If Czechs are drinking less beer, the issue is not simply Czech. For breweries, it is a signal that the business model is changing: less volume, more moderation, more non-alcoholic options and an increasingly competitive battle for every drinking occasion. Czechia is probably one of the last markets where we would have expected to ask the question: what if consumers are simply drinking less beer? Yet that is exactly what is happening. In 2025, beer consumption in Czechia fell to 121 litres per capita, its lowest level since national statistics began being compiled. Domestic consumption reached 14.86 million hectolitres, down 3.2% year over year. Total beer production also declined, falling 4.3% to 19.96 million hectolitres. For a country where beer is deeply embedded in its cultural, social and economic identity, the figure goes well beyond a simple market statistic. It raises a question Canadian brewers already know well: What happens when consumers no longer...