This is my fifth annual annotated list of the Top 50 so you can see who moved up and down, who was new to the list and who dropped off. So here is this year’s list again annotated with how they changed compared to last year.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev; #1 last five years, no surprises
- MillerCoors; ditto for #2
- Pabst Brewing; ditto for #3
- D. G. Yuengling and Son; Same as last year
- Boston Beer Co.; Same as last year
- Sierra Nevada Brewing; Same as last year
- New Belgium Brewing; Same as last year
- North American Breweries; new entity
- Craft Brewers Alliance; Moved down 1 for 2nd straight year
- Spoetzl Brewery (Gambrinus); Moved down 1
- Deschutes Brewery; Up 2
- Independent Brewers United (IBU); Same as last year, with a new name
- F.X. Matt Brewing; Moved down 1, after moving up 1 last year
- Minhas Craft Brewery; Down 2 over last year
- Bell’s Brewery; Up 4 from #19 last year
- Harpoon Brewery; Up 1 from #17 last year
- Boulevard Brewing; Down 1 from #16 last year
- Goose Island Beer; Up 2, for 2nd straight year, from #20 last year
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Shot up 5 from #24, after being up 9, 5 and 4 the three previous years
- Alaskan Brewing; Down 2 from #18 last year
- Long Trail Brewing; Leapt up 14 from #35 last year
- August Schell Brewing; Up 4 from last year
- Stone Brewing; Same as last year, though they were up 5 each of last two years
- Abita Brewing; Up 4 from #28 last year
- Brooklyn Brewery; Up 2 from #27 last year
- Lagunitas Brewing; Jumped up 10 from #36 last year
- Full Sail Brewing; Down 5 for the 2nd straight year
- Shipyard Brewing; Down 3 from #31 last year
- Summit Brewing; Same as last year
- New Glarus Brewing; Up 2 from #32 last year
- Great Lakes Brewing; Up 2 from #31 last year
- Anchor Brewing; Down 2 from #30
- Iron City Brewing; Down 8, after dropping 12 last year, after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and moving production out of Pittsburgh
- Kona Brewing; Fell 13 after being up 2 last year, and 14 the previous year
- Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing; Down 1, after being up 2 last year, canceling being down 2 the previous year, and up 2 the year before that, essentially hovering
- Firestone Walker Brewing; Up 4 from #40 last year
- Winery Exchange Inc. / World Brew; Novato CA; new to the list this year
- Sweetwater Brewing; Up 1 from #39 last year
- Mendocino Brewing; Down 2 from #7 last year, after falling 8 the previous year
- Flying Dog Brewery; Up 2 from #42 last year
- Victory Brewing; Same as last year
- Gordon Biersch Brewing; Down 4 from #38 last year
- BJs Restaurant & Brewery; Down 1 from #43 last year
- Stevens Point Brewery; Up 6 from #50 last year
- Odell Brewing; Down 1 from #44 last year
- BridgePort Brewing (Gambrinus); Up 1 from #47 last year
- Cold Spring Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year
- Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants; Down 3 from #45 last year
- Oskar Blues Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year
- Straub Brewery; Down 3 from #46 last year
Some new companies made the list, two from mergers — North American Breweries and Independent Brewers United — along with Winery Exchange Inc. as a result of doing a contract private label beer for the Walgreen’s pharmacy chain, Big Flats.
Two breweries are new to the list this year, Oskar Blues and Cold Spring Brewing again, who fell off last year but had been on the list the year before that under their former name, Gluek Brewing. Two more are off the list, Big Sky Brewing and Lost Coast Brewing, who had just cracked the list last year.
If you want to see the previous annotated lists for comparison, here is 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.