Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world, thanks in large part to its affordability compared with cocktails or wine at a bar. Yet everyone from multinational brewers to small craft beer companies is warning about a coming price increase.
Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world, thanks in large part to its affordability compared with cocktails or wine at a bar.
But everyone from multinational brewers to small craft beer companies to pub chains is warning about beer’s inevitable price increase.
In the United Kingdom, for instance, research from consultancy firm CGA found that the average cost of a pint of beer has soared by 70 percent since the global financial crisis. The mean price for 568 milliliters of brew has gone from £2.30 ($4.05) in 2008 to £3.95 ($5.10) in 2022. In London, one pub was charging a whopping £8.06 ($10.24) per pint on average.
However, London is far from the priciest place to buy a beer. It’s the seventh most expensive capital city, according to 2021’s Expensivity World Beer Index, which analyzed the price of brew from local supermarkets and hotel lobbies.
Tokyo, Bern, Paris, Beijing, Amman and Doha top the list of most expensive places to buy beer, with a pint costing nearly $20 in Qatar’s capital.
Why? The short answer is inflation. The long answer is on our video above.
