America's Fastest Growing Beer Brands

Beverage giant Anheuser-Busch Inbev made a more than $100 billion offer last month to buy its main competitor, SABMiller. The resulting conglomerate will be by far the largest beer company in the world with annual sales of more than $55 billion.

The new company will be in an excellent position to navigate the lucrative but ever-changing landscape of the $100 billion U.S. beer market. In the last five years alone, Americans’ drinking preferences have substantially shifted. Once unassailable beers such as Budweiser and Miller High Life have seen sales decline by more than 25% from 2009 through 2014. Meanwhile, sales of such beers as Modelo Especial and Stella Artois — once more marginal brands in the United States — have more than doubled. Based on five-year increases in U.S. sales, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 fastest-growing beers in America.

Click here to see the fastest growing beer brands in America.

Click here to see the 10 beers Americans no longer drink. 

Beer Marketer’s Insights executive editor Eric Shepard explained to 24/7 Wall St. “It’s been a very difficult period for mainstream brands, particularly full-calorie mainstream brands, but that’s also [true] with the major light brands as well.” Despite huge investments from their parent companies, sales figures for many of the top selling beers in the U.S. continue on a downward trend. “They know this, they are doing what they can to address this, and so far their efforts have not been that successful.”

In the place of these established brands has been the astronomical rise in the popularity of specialty and craft beers. According to the Brewer’s Association, while overall U.S. beer sales increased by 0.4%, craft beer sales were up by 19.6%. Brands such as Blue Moon and shandy brand Leinenkugel, both of which are owned by a major beverage company, have capitalized on this trend. Americans, and particularly millennials, are choosing brands that are labeled as “craft” beers, even as they sell more than 1 million barrels a year.

“Millennials are much more promiscuous in their drinking habits,” explained Shepard. Adding that some established brands, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon, have had some success establishing a non-mainstream identity that appeals to a segment of the millennial generation. Shepard noted, however, that this was exceedingly difficult to accomplish.

In addition to the growth of craft beers, several Mexican beers have been among the fastest growing in the country. This includes Modelo Especial, the fastest growing major brand in the United States. Sales of the brand grew from 1.9 million barrels in 2009 to 4.5 million in 2014. According to Shepard, everything is going right at the same time for several of these brands. “It’s a combination of demographically-driven, with the [growing] Hispanic population, and the fact that they are now expanding to the mainstream audience.” Shepard said. As evidence of this, Modelo Especial had its first major english-language commercial in the United States earlier this year.

To identify the 10 fastest-growing beer brands in America beer brands, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed sales figures provided by Beer Marketer’s Insights on all brands with more than 400,000 barrels shipped in either 2008 or 2014.

Correction:  A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Modelo Especial’s parent company is Anheuser-Busch Inbev. In the United States, the brand is owned and brewed by Constellation Brands.

These are America’s fastest growing beer brands.

10. Bud Ice
> Sales change (2009-2014): 20.8%
> Parent company: Anheuser-Busch InBev
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 2.3 million

Anheuser-Busch claims that Bud Ice, introduced in 1994, was the first ice-brewed beer in America. The process is loosely based on a traditional European practice of brewing a strong beer by freezing the brew and then removing the crystals. Bud Ice has a 5.5% alcohol content, compared to Bud Light’s 4.2% alcohol content. Bud Ice’s best-selling competitor, Milwaukee’s Best Ice, sold roughly 900,000 barrels less than Bud Ice last year. Further, Milwaukee’s Best Ice’s sales declined by 0.7% between 2009 and 2014, while Bud Ice’s U.S. sales grew by more than 20%.

9. Michelob Ultra
> Sales change (2009-2014): 30.9%
> Parent company: Anheuser-Busch InBev
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 4.5 million

Michelob Ultra was first introduced by Anheuser-Busch in 2002 as a healthier beer option with the tagline: “Lose the carbs. Not the taste.” The brand has associated itself with competitive sports and, more recently, active lifestyles in general. Today, Michelob Ultra is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the world, with a 30.9% increase in sales from 2009 through 2014. The beer has been a major asset for parent company Anheuser-Busch, which posted a 45% profit plunge in the third quarter of this year compared to the same time period a year ago.

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Founded in 1829, Yuengling is the oldest operating brewery in the United States. With only two breweries — one in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and another in Tampa, Florida — Yuengling is only available in 17 states, all of them east of the Mississippi River. While many Americans may not be familiar with Yuengling, it is one of the most rapidly growing beer brands in the country. Despite a nationwide decline of 8.4% in top beer brands’ sales over the five years since 2009, sales of the Pennsylvania lager have increased by 34.0%.

Yuengling garnered international attention in 2010 when President Barack Obama sent a case of America’s oldest lager to then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper following the U.S. loss to Canada in the men’s gold medal hockey matchup in the Winter Olympics.

