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You are here: Home / Breweries / Top 50 Breweries For 2017

Top 50 Breweries For 2017

March 14, 2018 By Jay Brooks

ba
The Brewers Association just announced the top 50 breweries and craft breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2017, which is listed below here. I should also mention that this represents “craft breweries” according to the BA’s membership definition, and not necessarily how most of us would define them, as there’s no universally agreed upon way to differentiate the two. For the tenth year, they’ve also released a list of the top 50 breweries, which includes all breweries. In the past I’ve posted the two lists separately, but have decided going forward to present them together since the two are getting increasingly intermingled. Here is this year’s craft brewery list:

Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies

RankBrewery NameCityState
1D. G. Yuengling & Son, IncPottsvillePA
2Boston Beer CoBostonMA
3Sierra Nevada BrewingChicoCA
4New Belgium BrewingFort CollinsCO
5Duvel MoortgatPaso Robles/Kansas City/CooperstownCA/MO/NY
6GambrinusSan Antonio/Berkeley/PortlandTX/CA/OR
7Bell’s Brewery, IncComstockMI
8Stone BrewingEscondidoCA
9CANarchyLongmont/Tampa/Salt Lake City/
Comstock Park
CO/FL/UT/MI
10Deschutes BreweryBendOR
11Brooklyn BreweryBrooklynNY
12Dogfish Head Craft BreweryMiltonDE
13Minhas Craft BreweryMonroeWI
14Artisanal Brewing VenturesDowningtown/LakewoodPA/NY
15SweetWater BrewingAtlantaGA
16New Glarus BrewingNew GlarusWI
17Matt BrewingUticaNY
18Harpoon BreweryBostonMA
19Alaskan BrewingJuneauAK
20Great Lakes BrewingClevelandOH
21Abita BrewingAbita SpringsLA
22Odell BrewingFort CollinsCO
23Stevens Point BreweryStevens PointWI
24August Schell BrewingNew UlmMN
25Summit BrewingSaint PaulMN
2621st Amendment BreweryBay AreaCA
27Shipyard BrewingPortlandME
28Flying Dog BreweryFrederickMD
29Full Sail BrewingHood RiverOR
30Troëgs BrewingHersheyPA
31Long Trail BrewingBridgewater CornersVT
32Rogue AlesNewportOR
33Rhinegeist BreweryCincinnatiOH
34Narragansett BrewingProvidenceRI
35Gordon Biersch BrewingSan JoseCA
36Allagash BrewingPortlandME
37Uinta BrewingSalt Lake CityUT
38Ninkasi BrewingEugeneOR
39Surly BrewingMinneapolisMN
40Revolution BrewingChicagoIL
41Karl Strauss BrewingSan DiegoCA
42Bear Republic BrewingCloverdaleCA
43Green Flash BrewingSan DiegoCA
44Left Hand BrewingLongmontCO
45Three Floyds BrewingMunsterIN
46Saint Arnold BrewingHoustonTX
47Lost Coast BreweryEurekaCA
48North Coast BrewingFort BraggCA
49Wachusett BrewingWestminsterMA
50Avery BrewingBoulderCO

six-glasses

This list, by contrast, is the Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2017. This includes all breweries, regardless of size or any other definitions or parameters.

Breweries in bold are considered to be “small and independent craft brewers” under the BA’s current definition. That there are so many footnotes (23 in total, or almost half of the list) explaining exceptions or reasons for the specific entry, seems illustrative of a growing problem with the definition of what is a craft brewery. I certainly understand the need for a trade group to have a clearly defined set of criteria for membership, but I think the current one is getting increasingly outdated again, and it’s only been a few years since the contentious debate that resulted in the current BA one. But it may be time to revisit that again. This is the same number of footnotes as last year, so this is a problem that is not resolving itself.

Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies

RankBrewery NameCityState
Bold = small and independent craft brewery
1Anheuser-Busch, Inc (a)Saint LouisMO
2MillerCoors (b)ChicagoIL
3Constellation (c)ChicagoIL
4Heineken (d)White PlainsNY
5Pabst Brewing (e)Los AngelesCA
6D. G. Yuengling & SonPottsvillePA
7North Amer. Breweries (f)RochesterNY
8Diageo (g)NorwalkCT
9Boston Beer Co (h)BostonMA
10Sierra Nevada BrewingChicoCA
11New Belgium Brewing (i)Fort CollinsCO
12Craft Brew Alliance (j)PortlandOR
13Duvel Moortgat (k)Paso Robles/Kansas City/CooperstownCA/MO/NY
14Gambrinus (l)San Antonio/Berkeley/PortlandTX/CA/OR
15Founders Brewing (m)Grand RapidsMI
16Bell’s Brewery, Inc (n)ComstockMI
17Sapporo USA (o)La CrosseWI
18Stone BrewingEscondidoCA
19CANarchy (p)Longmont/Tampa/Salt Lake City/Comstock ParkCO/FL/UT/MI
20Deschutes BreweryBendOR
21Brooklyn BreweryBrooklynNY
22Dogfish HeadMiltonDE
23Minhas Craft Brewery (q)MonroeWI
24Artisanal Brewing Ventures (r)Downingtown/LakewoodPA/NY
25SweetWater BrewingAtlantaGA
26New Glarus BrewingNew GlarusWI
27Matt Brewing (s)UticaNY
28Harpoon BreweryBostonMA
29Alaskan BrewingJuneauAK
30Great Lakes BrewingClevelandOH
31Abita BrewingAbita SpringsLA
32Odell BrewingFort CollinsCO
33Stevens Point (t)Stevens PointWI
34August Schell (u)New UlmMN
35Summit BrewingSaint PaulMN
3621st AmendmentBay AreaCA
37Shipyard Brewing (v)PortlandME
38Flying Dog BreweryFrederickMD
39Full Sail BrewingHood RiverOR
40Troëgs BrewingHersheyPA
41Long Trail Brewing (w)Bridgewater CornersVT
42Rogue AlesNewportOR
43Rhinegeist BreweryCincinnatiOH
44Narragansett BrewingProvidenceRI
45Gordon Biersch BrewingSan JoseCA
46Allagash Brewing CoPortlandME
47Uinta BrewingSalt Lake CityUT
48Ninkasi BrewingEugeneOR
49Surly BrewingMinneapolisMN
50Revolution BrewingChicagoIL

