Already brewed in Ancient Egypt, beer is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in the world. Present on every continent, beer has, however, suffered competition from wine, the queen drink in France, which has relegated it to the back of the podium among the
. But in recent years beer has experienced a renaissance in France. Since 2010, the
has exploded. This rebirth has a name: craft beer.
A worldwide thirst for beer
Although craft beer has been present in the U.S. and UK markets since the 1970s, sales have not been enough to quench the thirst of all human beings. Historic brewers such as
Stella Artois or Heineken are raking in billions of U.S. dollars in revenue worldwide. A newcomer to the beer market, China is increasingly interfering in the globalization of hop drinks, for which Chinese breweries are among the world's largest producers by volume.
The rebirth of beer in France
BGI/Groupe Castel is the leading brewer, and this group is taking advantage of the growing popularity of beer in France. For the first time, the beer industry exceeded
3 billion euros in production in 2017, even though it decreased slightly in the following years. While
consumption is lower than that of its European neighbors, France nevertheless stands out in
the export of malt, the main ingredient in the manufacture of beer. France is one of the main exporters of beer malt worldwide, as it is one of the world's leading
barley-producing countries.
The craft beer phenomenon
Craft beers are beers produced by craft breweries or microbreweries in smaller quantities than "historical breweries". These craft beers often produce top fermentation beers, i.e. the yeasts used for ale transform sugar into alcohol at a higher temperature and tend to rise to the surface. The processing period is also shorter for this type of beer, which allows production in small quantities. These beers are ales, stout, porter, and Trappist and are
gaining a following in France.
Brewing the future
So, is France soon going to be the land of beer? Not for the moment, it seems, as
25.2 million hectoliters of wine are still consumed in France annually, compared to
22.2 million hectoliters of beer. Yet wine consumption is declining, while for beer the opposite is true.
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