BERLIN (Reuters) - A steady slide in beer consumption in Germany was stopped cold last year thanks to warmer weather, the federal statistics office said Monday.

German brewers sold 98.2 million hectolitres of beer last year, down by just 0.1 percent in 2011 after dropping by an average of two percent every year since 2006. Beer consumption in Germany had fallen in all but two of the last 10 years.

Despite Germany's reputation as a nation of beer lovers, young people are turning away from the national beverage in favour of other non-alcoholic beverages, brewers say.

The warmer weather last year as well as the World Cup soccer tournament in 2006 helped to put a floor beneath what is still the country's most famous beverage. Germans still drink more than 100 litres of beer per capita each year.

"Beer sales depend on the weather. In the first half of 2011 -- in April and May -- we had a lot of warm weather, and the figures were up by 1.0 percent," Juergen Hammer, an official at the Federal Statistics Agency, told Reuters.

"This is why this year's results aren't so bad. So I guess the old adage is true that when it's warm people drink beer."

Consumption of German beer, which has been subject to a purity law since 1516, has been in slow decline for decades.

The World Cup football tournament helped German beer consumption rise by 1.4 percent in 2006, the strongest increase in 12 years, the federal statistics office said Monday.

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Rejoice, beer patriots, the Boston Beer Company — maker of Samuel Adams beers — has listened to the people and, beginning in March, will offer their Noble Pils brew in 6-packs year-round.

The popular beer, first released in the spring of 2010 after winning the “Beer Lover’s Choice” in 2009, met with applause from beer nerds nationwide. Combined with Revolutionary Rye, the beer sure brought The Daily Caller back onto the Sam Adams party bus, following a series of disappointing seasonal beers coupled (coincidentally?) with growing distribution.

In an email to enthusiasts, the company wrote, “You asked and we listened. Through many hand-written letters, emails, Facebook posts and discussions at beer festivals, we heard your pleas to offer Noble Pils year round and we are excited to announce your wish is our command.”

Tragically, hop heads will have to wait for 12-packs, and the crew at TheDC will have to wait before the office can put it on tap — right now the only plan is for 6-ers. In an interview with TheDC, however, brewery rep Jessica Paar did not rule those out for future release.

The email described Noble Pils as “a traditional Bohemian Pilsner that is brewed with all five Noble hops (Hallertau Mittelfrueh, Tettnang Tettnanger, Spalt Spalter, Saaz, and Hersbrucker).”

Watchful beer enthusiasts may have already noticed that the Noble Pils was not back on tap this spring, replaced by Sam Adams’ new seasonal pint, Alpine Spring.

In an email to TheDC, Paar wrote that Alpine Spring “is brewed with hops grown in the Alpine foothills and is slightly more balanced in its hop character than Noble Pils, producing a bright flavor and crispness that make it appropriate for spring.”