The Brewers Association (BA) also released its 2021 rankings of the top 50 craft breweries by sales volume, in addition to sharing that craft brewer volumes increased by +8% last year.
The top five brewers held steady, ranking in order: D.G. Yuengling, Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, Duvel Moortgat and Shiner maker Gambrinus.
Jockeying for positions started at the No. 6 spot, with Bell’s Brewery leaping the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, which was acquired by energy drink maker Monster earlier this year. Bell’s itself was also acquired by New Belgium-owner Lion Little World Beverages, and unlike CANarchy, will fall off the BA’s 2022 rankings due to it no longer meeting the BA’s craft brewer definition of a small and independent craft brewery. The BA defines craft brewers as those producing fewer than 6 million barrels annually and not more than 25% owned by a beverage alcohol company that is not itself a craft brewery.
Artisanal Brewing Ventures and Stone Brewing Co. remained in the No. 8 and No. 9 spots, respectively.
SweetWater Brewing, now owned by global cannabis firm Tilray, cracked the top 10, swapping places with Deschutes Brewery, which came in at No. 11.
Several brewers who made quantum leaps to join the list for the first time. Non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing jumped from No. 65 to No. 27, with the Stratford, Connecticut-based brewer crossing the 100,000-barrel threshold last year.
Kona Brewing in Hawaii returned at No. 29, after returning to BA craft status following Anheuser-Busch InBev and Craft Brew Alliance divesting of Kona’s Hawaii business in order to complete their merger.
Maui Brewing, which wasn’t ranked in 2020, checked in at No. 43; Scofflaw Brewing leaped 21 spots to take the No. 45 spot. Fiddlehead Brewing rocketed 37 spots to rank as No. 49; and North Coast Brewing returned to the top 50 after a 1-year hiatus to take No. 50.
Six craft breweries fell out of the top 50 in 2021, including BrewDog (No. 41 in 2020), Toppling Goliath (No. 43 in 2020), Two Roads (No. 44 in 2020), Fremont Brewing (No. 45 in 2020), Montauk Brewing (No. 49 in 2020) and New Holland (No. 50 in 2020). Five of those six breweries (all but Two Roads, which was new to the 2019 list) were one-and-done after appearing on the top 50 list for the first time in 2020. Those companies’ 2021 ranks were not shared.
Here’s the rankings for Nos. 11-50, with their 2020 rankings in parenthesis:
No. 11 Deschutes Brewery (No. 10 in 2020)
No. 12 New Glarus (No. 12)
No. 13 Brooklyn Brewery (No. 14)
No. 14 Matt Brewing (No. 13)
No. 15 Gordon Biersch (No. 27)
No. 16 Abita (No. 19)
No. 17 Minhas (No. 18)
No. 18 Stevens Point (No. 16)
No. 19 Great Lakes (No. 22)
No. 20 Odell (No. 17)
No. 21 Harpoon (No. 15)
No. 22 Summit (No. 21)
No. 23 Allagash (No. 29)
No. 24 Tröegs (No. 20)
No. 25 Georgetown (No. 28)
No. 26 Three Floyds (No. 24)
No. 27 Athletic Brewing (No. 65)
No. 28 Rhinegeist (No. 25)
No. 29 Kona Brewing (N/R)
No. 30 August Schell (No. 23)
No. 31 Alaskan Brewing (No. 26)
No. 32 Narragansett (No. 32)
No. 33 Rogue Ales (No. 37)
No. 34 Kings & Convicts/Ballast Point (No. 30)
No. 35 Flying Dog (No. 35)
No. 36 Long Trail (No. 31)
No. 37 Lost Coast (No. 38)
No. 38 Revolution (No. 39)
No. 39 Surly (No. 36.)
No. 40 Ninkasi (No. 33)
No. 41 Creature Comforts (No. 48)
No. 42 21st Amendment (No. 34)
No. 43 Maui Brewing (N/R)
No. 44 Saint Arnold (No. 42)
No. 45 Scofflaw (No. 66)
No. 46 Shipyard (No. 46)
No. 47 Left Hand (No. 47)
No. 48 Modern Times (No. 40)
No. 49 Fiddlehead (No. 86)
No. 50 North Coast (No. 53)
According to the BA, 66.6% of the total craft volume was reported in its 2021 survey, while 7.6% was taken from state excise tax reports, and 25.7% estimated from other sources. Production numbers do not include FMBs, hard seltzers, cider or other beyond beer offerings.
The BA will release its full 2021 industry report in the May/June issue of The New Brewer magazine, and BA chief economist Bart Watson will share more details during the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis May 2-5.