six-glasses

2017 Top 50 Overall U.S.
Brewing Companies Notes

Footnotes from brand lists are illustrative, and may not be exhaustive – ownership stakes
reflect greater than 25% ownership:

(a) Anheuser-Busch, Inc includes 10 Barrel, Bass, Beck’s, Blue Point, Bud Light,
Budweiser, Breckenridge, Busch, Devils Backbone, Elysian, Four Peaks, Golden
Road, Goose Island, Karbach, King Cobra, Landshark, Michelob, Natural Rolling
Rock, Shock Top, Wicked Weed, Wild Series brands and Ziegenbock brands.
Does not include partially owned Coastal, Craft Brew Alliance, Fordham, Kona,
Old Dominion, Omission, Red Hook, and Widmer Brothers brands;
(b) MillerCoors includes A.C. Golden, Batch 19, Blue Moon, Colorado Native,
Coors, Hamms, Hop Valley, Icehouse, Keystone, Killian’s, Leinenkugel’s,
Mickey’s, Milwaukee’s Best, Miller, Olde English, Revolver, Saint Archer, Steel
Reserve, Tenth & Blake, and Terrapin brands;
(c) Constellation Brewing Co includes domestic brands Ballast Point, Funky Buddha,
and Tocayo Brands; it also includes imported brands Corona, Modelo, Pacifico,
and Victoria;
(d) Heineken Brewing Co includes domestic brand Lagunitas Brewing Co as well as
imported brands Dos Equis and Tecate;
(e) Pabst Brewing Co includes Ballantine, Lone Star, Pabst, Pearl, Primo, Rainier,
Schlitz and Small Town brands;
(f) North American Breweries includes Dundee, Genesee, Labatt Lime,
Mactarnahan’s, Magic Hat, Portland and Pyramid brands as well as import
volume;
(g) Diageo Brewing Co includes both domestically produced and imported Guinness
brands;
(h) Boston Beer Co includes Alchemy & Science and Sam Adams brands. Does not
include Twisted Tea or Angry Orchard brands;
(i) New Belgium Brewing Co includes Magnolia Brewing Brands (partial year);
(j) Craft Brew Alliance includes Kona, Omission, Red Hook and Widmer Brothers
brands;
(k) Duvel Moortgat includes Boulevard, Firestone Walker, and Ommegang brands;
(l) Gambrinus includes BridgePort, Shiner and Trumer brands;
(m)Founders ownership stake by Mahou San Miguel;
(n) Bell’s Brewery, Inc includes Bell’s and Upper Hand brands;
(o) Sapporo USA includes Anchor Brewing Co (partial year), Sapporo and Sleeman
brands as well as export volume;
(p) CANarchy includes Cigar City, Oskar Blues Brewing Co, Perrin and Utah
Brewers Cooperative brands;
(q) Minhas Craft Brewery includes Huber, Mountain Crest and Rhinelander brands as
well as export volume;
(r) Artisanal Brewing Ventures includes Victory and Southern Tier brands;
(s) Matt Brewing Co includes Flying Bison, Saranac and Utica Club brands;
(t) Stevens Point Brewery includes James Page and Point brands;
(u) August Schell Brewing Co includes Grain Belt and Schell’s brands;
(v) Shipyard Brewing Co includes Casco Bay, Sea Dog and Shipyard brands;
(w)Long Trail Brewing Co includes Long Trail, Otter Creek and The Shed brands;

BEER-generic

Here is this year’s press release. For a few years, the BA had helpfully annotated the list, saving me lots of time, since I’d been annotating the list for nearly a decade, but they abandoned that practice three years ago. And I’ve also given up on annotating, too. It used to be fun to see who was doing well and rising and who was slipping, but it’s as much about business dealings as hard work and brewing, so I give up.

And similar to the last couple of years, the BA created a map showing the relative location of each of the breweries that made the list.

Top50_2017

Filed Under: Breweries, Editorial, Just For Fun, News, Politics & Law, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Big Brewers, Brewers Association, Business, Statistics, United States



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