IN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES
BEER CULTURE GIVEN AN IMPETUS
France, Spain
and Italy continue
to look for ways
to make beer more
popular
Hi
L a
B i r e
Table
i
It is high time that beer in Mediterranean countries receives the
place it rightly deserves. This is the view of Brasseries Heineken
in France, Heineken Italia and Heineken Espana. Independently
of each other they have launched a campaign to put beer 'on
the map' in their own (wine) country.
Particularly in wine countries the consumer's knowledge of beer
is underdeveloped. In France wine plays such an important role
within society that it is an essential element of the national
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cultural heritage. A lot of French people do not even look upon
wine as being alcohol. The French government authorities have
always taken a very different view on beer. They feel that beer is
the cause of alcohol addiction among young people. And among
consumers, too, the image of beer is poor, as the figures show:
at 36 litres per capita, beer consumption in France is almost the
lowest figure in the whole of Europe. Only Italy and Greece have
lower scores. Spain, which is also a typical wine country, has in
fact overtaken France in terms of beer consumption per head.
