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U.S. Beer Industry
U.S. Beer Industry
The U.S. industry is divided into three basic levels of brewing according to annual production: high-volume, regional, and small breweries. Although numerous and showing strong signs of growth, small breweries accounted for less than three percent of total U.S. beer shipments in 1997.
Large Breweries
The large breweries are those with annual shipments of over 15 million barrels (31 gal/barrel). All U.S. breweries in the first tier are owned and operated by the three largest brewing companies in the United States: Anheuser-Busch Inc., Miller Brewing Co., and Adolph Coors Co. The top three brewers accounted for over 80% of the industry’s shipments in 1997. Most of these breweries – which are publicly held – are located in Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, and New York State.
Regional Breweries
Regional breweries are those with annual shipments of less than 15 million barrels, but greater than 15,000 barrels, and with distribution usually regional in scope. Most regional breweries are privately held by single plant brewing companies. Some of the larger regional breweries are Stroh Brewery Co., Pabst Brewing Co., Genessee Brewing Co., Falstaff Brewing Corp., Latrobe Brewing Co., D.G. Yuengling & Son, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing, Matt Brewing Co., and Spoetzl Brewery, Inc. Many former microbreweries that have doubled or tripled in size are now considered regional breweries (for example, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Redhook Ale Brewery). Regional breweries accounted for an estimated 15% of total U.S. beer shipments in 1997. Most of the regional breweries are located in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, and California.
Microbreweries and Brewpubs
Small breweries consist of both microbreweries and brewpubs. Some of these brewers object to this classification and prefer the appellation of "craft brewer," which refers to a brewer of primarily specialty, niche products. These small brewing enterprises started making their appearance in the United States in the late seventies. "Microbreweries" was a designation initially given to brewers because of their small volume of production (less than 15,000 barrels of beer annually). There is no apparent rationale for this delineation, and there are a number of microbreweries that produce more than 15,000 barrels annually. A brewpub is a restaurant-brewery that sells the majority of its beer on-premise, a common practice in Europe. Annual production for brewpubs rarely exceeds 5,000 barrels.
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