
It’s no secret that multinational megabrewers dominate the American beer market. Anheuser-Busch InBev overshadows the U.S. beer industry with 45 percent market share. As of 2016, the top three beer companies in the America were Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors and Pabst Brewing Co. In 2016, the top beer brands by market share were Bud Light (28.3 percent), Budweiser (11.9 percent) and Coors Light (9.9 percent). So it makes sense if you were to pick any state in the union that “Big Beer” would easily rule the top selling beer spots.
The Boston Business Journal confirmed that for most of New England. Working with data courtesy of Toast, a restaurant point-of-sale system company backed by Google, The Journal noted this week that New England’s top beer purchases (bottles, pitchers, pints and cans) were just the run-of-the-mill classics like the ones mentioned above. From the article:
“It’s a reminder bigger brands are still relevant and a restaurateur needs to pay attention to these bigger brands that continue to dominate the market,” said Aman Narang, president and co-founder of Toast.
In Massachusetts, Bud Light was the top seller by unit, followed by Corona, Coors Light, Miller Light, and Budweiser.
That’s not surprising in the least. Craft brewers (as defined by the Brewers Association) saw a 6 percent rise in volume in 2016, but that only accounted for little more than 12 percent market share overall in the entire American beer market. This is why Vermont is a place like no other when it comes to its love for craft beer. While the same Big Beer trends prevailed in other New England states like Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, according to the article Vermont’s top selling beers were all craft.
The only state to escape the big beer trend was Vermont, where Shelburne-based Fiddlehead Brewing scored the top selling spot (though the data didn’t break out which Fiddlehead beer was the top seller). In fact, Vermont didn’t have any big beer brands on its top seller list. Instead, Switchback Ale, the Alchemist’s Focal Banger, the Alchemist’s Heady Topper, and a beer from 14th Star Brewery ranked in the top sellers for the state.
That is an amazing stat that should not only secure Vermont in your personal craft beer hall of fame but put it on your radar for future beer distribution. Cheers to all those progressive Vermonters. This Bud is definitely not for you.
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