Last year, "the evolution of beer production, sales and consumption was, of course, in decline, since beer consumption in Portugal and in the world is largely social".

According to data from Associação Cervejeiros de Portugal, "total beer production in 2020 stood at 659 million litres, having dropped 7.3 percent compared to 2019". Sales had a 15 percent drop, "having been consumed in the domestic market about 469 million litres of beer last year". In the period under review, the brewing sector exported 194 million litres of beer, an increase of 9 percent compared to 2019 (177 million litres), "as a result of the reopening of markets, especially in the second half of 2020", reads the statement.

The beer association of Portugal launch the 'Saber Cerveja' campaign. "Usually, partnership-making is not so close to consumers, so to break this paradigm we created the Saber Cerveja brand and program, which aims to inform and bring more education about beer", says the secretary general of the Cervejeiros de Portugal Association, Francisco Gírio.

"However the action of 'Saber Cerveja' goes further than an information 'hub' on social platforms: in this atypical year and a half, and a particularly difficult one for the sector, the association created, under this program, the Academia da Cerveja, a set of short-term courses for professionals in the Horeca sector [Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes], who have published the Brewers' Guide in Portugal 2020-2021, a mapping of the best beer in 18 districts and islands, promoting the national, industrial and artisanal breweries, which today are more than 100 companies", says the responsible.

International Beer Day was created in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California, and began as a celebration just at the founders' bar, which later expanded to become a worldwide event. In Portugal, the date is celebrated by Confraria da Cerveja, a non-profit organisation that was born from the dream of seven Portuguese personalities in the brewing sector.