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Archive recording from a brewery.
Photo: Patrick Seeger / dpa
"That's the nightmare," says the boss of the Düsseldorf brewery, "Füchschen", Peter König.
He will have to dispose of around 2000 to 3000 liters of old beer that was bottled in October.
"That hurts," emphasizes König.
It is difficult for him to be in business, to endure the quiet.
The problem: For many beer kegs that were actually produced for use in pubs and restaurants, the best-before dates expire.
Especially brewers who are geared towards serving and celebrations would have to destroy beer on a large scale, says the chief executive of the German Brewers' Association, Holger Eichele.
Millions of dollars are dumped into the gully, he says.
Many wholesalers even bring draft beer back to be destroyed in the brewery: "This is currently happening all over Germany," says the editor of the industry magazine "Inside", Niklas Other.
Hundreds of thousands of hectoliters probably affected
According to the Brewers' Association, it is not possible to precisely estimate how large the amount destroyed is.
"Not all of the beer that was returned so far had to be destroyed, and not all of the beer that was not drunk was also brewed," says Eichele.
Industry expert Other explains that brewers, wholesalers and landlords were cautious before the second lockdown from November.
"By the hoped-for end of the lockdown in spring, it will still be a few hundred thousand hectoliters in Germany."
More and more products in catering-specific containers such as draft beer have exceeded the best-before date in the warehouses and are therefore unsaleable, says board member Dirk Reinsberg from the Federal Association of German Beverage Wholesalers.
The damage to wholesalers is increasing day by day.
Currently, the quantities with the best before date February / March are "on fire".
Should the lockdown continue, supplies would be added.
Some breweries have switched
According to its own statements, the Veltins brewery did not have to destroy almost any beer in the first, shorter lockdown.
Now the company is assuming that it will be a few thousand liters.
With the extensions, the second lockdown simply turned the tap off restaurateurs.
Industry-wide, many thousands of barrels of beer from the catering trade would be returned to the breweries half full, almost full or almost empty on a previously unknown scale.
“However, there was a certain learning effect.
The beverage wholesalers and restaurateurs haven't stored as much beer in storage or in the basement for a long time as they did during the first lockdown, ”says managing director Volker Kuhl.
The Cologne Brewery Association also reports that the industry has learned from the first lockdown and has calculated sales volumes more carefully.
"The problem is the uncertainty how long it will take," says managing director Christian Kerner.
A timetable and a clear perspective would be very important for both brewers and restaurateurs.
It is particularly bitter that the lockdown hits the months with the highest turnover for Kölsch.
“Carnival as a factor, especially now in January and February, is completely eliminated.
That is enormous, ”says Kerner.
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