Beer may be the most widely consumed drink in the world after water and tea. It is not hard to make. Hops and other grains are the main ingredients. It is among the oldest drinks as well. According to the BBC, archeologists found a brewer in Israel that was 13,000 years old. Today, the brewing business is huge, and several of the world’s largest companies are brewers.
In many places around the world, certain alcoholic beverages hold special significance and have history. For instance, India pale ales (IPAs) were created by British colonialists using extra hops for long journeys between England and India. Light beer became popular in America when breweries made more of it to appeal to women while men were away fighting in World War II. In many countries, certain alcoholic drinks are relished and used to celebrate important events and welcome guests. These special drinks were often born out of a country’s unique resources and environment and can reflect its history and identity.
To find the country where beer is most expensive, 24/7 Tempo relied on data obtained on August 23, 2021, from Numbeo, a crowd-sourced online database covering metrics related to cost of living, property prices and quality of life in cities and countries worldwide. Numbeo shows the restaurant prices in U.S. dollars of domestic beer (0.5-liter bottle) and imported beer (0.33-liter bottle) for 109 countries with sufficient numbers of contributors.
Numbeo aggregates data for countries in real time. Data may be subject to change over relatively shorter periods compared to government data sets.
Population figures came from the World Bank and are for 2019, the latest year for which data was available.
The country with the most expensive beer is the United Arab Emirates. The average price there for a domestic beer (16.9 oz. on draught) is $10.89. The average price for imported beer (11.2 oz. bottle) is $12.25. The population of the UAE is 9,770,526.
Click here to see all the countries where beer is the most expensive.