pack beer. Back in the early 80's pre-craft, a college student on a budget on a hot Texas summer day needs refreshments regardless of how little flavor it held. We just bought the cheapest 6-pack on the shelves. And that's exactly what's happened in Germany. People with not a lot of money and little discernment for taste go for a beer that's refreshing and taste has little to do with it because, again like college students back then, you know little else, and hell, it's good enough to give you that beer-feeling. That explains how people can buy beers in Aldi for about 28¢ with a 25¢ bottle deposit for 0.5L. For those who don't remember when I reviewed Aldi's swill, go back and read this oldie post from 2014. Or the post in 2013 where I did a taste test of the cheapest beers in my local supermarket?

Since those taste tests, nothing has changed really for brewers in Germany. They still are competing on price and just about nothing else. I predict also nothing will change in this regard for the near or far future. Nonetheless, since then, craft beer has seeped into the wider consciousness, and some have tried it, but for many, regardless of whether they like it or not, the much higher price puts more than a majority off when contemplating what to buy.

 

Tony (@boddhitree), thank you for your state of the German beer nation report. I find it sad that buying cheap beer is such an ingrained thing but I suppose it's a situation of "the customer is always right"?

FWIW the cheap beer I drank the most in college was Pabst Blue Ribbon since this was the beer served at all of the Frat parties.

Prost!

 

I do not exactly know what is the 'baseline' for a contemporary cheap German Pilsner but you could also further the trend of the past few decades of using less and less of the ingredients (e.g., even lesser amounts of hops (including less amounts of hop extract), lesser amounts of Pilsner Malt).

Douglas, do you have knowledge of the various malts available to German brewers? Perhaps they could decide to source ever cheaper Pilsner Malt (e.g., imported from Country x vs. using Pilsner Malt from a German Malting Co.)?

Cheers!

 

I am not experienced in German Brewery business operations but it is not unusual in American companies (e.g., the companies that I have worked for) where the finance/accounting folks have the dominant say when it comes to purchasing decisions.

Cheers!

 

Early in my assignment in Hesse, a German counterpart said the local beers were dishwater, but in English. He used Binding as an example. When I tried Binding, I agreed.