Companies have to get rid of beer: free beer instead of a gully?

Saturday March 13th 2021

Companies have to get rid of beer
Free beer instead of the gully?

It's a bitter pill for brewers – bars and parties have been put on hold for months due to the corona pandemic. The result: the best beer expires. Is dumping the only option?

It wasn't a good year for the breweries. Because of the months-long corona lockdowns, their sales suffered (and still suffers) from canceled events and closed bars. When it comes to stored beer, the clock is ticking relentlessly until the expiration date, and many crisis-ridden breweries and restaurants are asking themselves: what to do with the barley juice?

So that not all supplies have to flow into the gully, some of the beer is given away – or is creatively misused. At the end of February, 2500 liters of beer with a short shelf life were served free of charge in the Irsee monastery brewery in the Allgäu. "The great beer must not be destroyed," says David Frick from the brewery. "Two days before that I called Whatsapp, close friends actually, that they should pick up the beer after all." That then expanded unexpectedly – and so gradually hundreds of people came to fill with jugs, canisters and other vessels. The people wore FFP2 masks in an exemplary manner, kept their distance and did not drink the beer on site, stresses Frick.

However, the action will probably remain unique. The Oechsner brewery in Lower Franconia has also been giving away beer on two Fridays so far. In order to please people who longed for draft beer, the large bar in the courtyard was converted into a "beer filling station", says Yvonne Schmieg from the brewery. Here, too, people came with a wide variety of vessels to pick up freshly tapped beer for the weekend. Despite the positive reactions, the campaigns should remain the exception here as well.

"Destroying is not an option"

In Essen, Christian Fischer runs the "Don`t Panic" club and pub together with his wife Carmen. Just in time for the second lockdown, the draft beer was sold for little money as part of a campaign, says Fischer. Some supplies were also given away. There are currently around 30 cases of beer left in the cold stores with an expiry date in April – and "destroying it is not an option", as Christian Fischer emphasizes. In a thank you campaign for the loyal guests, the beer supplies will soon be distributed free of charge, taking into account the Corona regulations.

The operators of the "Café Kosmos" in Munich have a completely different idea of ​​how to use the excess beer: owner Andi Rehm is not only a bartender, but also a trained hairdresser – and so he and his partner Florian Schönhofer give away beer as a hair tonic. The fresh beer can be kept for a maximum of eight weeks and you don't want to throw anything away, says Schönhofer. "We came to the conclusion that beer is a traditional setting agent. People used to like that. It naturally strengthens hair and it doesn't stink." For some visitors there is also a free haircut. Hundreds of small flacons of the liquid gold have been filled, says Schönhofer. People are enthusiastic about the unusual idea and even hairdressers have picked up bottles. However, it is not entirely clear whether the barley juice always ended up on your head, says Schönhofer: "I don't know whether you drank some of it."

When beer turns into schnapps and bread

In Rhineland-Palatinate, excess beer is turned into other food: As the expiry date of his beer was approaching, Jens Lenhardt, managing director of a beverage distributor in Freinsheim, came up with a real "crazy idea": He approached the operator of a distillery in the vicinity, who has been selling the excess ever since Barley juice makes schnapps – dozens of barrels that would otherwise have expired have already been burned in this way. In Ludwigshafen, for example, a master baker bakes bread from purchased beer and thus helps local gastronomy.

Despite all the creativity, alternative uses and the free serving are probably not the rule: "Free beer campaigns not only oppose the existing contact restrictions, but also the additional costs for bar and staff", admits Holger Eichele, General Manager of the German Brewers' Association concerns. The idea of ​​decanting and selling draft beer is usually not technically feasible, among other things. In the end, the beer often has to be disposed of on a large scale – a bitter pill for brewing culture: "Draft beer worth several million euros that has exceeded its shelf life or is about to expire must be destroyed," summarizes Eichele.

The fact that at least the beer tax is reimbursed to the company when it is disposed of in the brewery is only "poor consolation". The reimbursement for expired draft beer as part of Bridging Aid III, which was recently resolved in a switch between the states and the responsible federal ministries, is an "important step in the right direction", according to the brewers' association. However, most breweries still fell through the cracks, despite the fact that they were hit hard by the collapse of the draft beer market. In order to improve the situation in the industry, one is still "in intensive talks with the federal government", it said.