In recent years, the choice has become increasingly larger, as small breweries have sprung up like mushrooms.
But the golden times for those breweries are over. Last year, the number of brewers decreased for the first time in 20 years, by 76 to 920, according to figures from the Dutch brewers’ trade association.
This year too, more breweries will probably close down than will be added, says spokesperson Meint Waterlander.
‘Fight market’
One of the brewers that called it quits last year is Twee Brouwers, in Sint-Michielsgestel, North Brabant. There was a combination of a brewery and a tasting room, so guests could see the brewers at work, says Milo van Osch, the owner of Twee Brouwers.
But costs suddenly increased enormously after the opening and the beer market turned out to be a fighting market, according to Van Osch.
‘Golden times are over’
Small brewers without their own brewery are also quitting. And Kees Schouten, owner of the North Holland Beer Brewery in Uitgeest, notices this.
This company brews beer for small entrepreneurs who come up with their own recipes, but do not brew their own beer because they are too small to do so. Schouten makes 100 to 150 different types of beer per year, for small brewers. This means he can brew more cheaply than a small brewery could do itself.
“We started in 2012, really at the beginning of the specialty beer hype. Everyone started trying new things,” says Schouten. But that golden age is over. “We now brew 40 percent fewer liters, so that has gone down quite a bit,” he says.
Too many
“Many hobby brewers started and eventually took the step to a commercial brewery,” adds Fiona de Lange, beer connoisseur and beer sommelier.
But if everyone tries to sell their beer, in the catering industry or in the store, then that is not appropriate, there are too many, some of them cannot cope, she says.
Less excise duties for the treasury
In the first three months of the year, we drank 2.4 percent less beer in the Netherlands than in the same period a year earlier. Not only did we drink less in the catering industry, but we also opened a bottle or can less often at home.
The declining beer consumption is also reflected in the excise tax revenue. The government expects that beer excise duties will yield 70 million euros less this year than previously expected. This despite an increase in excise duty on beer by an average of 8 percent as of January 1.
It also appears that the significant increase in consumption tax on non-alcoholic beer by almost 200 percent has a negative effect on sales. In the first quarter of 2024, more than 2 percent less non-alcoholic beer was sold, while in the past this was a growth segment.
