The morning after the night before is a time for reflection. Waking this week after the 177th Oktoberfest, Muencheners were not alone in nursing a hangover. Although festival-goers downed a record 7m litres of beer this year, Braumeisters are left with a painful headache of their own: the shrinking German appetite for beer. In 1991 the average German quaffed 142 litres of the stuff, but intake has declined every year since. By 2009 German consumption per head had fallen below no litres, less than in the Czech Republic, Ireland and Austria. Another fall is expected this year.
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