Bloomberg News/Landov
The story of beer in the U.S. in 2015 is basically whatever narrative you choose to believe.
The Brewers Association craft beer industry group tells us there are more than 3,400 breweries in the U.S., the most since 1873, and that choice abounds. However, about 1,400 of those are brewpubs that aren’t putting beers on bar taps or store shelves. Also, the 1,900 or so microbreweries that exist are competing in a U.S. beer market in which exactly nine companies controlled 90% of all beer sold here in 2014, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.
We’re told that craft beer’s share of the market rose 17.6% last year, accounting for 11% of beer volume and $19.6 billion of the beer industry’s $101.5 billion in sales. However, it’s also a market in which the sale of imported beers rose 6.9% in 2014 and where, according to Nielsen, the amount of Mexican beer alone sold in grocery stores within the last year is equal to the amount of all craft beer sold from supermarket and convenience store beer shelves. It’s also a market where, despite advances by both craft and imported beers, one of every five beers sold is a Bud Light. In fact, the 38 million barrels of Bud Light sold last year would not only make it the No. 3 brewer in the U.S. if it split off from Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD, -1.12% but would give it a 16 million-barrel lead on every craft brewer combined.
When you look at the beer aisle and your local taproom’s beer list, it looks like a broad array of choices. As we’re going to illustrate here, however, the following companies are actually narrowing those choices through acquisitions and diversification. The battle for shelf and tap space is real, and these are the companies fighting hardest for it.
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Brands: Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Ice, Bud Light Lime, Busch, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Bass, Boddington’s Stella Artois, Beck’s, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Kirin, Landshark Lager, Goose Island, 10 Barrel, Blue Point, Elysian, Redbridge, Natural Light, Shock Top, Wild Blue, Johnny Appleseed Hard Cider, Oculto, various malt liquors and flavored malt beverages.
When craft beer claims it outsells Budweiser, it means strictly the Budweiser brand. Anheuser-Busch InBev absolute decimates craft beer and imports in the U.S. Its 45% share of the U.S. market is larger …Read More