Business Insights

Against the mainstream

Berg Bier maintained its success by sticking to its niche

11 March 2024

by Nadine Wilmanns

By staying true to themselves and their tradition, the South German beer company “Berg Bier” has prevailed for over 250 years and is now more successful than ever.

When beer started to be industrialized and mass-brewed, the traditional brewery “Berg Bier” in the small village Berg in South Germany saw itself in an existential crisis. Should they go along with the biggies, streamline their beer range and production, and try to compete with the companies that started to brew on a very large scale? Or should they offer unique and niche taste profiles that won`t necessarily satisfy the masses but the more niche consumer? They decided on the ladder and were proven successful.

“The faster the world turns, the more important it is for people to have things that ground them – and this is exactly what we have to offer."

“The mainstream of the time was to mass-produce only one or two types of beer”, says “Berg Bier” owner Uli Zimmermann. “However, in South Germany, people prefer a more traditional beer and by sticking to our traditional way of beer-brewing we found our way back to our consumers. We began brewing more specialist types of beer with an extreme and original character.”

The brewery is using a traditional method of brewing: vat fermentation. “You cannot mass-produce using this method and we don`t want to mass-produce anyway”, says Zimmermann. “Our consumers like to buy in small quantities and knowing the origin of their drink is important to them.” “Berg Bier” buys their crop from local farmers and supports the local economy. “The faster the world turns, the more important it is for people to have things that ground them – and this is exactly what we have to offer. You don`t need to be fancy to drink beer, it`s very down to earth.”