The UEFA European Championships are almost upon us, but football isn’t the only thing that is popular during the tournament, with millions of fans around Europe ready to tune in and watch the matches there will be a massive spike in the sale of alcohol.

This spike will boil down to the incessant need for the football fan to fuel up with beer!

But what might be popular here in the UK, might not necessarily be popular in the competing nations…with a few surprises towards the top of the rankings, we wonder who drinks the most beer per person in Europe?…

With millions of thirsty fans across Europe (and the globe) watching the second biggest football tournament in the world, those brewers will be hoping for a hot summer. And what could be better than a pint and a top-class game of football? Not much in our book!

Therefore we’ve decided to give you the rankings of the nations based upon both the amount of beer consumed, and even made a list of the most popular beer from each nation!

This might come in handy if you’re running a popular bar and thinking of showing all the matches, hint, hint…here are Europe’s most popular beers:

The Rankings

World Rank	Country	Consumption per capita (l)	Total national consumption(million l)	Most popular Beer
1	Czech Republic	142.6	1879	Gambrinus
3	Austria	104.8	894	Stiegl
4	Germany	104.7	8441	Krombacher
6	Poland	97.8	3776	Tyskie
7	Ireland	97	454	Guinness
12	Romania	85.9	1689	Borsodi
13	Spain	80.6	3729	Cruzcampo
20	Slovakia	74.1	402	Saris
21	Russia	74.1	10560	Baltika
22	Croatia	72.5	309	Ožujsko
23	Belgium	72	810	Jupiler
28	United Kingdom	67.7	4375	Carling
31	Hungary	63.3	626	Dreher
36	Iceland	61.8	20	Skjálfti
37	Ukraine	61.6	2760	Lvivske
42	Switzerland	58.3	460	Eichhof
44	Sweden	52.7	480	Carlsberg
49	Italy	29	1772	Moretti
52	Turkey	13	N/A	Efes

Unfortunately no accurate data is available for Portugal, France and Albania; Northern Ireland and Wales are treated as part of the United Kingdom.

It seems that someone is letting the side down here in the UK! But we fair quite well when you consider the total amount of beer consumed, coming in third in the European table behind Russia and Germany.

Conversely, whilst top of the per capita table, the Czech Republic only manages to make 10th place when total nation beer consumption is considered. This has more to do with nation size though than the amount of beer drank.

Despite all of this information, taste from person to person will vary, so please use this information wisely before going out and stocking up on the Krombacher!

For reference, the most popular beers in Portugal are Sagres, Kronenbourg in France, with Birra Tirana being the most popular brand in Albania according to this infographic: