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Global thirsts continue to increase the ocean of beers produced on all continents.
Photo by Charlie Papazian
Top tens - where in the world are they drinking beer?
The world brewed 1.8 billion hectoliters of beer in 2008. For us Americans that’s 1.55 billion U.S. barrels.
The top 5 beer producing countries brew 53% of the world’s beer.
What country produces the most beer?
What country enjoys the most beer per capita?
The Barth-Haas Group has recently released their 2008 report on Market Leaders and their Challengers in the Top 40 Countries.
Here are a few short summaries according to their report.
| Country | Millions of hectoliters |
| 1 China | 393 |
| 2 USA | 234 |
| 3 Russia | 116 |
| 4 Germany | 105 |
| 5 Brazil | 96 |
| 6 Mexico | 81 |
| 7 Japan | 63 |
| 8 United Kingdom | 51 |
| 9 Poland | 36 |
| 10 Spain | 34 |
What country enjoys the most beer per capita?
| Country | liters per capita |
| 1 Czech Republic | 159 |
| 2 Germany | 111 |
| 3 Austria | 108 |
| 4 Venezuela | 101 |
| 5 Poland | 93 |
| 6 Romania | 92 |
| 7 United Kingdom | 88 |
| 8 Belgium | 86 |
| 9 Australia | 85 |
| 10 Spain | 84 |
The USA is number 11 at 83 liter per capita
The top 5 largest “brewing groups” in the world (end 2008) make half of the world’s beer!
| Brewing Group | Corporate HQ | Millions Hectoliter | % World Production |
| 1 AB Inbev (1) | Belgium | 388.1 | 21.4% |
| 2 SAB Miller | United Kingdom | 174.4 | 9.6% |
| 3 Heineken | Netherlands | 161.5 | 8.9% |
| 4 Carlsberg | Denmark | 109.3 | 6.0% |
| 5 China Resource Brewery | China | 73 | 4.0% |
(1) Anheuser-Busch Inbev
(2) South African Breweries Miller (does not include joint venture data with Molson-Coors)
Comments
What beer does Spain even have???
San Miguel Especial.
i like beer
I expected the top 5 brewers to capture much more than 50% of the world's production. How does the remaining 50% look - craft brewers, homebrewers, unknown?
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