Beer and Smoking

Though thousands of beer aficionados will flock to Germany this fall for its famed Oktoberfest, native brewers will be left with an extra-bitter aftertaste. The country's famed reverence for beer is ebbing, as new figures show that sales of the amber nectar fell 2.7% in 2007, the steepest decline since 2000, according to Germany's Federal Statistics Office.

Things will get worse as a new, national smoking ban takes hold across the country. Pub sales should drop by a third this year because of the ban, according to the German Brewers Association.

-Beer? Germans Say Nein, Danke