Top 50 brewery analysis

The beer blogs Beervana and Brookston Beer Bulletin have analyzed the rankings of the top 50 US breweries, as just compiled by the Brewers Association.

Jeff Alworth notes:

The difference separating the first and second breweries is larger than the difference separating #2 and #50 (on both craft and non-craft lists). <...> Put another way, the difference between 41 and 42 is on the order of a few thousand barrels; the difference between 1 and 2 is hundreds of thousands.

Jay Brooks looks at the overall top 50 and notes movement up or down. For example, both Sierra Nevada and New Belgium dropped a spot to #6 and #7, respectively. They were bumped by the rise of North American Breweries to #5. Aren't familiar with them? They're comprised of Dundee, Genesee, Labatt Lime, Magic Hat, and Pyramid. Goose Island fell to 48th from 18th, after selling its production brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

#1 is Anheuser-Busch InBev, followed by Miller/Coors, Pabst (which actually does not own or operate a single brewing facility), Yuengling, and Boston Beer.

Local to me, Flying Dog, of Frederick, Maryland, rose two positions to #48. (Among 'craft' breweries, it sits at 26th.) No Virginia or Washington, D.C. breweries made the list.

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• A US barrel is 31 gallons, the equivalent of 13.7 cases of 24 12-ounce beers.
• YFGF's look at Top 50 US 'craft' breweries: here.
• The Brewers Association releases the actual sales volume numbers in May during its Craft Brewers Conference. Go to the BA website for more information.