Drinks Business, a European trade publication, on Tuesday published their list of the Top 10 Biggest Beer Brands, I believe as of the end of 2012.
- Snow Beer, 74.8 (China) [SAB Miller]
- Tsingtao, 57.9 (China) [Tsingtao]
- Budweiser, 40.4 (U.S.) [ABI]
- Yanjing Beer, 39.6 (China) [Beijing Yanjing Beer Group]
- Bud Light, 36.7 (U.S.) [ABI]
- Corona Extra, 31.6 (Mexico) [ABI]
- Skol, 29.9 (Brazil) [Carlsberg]
- Heineken, 29.1 (Netherlands) [Heineken International]
- Coors Light, 25.1 (U.S.) [Molson Coors]
- Brahma (Brazil), 18.1 [ABI]
The rankings are based on millions of barrels, which is listed after the name. The top beer, Chinese Snow Beer sells roughly 50% more than the second place beer, Tsingtao. So it’s not even close. The number ten beer, Brahma, sells only about a quarter of Snow.
Three of the top 10 brands are Chinese, not too surprising given that it recently became the largest consumer of beer worldwide. Anheuser-Busch InBev has four beers on the list, the most, by far, from a single company. It’s also interesting that Budweiser is selling more than Bud Light internationally. That says a lot about how effective the marketing of low-calorie diet beer is here in the U.S.
Snow Beer, the world’s best-selling brand.