Ten million litres of beer from bars on the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca flushed down the drain due to Covid-19 lockdown

“The sudden closing of restaurants, cafés, bars, tourism and the cancellation of festivals and trade fairs means at least 10 million litres of beer, mostly in barrels, is going to waste,” said Alan Grimes, an expat bar owner from the Costa del Sol.

Beer in kegs has a limited shelf life, it doesn’t last forever and the barrels that were open in March this year for customers will have to be emptied as the beer will not be safe to use.

“At the end of winter, most bars stocked up on beer for the coming season, which they haven’t been able to sell,” Alan added.

Another reason it needs to be destroyed is that some of the beer in fashion at the moment is unpasteurised, which makes it more fragile, contrary to the classic blonde beers.

“This type of beer is full of hops, and if you keep it too long, over two or three months, the taste and aroma disappear, the destruction of the beer will have a considerable economic impact on business owners.”

As previously reported by the EWN, beer flies have been swarming bars and multiplying in their millions, due to the warmer weather, the problem looks set to become worse.