Europeans are drinking less beer. Heineken’s Europe boss has a plan to avoid a brewing hangover

This summer was a bright moment for Europe’s brewers.

Hot weather and the FIFA World Cup packed out beer gardens, and in Britain, the night that England beat Panama was pubs’ busiest of the year, with card transactions five times the daily average , according to Barclays .

But behind the sunny terraces, a longer slump has been brewing.

European consumers drink less beer than they did before the pandemic.

Consumption fell 3.2% in 2025 and is down 9.2% since 2019, according to a report by the industry trade body Brewers of Europe.

The slump has been pinned on sober-curious Gen Z drinkers and, more recently, weight-loss drugs like Ozempic.

Glenn Caton, Europe president at Heineken , the world’s second-largest brewer, points to costs.

“There’s no question that price inflation has impacted consumer consumption over time,” he told Fortune .

Brewers had barely recovered from the pandemic when Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sent energy and grain prices soaring.

“Clearly raising prices has been necessary,” Caton said.

Heineken raised what it charges British pubs for draught beer by 2.97% in February 2025 and another 2.7% this February.

The average U.K. pint rose 17p to £5.34 in the year to April, according to The Morning Advertiser .

Although Heineken returned to growth this year, volumes rose 1.6% in t he second quarter of 2026, this was not thanks to European drinkers.

While beer sales in Asia Pacific and Africa and the Middle East rose, in Europe they’ve been falling.