Diebels Specializes in Altbier and Expands It Nationwide

In 1970, Diebels brewery in Issum began concentrating its production on top-fermented beer and developed an Altbier-specialist strategy. Until then, the formerly regional brewery had produced several beer types, including Pils, Export, strong beer, and dark beer. By focusing its modernization, production, and marketing on Diebels Alt, the brewery transformed a Lower Rhine regional style into a widely distributed bottled-beer brand. The strategy produced rapid growth. Diebels reached an annual output of 500,000 hectoliters in 1975 and surpassed one million hectoliters in 1981. It became Germany’s largest Altbier brewery and, at its height, held more than half of the national Altbier market. While Düsseldorf’s house breweries preserved Altbier as a local tavern tradition, Diebels made the style familiar to consumers throughout Germany through industrial-scale brewing, bottling, distribution, and advertising.