When the American craft brewing industry was in its heyday, it was fairly commonplace that breweries that billing themselves as “craft” were actually independent. Nowadays, many of the breweries that initially began as craft operations have been scooped up by larger conglomerates. And after all of the major acquisitions, sell offs, and shuffles over the past decade or so, it’s not always clear which company owns what.
To keep everything in order, Matt Rice, founder of beverage alcohol industry strategy and analytics firm Thirsty Insights compiled a chart identifying the largest American beer brands (selling over 100,000 barrels per year) and the parent companies that own them. Given the high threshold for production, the list is certainly not exhaustive, with a few smaller producers missing from each conglomerate’s section. In their place, you’ll find many of the macrobrews produced by each company, like AB InBev’s range of Budweiser and Bud Light products and Constellation’s Modelo and Corona.
Taking a closer look at the chart, it’s clear which macro-brewers own most of beer’s top brands. AB InBev takes up the largest chunk of the pie with a number of heavy hitting brands including Michelob Ultra, which recently became the top-selling beer in the U.S. Molson Coors also makes up a considerable section of the chart with popular brands like Blue Moon, Coors Light, and Miller High Life making up its stacked portfolio.
The chart also features a slice titled “Everyone Else” that includes some independently owned brands and beers owned by conglomerates not otherwise listed. This includes brands like San Diego’s Stone Brewing, owned by Sapporo, and New York’s Saranac brewing, which is still family owned and operated.
Curious to see which a major company owns your favorite beer brand? Check out Thirsty Insight’s chart below to discover the largest beer brands in the U.S. and the parent companies that control them.
