Krombacher’s flagship Pils

The appetite for craft beer in Australia should drive interest in premium importedbeers as it has done in the United States, according to German brewer Krombacher.

Germany’s biggest brewer in both volume and market share, Krombacher recently began exporting to Australia under a new agreement with Kollaras Trading Company.

“I see a great opportunity in Australia for high end, quality imports. In all the countries where I see a big craft beer movement, I see a big potential for a premium imports too,” Krombacher’s Dagmar Broska told Australian Brews News.

Broska said this is because craft beer is helping to educate consumers about beer’s origins and ingredients, as well as its food matching potential.

“In Scandinavia, in Ireland, in the UK, especially in the US we see big big growth for Krombacher. I think this is due to people no longer only talking about wine, but also starting to talk about beer,” she said.

Broska said this growth had been most pronounced in the United States, where German imports to the US grew 24 per cent overall last year, according to figures recently quoted by Cicerone program founder Ray Daniels.

Per @BeerBizDaily German imports up 24% YTD. Good news! Classics important to continued development of our beer culture!

— Ray Daniels (@Cicerone_org) December 22, 2016

Krombacher itself managed growth of 38 per cent last year in the US, despite it being an extremely cluttered market.

“You can only drink so many sours or Double IPAs in a night. People everywhere go back to a very easily drinkable beer, which is obviously our Pils,” Broska said.

“That’s probably why Modelo and Dos Equis have grown so big in the US.”

She said the Germany has so far been resilient to the uprising of craft beer styles, and its brewers are watching with interest the recent arrival of San Diego’s Stone Brewing in Berlin.

The Krombacher brewery in Kreuztal, North Rhine-Westphalia

“They opened in the first week of September [2016] and they have not really sold any bottles so far into retail, only in their own brewpub,” she said.

“I don’t think Germany is so much into craft – not yet. Maybe we are late to the game or we have had so many styles already for 200 years that people are already satisfied. Maybe craft might come a little bit later.

“In the whole beer market in Germany, 70 per cent is Pils. Towards the south you find a little bit more Helles [lager] and Wheat Beer, but all the rest of Germany is Pils,” Broska said.

Krombacher Pils, Wheat Beer, Dark andNon-Alcoholicwill soon be available nationally through selected Cellarbrations and IGA Liquor stores.