Top Beer Brand Sales 2007

In a former career I was a brewer for Goose Island brewery in Chicago.  Back then we often talked about our beer output at the pub being somewhere between 2,500-3,000 barrels of beer per year. [1 barrel of beer = 31 gallons which is two standard kegs you see behind a bar or at a keg party]  For comparison, I would talk about the Budweiser company producing 97 million barrels per year on the brew tours.  Today the craft beer industry is still a tiny fraction of the total beer market.  

So I took a look at where things are today with beer sales.  Again, Market Watch magazine is a great source for these stats.  Here are the top beer brands in the US for 2007 in million barrels (31 gallons or 2 kegs).

• Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch) 41.2 million barrels
• Budweiser (A-B) 23.2
• Miller Lite (Miller Brewing Co.) 17.9
• Coors Light (Molsoon Coors Brewing Co.) 16.3
• Natural Light (A-B) 9.1
• Corona Extra (Crown Imports [Constellation/Grupo Modelo]) 8.1
• Busch (A-B) 6.5
• Busch Light (A-B) 6.0
• Heineken (Heinekin USA) 5.0
• Miller High Life (Miller Brewing Co.) 4.9

• Other beers made up for 66.6 million barrels

So total beer sold in the US for 2007 was 204.8 million barrels.  AB accounted for 86 million barrels of the top 10 beer sales.  Once again they prove, they are the king of beers.  You can see all the AB brands listed here.  Keep scrolling down to see them all! - Salamanzar

Market Watch Part II - The BLCs

The majority of the world's wine is controlled by the Big Liquor Companies (BLCs) around the world.  These empires make far more money selling spirits than wine, but having wine allows them to fill trucks, control restaurant wine lists and has relatively little additional costs since they already have warehouses, sales people, offices and trucks on the road.  Some of the BLC names include Diageo, Foster's Group, Constellation Brands, Bacardi USA, E&J Distillers and Pernod Ricard. Just how much money and control are we talking about here?  Diageo recently bought 50% ownership in Ketel One Vodka for $900 million and Bicardi USA bought the name and logo for Grey Goose vodka for $2.2 billion.  That's just the name, not the distilleries or the recipe.  In fact the recipe is irrelevant for spirits like vodka.  It's all about marketing and image.

Here are the top spirit growth brands of 2007 from Market Watch:  

1. Smirnoff (Diageo) 9,290,000 cases 
2. Captain Morgan (Diageo) 6,335,000 cases
3. Jose Cuervo (Diageo) 4,290,000
4. Crown Royal (Diageo) 4,150,000
5. E&J Brandy (E&J Distillers) 3,720,000
6. Grey Goose (Bacardi USA) 3,325,000
7. Svedka (Constellation) 1,600,000
8. Patrón (Patrón Spirits Co.) 1,580,000
9. Seagram's Vodka (Infinium Spirits) 890,000
10. Three Olives (Proximo) 885,000

Other top growth brands you may know in the list: Burnett's Vodka, Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita, Jameson, UV, Admiral Nelson, Pinnacle.

Again, these are not the top selling brands, just the brands with the most growth in 2007.  Remember there are brands like Maker's Mark, Jack Daniel's, Sky, Ketel One, Jägermeister, Jim Beam, Jose Cuervo, Jameson, etc. still out there strong. 

When you add up the numbers involving spirits it's easy to see why the wine business is a side thought.  It takes pennies or nickels to make many of these spirits.  They sell for premium prices in the $20, $30, $40 or more range.  The top growth wines sell for dollars or at least under $15 in most instances and cost far more to produce per bottle.  

Most spirits drinkers are loyal to a brand for image, but are told they are drinking for flavor. Case in point the popular Tanqueray commercials right now featuring "Tony Sinclair."  The image they project is that drinking their gin is cool and therefore tastes better.  

BLCs exist in NC right now through wine on most retail store's shelves and in the ABC stores, but their presence is more behind the scenes.  They are working right now to get laws changed and move into NC in a big way.  We will most likely see the state run ABC store go away in the near future and then everything will change in NC when it comes to BLCs and their presence here.  We will see giant liquor warehouses move in, the price clubs will sell liquor and the wine playing field will change radically, dramatically and rapidly.

Fortunately not all wine is owned by the BLCs and you can find honest brands, real wineries and estate grown wines still in the world. That's what we do at Wine Authorities.  Our mission is to represent estate grown wines from around the world.  Most of these wines won't fit the BLC model.  - Salamanzar

Market Watch - Top Growth Brands

There is a trade magazine for the beverage industry called Market Watch which gives a glimpse into the global reality of the beer, wine and liquor world.  This magazine reports on major brands and follows new releases, trends and growth. The April issue with "hot brands" from 2007 is a real eye opener.  At Wine Authorities we work with wines on a smaller scale.  Sometimes we buy a wine that is very limited, perhaps as little as 10 cases available, or perhaps we buy 50 or 75 cases of 2,000+ available.  

Looking at the top growth wine brands for 2007 is staggering.  These are wines which had the largest increases in their sales of 9 liter cases (12 x 750 ml bottles) over their 2006 depletions.  Here are the top 10 brands for growth:

1. Peter Vella (Gallo) 5,940,000 cases [that's almost 6 million cases!]
2. Barefoot Cellars (Gallo) 4,000,000
3. Foxhorn (Wine Group) 2,950,000
4. Chateau Ste. Michelle (Ste. Michelle Wine Estates) 1,760,000
5. Crane Lake (Bronco) 1,200,000 [Bronco also makes Two Buck Chuck for Trader Joe's]
6. Smoking Loon (Don Sebastiani & Sons) 1,190,000
7. CK Mondavi (C Mondavi & Sons) 1,190,000
8. Fish Eye (Wine Group) 950,000
9. Sterling Vintner's Collection (Diageo Chateau & Estate) 900,000
10. Black Box (Constellation Brands) 795,000

Other brands on the top growth list frequently seen in NC are Estancia, Rodney Strong, Mirassou, La Crema, Pepperwood Grove, Chateau St. Jean, Menage a Trois, Toasted Head, Concannon, Foxbrook, Simi, Castle Rock, Red Truck, Edna Valley, Big House, McManis, 3 Blind Moose and Gnarly Head to name a few.

Keep in mind these brands are not necessarily the top selling wines.  These are just the top brand increases for 2007.  It's scary.  Why?

Let's say you make a great apple pie by hand, taking care to select the apples, peeling the apples, make the crust with the best ingredients, use the freshest spices, etc.  Now make 5 pies.  Okay, it's do-able.  It will take time but it can work.  Now make 100 pies or 1,000 pies.  How do you do it and be sure they all come out, they all look the same, they all taste the same?  Maybe you buy pre sliced apple cinnamon filling, buy par baked crusts and bake them in an assembly line oven.  Will the quality be the same? Probably not.  -Salamanzar