Top Five-O

[admin]

BA releases list of top fifty breweries

The Brewers Association has released the list of the top 50 breweries based on sales production in 2006.

The association also reported that in 2006 77.7% of the craft beer produced was made from the top 50 craft brewing companies. Additionally, 34 out of the top 50 brewing companies in the U.S meet the Brewers Association’s definition of a craft brewer.

“Beer made by small, independent and traditional breweries is definitely an American success story,” states Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “There’s a change in lifestyle going on. People are trading up and that is what is creating such strong demand for craft beer”.

With just under 1400 small breweries the segment eclipsed 6.7 million barrels in 2006. The fastest growing craft beer sector in 2006 was microbreweries (those under 15,000 barrels a year). Sales were up 16%, showing customer support for local breweries. Total craft beer industry sales have grown 31.5% over the last 3 years and early 2007 indicators point toward accelerating sales growth.

Twenty-two states are represented in the top 50 brewing companies list, according to the Brewers Association. California hosts (7) top breweries. Colorado has (5) and Oregon and Wisconsin each host (4) top producers.

The remainder of the top 50 operate from New York (3), Pennsylvania (3), Vermont (3), Washington (3), Illinois (2), Massachusetts (2), Minnesota (2), Missouri (2), Alaska (1) , Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Michigan (1), Montana (1), Ohio (1) and Texas (1).

1 Anheuser-Busch Inc. St Louis MO
2 Miller Brewing Co Milwaukee WI
3 Coors Brewing Co Golden CO
4 Pabst Brewing Co Woodridge IL
5 Boston Beer Co Boston MA
6 D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc. Pottsville PA
7 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA
8 Gambrinus San Antonio TX
9 New Belgium Brewing Company Inc. Fort Collins CO
10 High Falls Brewing Co Rochester NY
11 Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. Portland OR
12 Redhook Ale Brewery Woodinville WA
13 Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Pittsburgh PA
14 Pyramid Breweries Inc Seattle WA
15 Minhas Craft Brewery Monroe WI
16 Matt Brewing Co Utica NY
17 Deschutes Brewery, Inc. Bend OR
18 Boulevard Brewing Company Kansas City MO
19 Alaskan Brewing Company Juneau AK
20 The Harpoon Brewery Boston , Ma MA
21 Full Sail Brewing Co Hood River OR
22 Anchor Brewing Co San Francisco CA
23 Kona Brewing Co Kailua-Kona HI
24 Magic Hat Brewing Company South Burlington VT
25 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co San Jose CA
26 Bell 's Brewery, Inc Galesburg MI
27 Summit Brewing Company Saint Paul MN
28 August Schell Brewing Co. New Ulm MN
29 Shipyard Brewing Company LLC Portland ME
30 Mendocino Brewing Co. Ukiah CA
31 Goose Island Beer Co Chicago IL
32 Abita Brewing Co NewOrleans LA
33 Long Trail Brewing Co Bridgewater Corners VT
34 The Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY
35 New Glarus Brewing Company New Glarus WI
36 Rogue Ales Newport OR
37 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA
38 Stevens Point Brewery Co Stevens Point WI
39 Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants Louisville CO
40 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA
41 The Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland OH
42 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Lewes DE
43 Straub Brewery Saint Mary's PA
44 The Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA
45 Flying Dog Brewery Denver CO
46 Sweetwater Brewing Company Atlanta GA
47 Odell Brewing Fort Collins CO
48 Mac and Jack's Brewery Inc Redmond WA
49 Big Sky Brewing Company Missoula MT
50 Otter Creek Brewing

[pennbrew2]

City Brewery, LaCrosse WI???
Lion Brewery, Wilkes-Barre PA???

Seems the list is missing a few...

[woodsy]

I agree how are these numbers made up? Do they include contract brewing? City Brewing should be number 4 or 5.

[ECB]

And how many of those are owned in part by A-B?

[admin]

The Brewers Association compiles this list using specific definitions. For more details and statistics go to: http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html

There is also a list of the top 50 “craft” breweries at that site. The BA has recently re-defined “craft brewery.” For a good conversation on that topic, check out http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/s...?threadid=7558

Admin

[BrendanM]

How would one track down contract breweries..

or more specifically, I heard that Boulevard contract brews for people, and I am trying to find out who.


Thoughts, Suggestions?