Free beer for brewery workers in decline

Bavarian brewers are still sticking to the old tradition of the “house drink”. Each brewery employee receives a certain beer allocation per month free of all charges and taxes. The amount is even specified in the industry’s collective agreements. In Bavaria, it has been 36 litres beer per month per person for years, although some brewers are far more generous.

But according to recent data from the State Statistics Office, the free beer is in decline. In 2017, Bavarian brewers only gave away a total of 56,088 hl beer to their employees, which is 5.7 percent less than in the previous year. The decline is particularly evident in a longer-term comparison as ten years ago the volume was more than 82,000 hl.

This should please the German Federal Drugs Commissioner, Marlene Mortler, who – incidentally – is a member of Bavaria’s ruling party, the CSU. She had brought brewers up in arms some time ago when she said, “I’m sure alcohol will not be part of the payroll in ten years from now. Europe’s currency is the Euro.” The implication was “not beer”.

In the industry, her words did not go down well. However, many brewers have already made concessions to modern times. Instead of beer, employees can also choose non-alcoholic beverages if they are produced in-house. That should also be one of the reasons for the decline: the official beer tax statistics do not cover soft drinks.