Fewer Czechs drinking beer?

It's well-known that Czechs drink the most beer per capita in the world. While this is not about to change, a new poll has suggested, that there are many Czechs that don't drink the brew. Michael Longaro with more.

Na zdraví!

Yes it may seem impossible to believe, but a report released by polling agency GfK has suggested that only two-fifths of Czechs drink beer on a regular basis while more than half drink only once a month or not at all. The agency polled over 1,000 people and then broke down the results into beer drinking categories. The Occasional Drinker, the Non-Drinker, and the Youth were categories that received the majority of responses. Radio Prague asked Czechs in the capital if - in their view - such findings held water, or perhaps beer for that matter.

"No I don't think so, my father is big lover of beer and he drinks beer more than before. I don't drink because it doesn't taste good, but it isn't bad drink."

"I love beer and most of my friends love beer, beer is the best!"

"Generally I think who drinks beer he drinks the same as he drank before, but it might be now with the economic development of the country it might be true yes. I am not a beer drinker. It means I drink daily two beers roughly, on average."

RP: "But some people would say that even two is a lot."

"No, two is not a lot, two is just enough."

"It's World Cup and many Czechs are now drinking beer, so I think more Czechs are drinking beer now."

As you can see, most of the Czechs we spoke to seemed at least somewhat sceptical that there were really so many Czechs that don't touch beer, especially with the ongoing World Cup packing Czechs into pubs across the country. It may be that a segment of the population shies away from the drink, but that only leaves the burden of being the world's largest beer drinkers with others. According to a 2004 study by the Kirin Brewery the Czechs topped the list of beer consumption per capita, comfortably beating out both the Irish and the Germans, no mean beer drinkers themselves.