Part of it is sponsored by Heineken. I had no idea when they did the filming that the “beer expert” (Bierologue) would be a Heineken shill. He talks about how great Pelforth, Heineken, and Desperados (basically Bud Lite Lime) are. A friend gave me the complement that ‘at least there was one guy who knew what he was talking about.’
I dunno where they got their numbers, and most of these breweries are opening because of the new ‘autoentrepreneur’ work status which “allows” you to have a side job. I would not be surprised if most of these breweries are of dubious quality. I know that mine is (I did the autoentrepreneur thing for Doughboy and we have made exactly no beer).
It’s certainly easier to start a brewery here because there are very very few health regulations. And you can see that in the beer that gets made. Lots of infection, lots of ‘hot’ from lack of fermentation temp control. I know a brewer who sells a decent amount of beer here, he ferments in plastic carboys in his non-temperature-controlled attic.
Having said that, there are some really great breweries popping up these days. The other guys just need to get the education.
