World: Beer is the World's most popular beverage

AC Nielson, a company that does international marketing anyalsis, recently carried out a survey which revealed that the world's most popular beverage is beer, Associated Content published March 26. The second and third most favourite beverages in the world come as no surprise. In second were soft drinks and in third came wine.

Beer consumption around the world is soaring. One reason for the increase of beer being drunk is that it is now available to massive markets where it had previously been banned. Two to the countries with the highest rise of beer sales are China and Russia, both countries were beer was previously was restricted.

At the moment the US is the largest producer of beer in the world. However this expected to change within the next five years. It is thought that China will over take the US. Since 1995 the consumption of beer in China has risen by 88 percent. The Chinese economy has opened up and due to the potential of the beer market in the country, a number of international beer brewers built or bought shares in plants in China. Anheuser-Busch has bought a 30 percent share of the most established Chinese brewer, Tsingtao. At the moment it is believed that there are around 850 brewers in China. More large producers, including Carlsberg, Guinness and Heineken, are trying to take a part of this new large beer market.

One of the most beer loving countries is the Czech Republic. It is in this part of the world that the first lager was produced, using the cold maturation system. This created that tasty golden beer than is enjoyed around the world. Czech beer has an excellent reputation for producing beer and has one of the longest beer production histories. The people of the Czech Republic love their beer heritage and they drink the most beer per person in the world.

Currently in the largest beer-brewing nation, the United States, microbreweries are the biggest fad. There are currently over 1,300 microbreweries in the U.S. In 2006 microbrewery sales increased by a massive 16 percent. The microbreweries make up for over 10 percent of the total beer market in the US.

In South America beer is also well liked and it is produced in great quantities. Some of the world's biggest beer producers are located in South America these include; Columbia's Bavaria, Venezuela's Polar and Mexico's Modelo. Many of the beers made in South American have been greatly influenced by European brewing styles.

For all those beer lovers out there, there is an interesting book called '300 Beers To Try Before You Die', written by Roger Protz.

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