Brewers Association names top 50 breweries
By Zach Fowle • Apr 14th, 2009 • Category: Beer News
Who doesn’t love a good list? Movies, restaurants, songs to make whoopee to — rank them numerically and we eat them up.
That’s why we were super excited when the Brewers Association, an advocacy group that represents the majority of brewing companies in the U.S., released their annual lists of the top 50 craft brewing companies and the top 50 overall brewing companies, ranked by volume of beer sales.
You can see the entire lists here, but we’ve laid out the top 10 in each category for you viewing pleasure:
Top Craft Brewing Companies
1. Boston Beer Co.
2. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
3. New Belgium Brewing Co.
4. Spoetzl Brewery
5. Pyramid Breweries Inc.
6. Deschutes Brewery
7. Matt Brewing Co.
8. Boulevard Brewing Co.
9. Full Sail Brewing Co.
10. Magic Hat Brewing Co.
Top Overall Brewing Companies
1. Anheuser-Busch InBev
2. MillerCoors Brewing Co.
3. Pabst Brewing Co.
4. Boston Beer Co.
5. D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc.
6. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
7. Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.
8. New Belgium Brewing Co.
9. High Falls Brewing Co.
10. Spoetzl Brewery
This year’s rankings are pretty similar to 2007’s, but there were some notable changes. The consolidation of MillerCoors and the merger of Widmer Brothers and Redhook into the company now named Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc., allowed two new craft brewers — Big Sky Brewing Co. and Mac & Jack’s Brewery — to claim spots in the Top 50 Overall list, and the Saint Louis Brewery made its first appearance in the Top 50 Craft list.
See? Isn’t this stuff exciting?
