Oh no: beer is getting more expensive again this year

As if life hasn’t become expensive enough already… Yep, it’s going to get even more expensive this year. Coincidentally, I was thinking back the other day to the time when my sixteen-year-old self first became a regular at a real pub. Small glasses were €1.70 and a vaasje was €1.80. That pub even had kleintjes back then, which cost €1.60. In 2023, that will buy you about two sips of beer, and if things continue like this, by the end of the year it’ll be just one sip.

Because Heineken is going to raise the price of its beer again, despite having made a substantial profit over the past year. Its revenue was €34.6 billion, meaning it brought in 30 percent more revenue and sold 7 percent more litres of beer.

Why raise the prices anyway?!

Apparently, profits did not increase as much as they had in previous years; they remained virtually unchanged. At least, in the bigger picture, because ultimately it was still a profit of €2.7 billion. But despite raising prices last year, profits did not increase. This is due to higher staff, energy, hop and grain costs. And those don’t seem to be getting any lower — so Heineken is making things a little more expensive again. They expect all these factors to become another 19 percent more expensive, and beer prices will be adjusted accordingly.

What is striking, though, is that they are now selling more litres of beer than before the pandemic, and it is also notable that Heineken drinkers are very loyal. Few people switch to cheaper alternatives. Admittedly, a hospitality business owner who cares about their image is not going to show up with some bargain-basement brand. So there’s no way around it; this year, we’ll feel the extra cost of drinks in our wallets.

Also read:

• Warning: life-threatening amount of hard drugs found in Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial champagne
• High February: baking with weed, here’s how
• Cans of Unox soup seized: smuggled goods discovered

Source: NOS.nl