Switzerland | The covid-19 pandemic is also proving calamitous for breweries. Due to restaurants, bars and concert halls having been closed for months, and major events being cancelled, beer sales in the 2019/2020 brewing year (until 30 September) are likely to be significantly lower than in the previous year.

Europe | Governments across Europe have enforced new restrictions to slow the spread of covid-19. Unable to prevent people from socialising and fearful of the consequences of another lockdown, they resort to the only measure they have: closing pubs and bars.

Germany | Per its modelling, the global supplier of hop products, BarthHaas, estimates that this year global beer output could drop between 8 percent and 14 percent over 2019 because of the covid-19 pandemic.

United Kingdom | The government’s decision to encourage people to work from home has hit city centre pubs hard. The pub chain Fuller’s told the BBC it may have to lay off up to 10 percent of its staff – about 500 people.

Germany | The covid-19 pandemic will have a massive impact on the German brewing industry. According to an industry survey, conducted by the German Brewers Association (DBB), beer sales dropped 16 percent in the first half of 2020, while turnover declined 18 percent over the same period last year.

Germany | Publicans tend to regard the end of summer with a certain wistfulness. But the idea of a cold and wet autumn under coronavirus restrictions is a real horror scenario for them. Is this the moment of the patio heater?

Germany | How bizarre: Because its lemonade contains less than the prescribed amount of sugar, the Hamburg manufacturer Lemonaid has already received two cease and desist warnings. It is now calling for new guidelines for these products.

Germany | Munich’s publicans weren’t amused when the TV mini-series “Oktoberfest 1900” was aired in September to coincide with the 2020 Oktoberfest, sadly cancelled due to the pandemic. Their – fictional – predecessors in this epic historical crime drama are two-faced sleazebags, switching from suave burghers to bloodthirsty thugs in their battles to control the Oktoberfest.

France | The covid-19 pandemic forces brewers to get more creative. Long a feature of US supermarkets, Heineken has finally latched onto the concept in Europe. The brewer is running a trial for draught beer dispensers and returnable growlers in a supermarket in Paris.

Switzerland | With bars and restaurants closed during the coronavirus lockdown, Swiss brewers lost about 70 percent of their draught beer sales in the first half of 2020. As the on-premise represents about 40 percent of total beer sales and constitutes brewers’ major money-spinner, the loss must have been more than just painful.