Bitburger says Benediktiner annual sales reached 500,000 hectoliters for the first time

Bitburger Braugruppe said Tuesday that Benediktiner Weissbräu has reached annual sales of 500,000 hectoliters for the first time, a milestone for the German beer brand the group created with Bavaria’s Ettal Abbey.

The volume is equal to about 50 million liters of beer sold over a 12-month period. The company said the mark had not been reached before in the brand’s roughly 15 years on the market. The announcement was made on LinkedIn and reported by the trade publication About-Drinks.

The brewer did not say which exact months were included in the annual sales figure, and it did not provide the volume for the previous period. That means a year-over-year growth rate cannot be calculated from the information released. The company also did not break down sales by country or disclose revenue tied to the brand.

Benediktiner Weissbräu was developed as a joint project between Bitburger Braugruppe and Kloster Ettal, the Benedictine abbey in southern Germany. The brand has been positioned in the wheat beer segment, an established part of the German beer market that includes both domestic and export demand. In its announcement, Bitburger said the new sales level reflected about 15 years of steady brand building, a clear strategy and a focus on high-quality products.

The company said it plans to keep expanding the brand in a measured way rather than through a rapid change in direction. It did not outline production changes, new markets or specific volume targets beyond the 500,000-hectoliter milestone.

Bitburger also linked the announcement to a new sports marketing move. Benediktiner Weissbräu will serve for the first time as the main sponsor of the LaVita IBU World Cups in biathlon, according to the company. The step adds to the brand’s sports sponsorship activity and gives it visibility in a winter sport with a strong audience in German-speaking markets and parts of Europe.

The sales milestone offers a snapshot of the scale that one Bitburger brand has reached inside a larger brewing group. According to BarthHaas, the global hops supplier and beer industry analyst, Bitburger Braugruppe ranked 35th worldwide by beer volume produced in 2025, with 5.2 million hectoliters. That figure refers to total group production, while the 500,000-hectoliter number announced for Benediktiner refers to annual sales of a single brand, so the two measures describe different parts of the business.

Bitburger did not say how much of Benediktiner’s volume came from Germany and how much came from international markets. It also did not say whether the brand’s growth was driven mainly by retail sales, food service, export business or a mix of channels. Without those details, the announcement mainly establishes the size of the brand’s current annual sales rather than the exact sources of that growth.

For Bitburger, the announcement adds a concrete figure to a brand that has been presented as a long-term project rather than a short-term launch. Reaching 500,000 hectoliters gives the company a clear commercial benchmark for Benediktiner at a time when many brewers in Europe are trying to balance mature home markets, changing consumer habits and the cost of maintaining brand visibility.

The announcement did not include comments from executives beyond the company’s description of the result as confirmation of its existing strategy. It also did not indicate whether more investment in production, marketing or international expansion will follow. What the company did make clear is that Benediktiner has now crossed a level of annual sales that Bitburger had not previously reported for the brand.