MANY CHEERS

Beer sales boom as pandemic worries drowned out

BEER drinking reached a record-high in Spain in 2022 helped by hospitality recovering after the pandemic and a surge in tourist numbers.

Figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food in conjunction with Cerveceros de España showed that 42.3 million hectolitres of beer were downed last year. That's 6% more than in 2021 and beats the previous best of 41.3 million hectolitres in 2019. In terms of production, Spain ousted Poland as the

By Alex Trelinski

second biggest producer in the EU and is now behind Germany.

Spain is ninth in the world standings, headed by China, the US and Brazil.

Almost all the beer consumed in Spain is made domestically: in total 41.1 million hectolitres were manufactured - 7.9% more than in 2021.

Exports rose by 13.4% last year, to 4.2 million hectolitres, with Portugal, the United Kingdom, China and Equatorial Guinea as

BRITS flying with Ryanair from the UK to Spain are to have their booze privileges severely curtailed after a spate of bad behaviour 10 kilometres up in the sky.

Passengers will now be banned from drinking duty-free alcohol onboard the plane, and anyone caught attempting to smuggle it in will be kicked off the flight.

Prospective passengers received an email from the airline outlining the stringent regulations for those flying with Ryanair from the UK to Alicante, the main markets. Imports meanwhile fell by 3.63% in 2022 compared to the previous year, to 5.4 million hectolitres with

Booze Off

Barcelona, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma, and Tenerife South.

Whereas before passengers might be able to buy booze in the duty free and then chug it on the plane, those days now appear to be over.

At first, the information was that passengers would have their hand luggage searched for offending items and if found, they would be obliged to place them in the cargo hold.