Beer Company Rankings

By John on October 27, 2011 @ 5 PM (1 Comment)

Beverage Industry magazine recently published a list of The Top 100 Beverage Companies in their June 2011 issue and it’s quite an interesting read. It deals with beverage as an overall category, which means that segments like beer are interspersed with soft drinks, wine, spirits, dairy, water, etc.

It may surprise you (or not) that the largest beverage company in the world isn’t Coca-Cola or Pepsi, it’s AB-InBev. It may surprise you that 27 of the top 100 beverage companies are beer companies. Or that a lot of the microbreweries we love like Dogfish Head are actually among the top 100 largest beverage companies in the world.

I thought it would be interesting to pull the beer ones out of the list and show you how the beer companies rank among the Top 100 beverage companies for 2010. The list below shows the company name, their rank on the list, their location, their 2010 revenues and their top beer.

Beer Company Rankings for 2010

#	Company	Location	Revenue	Top Beer
01	AB Inbev	Belgium	$36.3 billion	Bud Light
05	Heineken International	Amsterdam	$21.6 billion	Heineken
06	SABMiller	London	$18.0 billion	Miller Lite
07	Diageo	London	$15.3 billion	Guinness
11	Grupo Modelo	Mexico	$6.9 million	Corona Extra
19	Foster’s Group LTD	Australia	$3.6 billion	Foster’s Lager
21	Molson Coors Brewing	Golden, CO	$3.3 billion	Coors Light
40	Pabst Brewing Co	Woodridge, IL	$500 million	Pabst Blue Ribbon
42	Boston Beer Company	Boston, MA	$464 million	Sam Adams Boston Lager
45	North American Breweries	Rochester, NY	$409 million*	Labatt Blue
55	D.G. Yuengling & Son	Pottsville, PA	$274 million*	Yuengling Traditional Lager
63	Sierra Nevada Brewing	Chico, CA	$150 million*	Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
68	New Belgium Brewing	Fort Collins, CO	$133 million*	Fat Tire Amber Ale
69	Craft Brewers Alliance	Woodinville, WA	$132 million	Widmer Hefeweizen
71	The Gambrinus Company	San Antonio, TX	$100 million	Shiner Bock
82	Deschutes Brewery	Bend, OR	$41 million*	Mirror Pond Pale Ale
84	Matt Brewing Co	Utica, NY	$34 million*	Sarnac Pale Ale
85	Bell’s Brewery	Galesburg, MI	$31 million*	Two Hearted Ale
87	Harpoon Brewery	Boston, MA	$30 million*	Harpoon IPA
88	Boulevard Brewing	Kansas City, MO	$30 million*	Bully! Porter
91	Dogfish Head Craft Brewery	Milton, DE	$27 million*	90 Minute IPA
92	Alaskan Brewing	Juneau, AK	$25 million*	Alaskan Amber
93	Long Trail Brewing	Bridgewater Corners, VT	$24 million*	Long Trail Ale
94	Full Sail Brewing	Hood River, OR	$23 million*	Full Sail Amber Ale
96	Stone Brewing	Escondido, CA	$23 million*	Arrogant Bastard Ale
97	Abita Brewing	Abita Springs, LA	$22 million*	Turbodog
98	Brooklyn Brewery	Brooklyn, NY	$21 million*	Brooklyn Lager

* Estimated 2010 Sales

Dissecting the list, I find some interesting things:

Craft breweries are still small businesses. You’ve got a very tight cluster of craft breweries in the $20 to $30 million revenue range (though most of those are estimated). Only about 7 or 8 companies that we’d consider “craft beer” make more than that $30 million mark.
Distribution is king. The difference in the $20 to $30 million companies and the $100 million+ companies? It’s not quality of the product. It’s distribution. Most of the companies at the bottom of the list are still regional players. Granted many of them are expanding but very few are available in all regions. Why? A mix of factors. Total volume they can produce. Wanting to stay small. Not having the distribution infrastructure. Not having the capital to mass produce. Making beers that are near impossible to mass produce. Wanting to keep it fun by not focusing only on revenue. Lots of reasons, but at the end of the day the biggest beverage companies are the ones that own the distribution channel.
The companies are really spread out. It’s great to see that no single region really dominates the list. From the West Coast to the Midwest to the South to the East Coast and all the way to Alaska we’ve got great craft breweries pretty much anywhere you are (or within a few hundred miles of you).
It’s a great time to be into good beer. About 1/6 of the top beverage companies in the world are craft beer companies, many of which didn’t exist a decade ago. If you like drinking craft beer there’s no better time than now for variety and style. If you like making craft beer now is a great time to do that. Craft beer continue to grow and it’s still only about 5% of the total beer sold. It should only continue to increase. If you’re passionate about making beer you can succeed – the names on the list are the proof in the pudding.