Craft Breweries Dominate The Top 50, But Guess Which Giants Rule The Beer Market



As you savor your favorite craft beer or head to one of the many craft breweries that seem to be opening daily throughout the country, it's logical to assume that the craft beer avalanche has begun to bury the beer giants who have dominated the industry for decades. The most recent statistics, though, show otherwise.


Small or independent craft brewers have undoubtedly made significant inroads into the American beer market, constituting 40 of the Top 50 breweries in volume of beer produced for sale last year, according to the Brewers Association's recently released 2017 statistics. But the traditional giants are standing tall, with control of the biggest chunk of the market, which exceeds $107 billion annually.

Anheuser-Busch, which brews more than 100 brands, including its flagship Budwesier and Bud Light, is No. 1, the Brewers Association's data shows. The brewing giant says it controls 46% of the entire industry's U.S. sales.




Budweiser beer cans are on ice at a concession stand at LECOM Park, the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in Bradenton, Florida. The brand's brewer, Anheuser-Busch, brews more than 100 brands and controls nearly half of the U.S. beer industry's sales. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

MillerCoors, which owns Blue Moon, Pilsener Urquell and numerous brands besides Miller and Coors products, ranks The traditional giants have bought some craft breweries in recent years, blurring the lines between craft and non-craft brewing companies. Anheuser-Busch bought 10 Barrel Brewing of Bend, Oregon, and Constellation Brands purchased Sand Diego-based Ballast Point for $1 billion.

The Brewers Association, which represents more than 4,000 small and independent craft brewers, says its members' share of the market has been slowly increasing, producing 12.3 percent of beer sold in the USA in 2016. Retail dollar sales of craft beer increased 10 percent in 2016 to $23.5 billion — nearly 22 percent of the $107.6 billion U.S. beer market, the Brewers Association says.

Craft beers are served at the Maine Beer Company in Freeport, Maine. Eight beers are now on tap at the brewery's tasting room. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Joseph Tucker, the executive director of RateBeer.com, says it's become difficult to classify which companies are craft brewers.

"There are many scales of craft brewer now — from the mom and pop, to breweries selling to entire states, to regional brewers and now international brewers brewing millions of barrels annually that are still qualifying as craft by some definitions," Tucker says. "Ownership also runs the gamut: some small and family-owned, others with industry or non-industry investors and a few publicly traded."

Em Sauter, a certified beer judge and the author of Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age), uses the term macro brewery — often defined as a brewery annually producing more than 6 million barrels of beer — for the beer giants.

"Macro brands can afford the advertising, the eye level space (in retail stores) and the promo gear," she says. "And, for a while, that strategy really worked for them and, frankly, still does although not as well. But now with craft beer and the local movement, people are looking into their backyards and are discovering great beer made down the street as well as a stellar place to hang out on a Saturday afternoon.

"It's a slow burn for craft brewers, and they are slowly chipping away at the big guys," Sauter says. "Craft isn't going to overtake macro brands overnight. But the beer world continues to evolve at a crazy pace. I'm super excited to see where it goes next, wherever that is."




Bottles of Sierra Nevada's pale ale move along a conveyor belt at the company's brewery in Chico, California. (Photographer: Ken James/Bloomberg)

Here are the Top 50 U.S. breweries, ranked by volume of beer produced last year, according to the Brewers Association:


1) Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri


2) MillerCoors, Chicago, Illinois


3) Constellation Brands, Chicago, Illinois


4) Heineken, White Plains, New York


5) Pabst Brewing, Los Angeles, California


6) D. G. Yuengling & Son, Pottsville, Pennsylvania


7) North American Breweries, Rochester, New York


8) Diageo, Norwalk, Connecticut


9) Boston Beer, Boston, Massachusetts


10) Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, California


11) New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado


12) Craft Brew Alliance, Portland, Oregon


13) Duvel Moortgat, Paso Robles, California/Kansas City, Missouri/Cooperstown, New York


14) Gambrinus, San Antonio, Texas/Berkeley, California/Portland, Oregon


15) Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, Michigan


16) Bell’s Brewery, Comstock, Michigan


17) Sapporo USA, La Crosse, Wisconsin


18) Stone Brewing, Escondido, California


19) CANarchy, Longmont, Colorado/Tampa, Florida/Salt Lake City, Oregon/Comstock Park, Michigan


20) Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon


21) Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, New York


22) Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware


23) Minhas Craft Brewery, Monroe, Wisconsin


24) Artisanal Brewing Ventures, Downingtown, Pennsylvania/Lakewood, New York


25) SweetWater Brewing, Atlanta, Georgia


26) New Glarus Brewing, New Glarus, Wisconsin


27) Matt Brewing, Utica, New York


28) Harpoon Brewery, Boston, Massachusetts


29) Alaskan Brewing, Juneau, Alaska


30) Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland, Ohio


31) Abita Brewing, Abita Springs, Louisiana


32) Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado


33) Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, Wisconsin


34) August Schell Brewing, New Ulm, Minnesota


35) Summit Brewing, Saint Paul, Minnesota


36) 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco Bay Area, California


37) Shipyard Brewing, Portland, Maine


38) Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, Maryland


39) Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, Oregon


40) Troëgs Brewing, Hershey, Pennsylvania


41) Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, Vermont


42) Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon


43) Rhinegeist Brewery, Cincinnati, Ohio


44) Narragansett Brewing, Providence, Rhode Island


45) Gordon Biersch Brewing, San Jose, California


46) Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, Maine


47) Uinta Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, Utah


48) Ninkasi Brewing, Eugene, Oregon


49) Surly Brewing, Minneapolis, Minnesota

50) Revolution Brewing, Chicago, Illinois

Gary Stoller , CONTRIBUTOR Forbes.com
Original Article

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