Spaniards drank 7.5% less beer outside the home in 2025

Spaniards drank less beer outside the home in 2025, extending a decline that has been building since 2022, while the industry said tourism, exports and alcohol-free products are helping keep overall sales steady.

Data from Spain’s 2025 Food Consumption Report, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, shows that beer consumption by Spanish residents outside the home fell to 18.4 liters per person in 2025 from 19.9 liters in 2024. That was a drop of 7.5% in one year. Compared with 2022, the decline reached 16.1%.

The ministry’s report places that fall within a broader downturn in out-of-home consumption of cold drinks in Spain. Total consumption in that market was down 9.4% between 2022 and 2025. Beer was the main driver of the overall decline because of its size in the market. Even after the drop, beer remained the leading cold drink consumed outside the home in 2025, accounting for 36.1% of total volume. That was still below its 37.3% share in 2024.

The figures show that the decrease was not limited to beer. Since 2022, out-of-home consumption of spirits has fallen 16.9%, while bottled water is down 2.7% and soft drinks are down 4.2%. The ministry’s data indicates that the whole category of cold beverages has been moving lower, but beer has been losing volume faster than some other products.

Beer’s leading position in the market has narrowed as other categories gained share. Bottled water rose to 33.3% of out-of-home cold drink consumption in 2025 from 32.4% a year earlier. Soft drinks increased to 18.3% from 17.5%. The gap between beer and bottled water, the two largest categories, shrank from 4.9 percentage points in 2024 to 2.8 points in 2025.

Wine-based drinks represented 6.9% of the market in 2025, slightly below 7.1% in 2024. Spirits accounted for 2.2%, while juices, horchata and must represented 2.1%, and cider 1%.

The ministry’s report focuses on consumption by Spanish residents outside their homes, in places such as bars, restaurants and cafes. Industry representatives say that measure captures only part of the market and does not reflect total beer activity in Spain.

Jacobo Olalla, director general of Cerveceros de España, said the ministry’s indicator reflects “a specific part of consumption” tied only to residents in Spain. He said the industry’s own socioeconomic report shows that Spain’s total beer market in 2025 stood 2.7% above 2022 levels, which he described as a positive result in a period of economic restraint.

That industry report includes total production, exports and tourist consumption, based on company data and figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute. Olalla said those broader numbers help explain why the industry’s commercial volume has remained “very stable” even as per capita consumption in hospitality venues has fallen.

He also pointed to population growth. Since 2022, Spain has gained about 1.6 million residents, according to the industry’s reading of official data. In that context, a lower out-of-home consumption figure per person does not necessarily mean the total volume sold by brewers has dropped at the same rate.

Still, the industry group acknowledged that the hospitality sector continues to face pressure. Olalla said bars and restaurants are being affected by lower disposable income among consumers and by new leisure habits that are less centered on in-person socializing and more connected to screens.

That shift matters because beer has long depended on Spain’s hospitality trade. The ministry’s data suggests that this link remains strong enough for changes in bar and restaurant habits to have a visible effect on overall consumption patterns among residents.

Tourism has become one of the main supports for the sector. Foreign visitors, who are not included in the ministry’s measure of resident consumption, are helping offset weaker demand from Spaniards in bars and restaurants. Exports are also contributing to overall industry performance, according to the brewers’ association.

Another part of the industry’s strategy is the expansion of alcohol-free beer. Some producers see that segment as one of the clearest growth areas in a market where traditional out-of-home consumption has softened.

One of the most visible moves has come from Cervezas MICA. Its chief executive, Juan Cereijo, said the company decided to become the first brewer in Spain to produce only alcohol-free beer as part of what he called a strategy of positive social impact.

The company has focused on an alcohol-free, gluten-free and low-calorie product, betting on a segment that it says is growing by more than 4% in Spain when at-home and out-of-home consumption are combined.

Cereijo said 50% of people who choose alcohol-free beer in Spain do so for reasons linked to driving, a pattern he said is concentrated mainly outside the home. He added that sector data shows 90% of customers in that category are “mixed” consumers, meaning they are not abstainers but regular beer drinkers who alternate between alcoholic and non-alcoholic options depending on the moment.

That profile is important for brewers because it suggests alcohol-free beer is not limited to a niche audience. Instead, it is aimed at the wider base of consumers who still drink beer but are changing when, where and how they do it.

The ministry’s figures show that 2025 marked the lowest level in the four-year series for out-of-home beer consumption by Spanish residents. Each year since 2022 has ended below the previous one, both for total cold drinks and for beer specifically. The sharper decline in beer explains why it has continued to lose market share even while remaining the top category.

For the industry, that means two realities are happening at the same time. The traditional bar-and-restaurant market among Spaniards is weakening, while the broader beer business is being held up by foreign visitors, exports and the push into alcohol-free products.