Beer, for centuries Germany's favourite drink, is in trouble as the country's most famous beverage faces a double hangover from rising business costs and the surging popularity of a long overshadowed rival – wine, Reuters writes.

Wine topped beer as the drink Germans spent most money on for the first time ever in 2001 and the gap widened further last year. New government tariffs on non-disposable cans and bottles means beer consumption is primed for further setbacks in 2003. Germans are still the world's third biggest drinkers of beer, downing just over 121 litres (26.6 gallons) per capita each year.

"I would never have thought that the average German beer drinker would be put off by an extra 25 cents a can, but they have been," said Udo Franke, a director of Germany's biggest beer producer, Holsten Brauerei.

The regulations were designed to increase recycling of containers. "If we continue to have months like January and February, then the outlook for the future is very bleak," said Franke, whose company has cut hours at some plants because of the drop in sales. Young Germans lose taste for beer. Another factor behind the worrying slump is Germany's ageing population.

"The German population is getting older and older, which means there are fewer young people and thus fewer beer drinkers," said Erich Dederichs, managing director of the German Beer Brewers Association lobby in Bonn.

"I think white wine sharpens my thinking while beer dims the senses and makes me lethargic," said Nora Below, a 28-year-old Berlin artist who grew up in Germany's wine-growing Mosel River region.

They have begun mixing beers with non-alcoholic drinks to appeal to younger taste buds. Last year the Beck's brewery, known for its green bottles, broke with tradition and brought out a beer in a clear bottle under the name of "Beck's Gold".

08 April, 2003