Brewup and Brewup Magazine

#Reconnect

Getting back to bars, pubs, cafés and festivals with friends, family and local communities was a symbol of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It also helped to reignite the whole European economy and rebuild society. This was the theme of The Brewers of Europe’s #Reconnect campaign.

Reopening had a special significance for the beer hospitality trade, which saw on-trade fall 40% in 2020 compared to 2019. Nonetheless, the sector weathered the crisis, making the necessary investments to ensure Covid-safe environments. When bars reopened, they were ready once again to serve beer to consumers.

#Savesportsponsorship

Brewers have a long history of partnership with sports: well over €900 million is spent annually in the EU by the brewing sector in supporting over 8,000 community sports events. However, our sponsorship of sports teams, events, federations and associations faced a threat when calls emerged to ban our support. The sustainability of thousands of sporting clubs, teams and events was put under threat, impacting not only the sporting organisations but also the sportspeople, spectators and communities that benefit from this extra support.

The Brewers of Europe backed the SaveSportSponsorship campaign, in which a broad coalition of sports associations, leagues, teams, sponsors, media and broadcasters worked together with MEPs encourage the European Parliament to support proposals that would continue to permit beer sponsorship of sports, provided it was done responsibly and not targeted at minors.

The Savesportsponsorship campaign underlined that when it comes to alcohol policy, the EU should adopt an approach that focuses the EU’s prevention efforts on tackling harmful consumption and protecting minors. In their vote on February 15, 2022, MEPs supported this approach.

#LOVEBEER

Love Beer was a European campaign supporting independent, modern women who love beer. It showed real women enjoying their beer in ways that were both natural and surprising.

Love Beer paid tribute to women who know what they want and what they like and for whom beer fits perfectly their busy lifestyle.

The campaign reflected the role of women as key trend-leaders – and of the changing image of beer from an almost exclusively masculine-commoditised option to a world of choices.

#SMART

At EU-level, The Brewers of Europe partnered with the European Transport Safety Council for ten years on the Sober Mobility Across Road Transport project.

The objective of the SMART project was to address the main issues related to alcohol and driving and continue ETSC advocacy activities both at EU and Member State level to tackle drink driving and reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths.

During a period in which drink drive fatalities declined by 25% (and faster than other road deaths), brewers worked to support responsible beer consumption in partnership with multiple stakeholders nationally and internationally, be they governments, local authorities, doctors’ groups, the police, NGOs, consumer groups, educators, road safety authorities and other parts of society.