On August 2 that is particularly appropriate as it is also International Beer Day.
So if you need a moderately interesting fact to drone on about as you prop up the bar, how about this one: last year, Latvian breweries produced 76 million litres of beer (plus 671,000 litres of non-alcoholic beer).
That is less than neighboring Estonia (107 million litres) and Lithuania (304 million litres) but as any real beer drinker knows, quality wins over quantity every time.
Speaking of quantity, in 2023, EU countries produced 32.5 billion (bn) litres of beer containing alcohol and 1.8 bn litres of beer with less than 0.5% alcohol or with no alcohol content at all, totalling 34.3 bn litres.
Compared with 2022, the production of beer with alcohol in the EU decreased by 5% (-1.7 bn litres). When it comes to beer without alcohol, there was an increase of 13.5% compared with 2022 (+0.2 bn litres).
Concerning the production of beer with alcohol, in 2023, Germany continued to be the top producer with 7.2 bn litres (22.3% of the total EU production).
Germany was followed by Spain, with 4.0 bn litres produced (12.4% of total EU production), Poland with 3.5 bn litres (10.8%), the Netherlands with 2.4 bn litres (7.5%) and Belgium with 2.0 bn litres (6.3%).
Priekā!