7. Pabst Blue Ribbon
> Sales change (2009-2014): 47.0%
> Parent company: Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings LLC.
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 2.7 million

Founded in 1844, Pabst Blue Ribbon was originally known as Best Select Lager. After earning awards at several international beer competitions, the brewery began tying blue ribbons to its beer bottles. Following years of customers associating the brew with the iconic blue ribbon, the beer’s name officially changed in 1898 to the one U.S. beer drinkers recognize today.

While beer sales have declined nationally from 2009 through 2014, sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon have increased by 47% over the same time period. In fact, since 2005, sales of the award-winning beer have more than doubled. A recent study published by the Journal for Consumer Research found that the beer’s sudden spike in popularity is likely due to the brewer’s anti-mainstream advertising strategy that targets the millennial generation’s beer drinkers.

6. Blue Moon
> Sales change (2009-2014): 82.6%
> Parent company: SABMiller
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 2.1 million

While many of the fastest growing American beer brands date back to the 19th century, Blue Moon is a relative new comer. Born in Denver, Colorado in 1995, Blue Moon’s flagship Belgian White was inspired, as its name suggests, by Belgian Wit beers. Unlike many of the fastest growing beer brands in the United States, Blue Moon is a wheat beer characterized by citrus flavor and aroma. It seems that Americans have found much to like in the European style brew. Blue Moon sales shot up 82.6% from 2009 through 2014.

5. Leinenkugel
> Sales change (2009-2014): 103.1%
> Parent company: SABMiller
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 975,000

Leinenkugel is one of the many brands that has benefitted from the recent surge in popularity among craft beers. Leinenkugel produces a variety of shandies and flavored beers, which have successfully made it into the mainstream. Leinenkugel has been a family-owned beer brand for decades but was acquired by Miller Brewing Company in 1988. As the popularity of craft beers has risen, so has Leinenkugel’s success. From 2009 through 2014, the combined sales of the various beers the brand sells — including the Summer Shandy, Berry Weiss, and Creamy Dark — have more than doubled.

4. Dos Equis
> Sales change (2009-2014): 115.7%
> Parent company: Heineken N.V.
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 1.8 million

Dos Equis is one of a handful of foreign brands among the fastest growing beers in the United States. Since the introduction of the highly successful “The Most Interesting Man in the World” ad campaign in 2006, sales of the beer have been on the rise. From 2009 through 2014 alone, sales of Dos Equis grew by 115.7%. Dutch brewer Heineken acquired the thriving brand in 2010. According to Bloomberg, John Nicholson, head of Heineken’s Americas unit, has since referred to Dos Equis as the company’s “shining star.”

3. Stella Artois
> Sales change (2009-2014): 121.5%
> Parent company: Anheuser-Busch InBev
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 1.8 million

Stella Artois’ roots predate American independence and even Christopher Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic. The beer’s origins can be traced back to a brewing tradition that began in Leuven, Belgium in 1366. The name recognized today by beer drinkers worldwide is a nod to Sebastian Artois, a brew master admitted to the Leuven Brewer’s Guild in 1708.

In recent years, the historic beer has gained favor among American drinkers. From 2009 through 2014, sales of Stella Artois have jumped by 121.5%.

2. Rolling Rock
> Sales change (2009-2014): 125.0%
> Parent company: Anheuser-Busch InBev
> Barrels shipped in 2014: 900,000

Rolling Rock was first introduced by the Pennsylvania-based Latrobe Brewery in 1939. The brand was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 2006. Sales of the beer dwindled from 2004 to 2009, spurring Anheuser-Busch to consider selling the brand to another brewer. However, after a drop in price, sales of the pale lager rebounded significantly. From 2009 through 2014, sales of Rolling Rock increased by 125.0%, the second fastest growth rate of any major beer brand in the country. With 900,000 barrels sold last year, the company is close to making a full comeback to the 1 million barrels it was selling annually in the late 1990s.

Modelo Especial is the fastest growing beer brand in the United States. From 2009 through last year, sales of the Mexican beer increased by 128.4%, the largest growth rate of any brand. Modelo Especial is one of only five brands that reported at least a 100% sales growth over that period. In the United States, Modelo is controlled by Constellation Brands, which also owns Negra Modelo, Pacifico, and Corona.

Modelo’s continued growth partially reflects the expanding buying power among Hispanic consumers. To promote the brand, Modelo has employed non-English advertising almost exclusively, which in turn could explain why 60% of Modelo’s sales are to Hispanic beer drinkers. In March this year, however, Modelo released its first major English advertising campaign, which was intended to introduce the popular beer to a larger share of the market.

Click here to see the 10 beers Americans no longer drink.