The Top Five-O
The Brewers Association released its annual lists reporting the top 50 brewing companies in the country, based on 2009 beer sales volume. The two lists are the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies, comprising small and independent craft brewers and the Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies. The Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies list contains 76 percent craft brewing companies.
I was surprised that Goose Island is not on the craft list, but is on the larger breweries list. Are they not considered a craft brewery then? Didn’t realize they were so big….
There is a reason Goose is not on the craft list. They haven’t been considered a craft brewery for almost three years. They are a “regional brewery”. There are rules stated by the Brewers Association that no craft brewery should be owned by a large brewing group. Half of GI is owned by Widmer, Widmer is half owned by AB, AB is fully owned by In-Bev.
Interesting that they make a point that the IBU breweries are listed by brewery name, not under IBU, and they are on both the overall list, and the craft list.
Isn’t IBU a large brewing group?
If you look at the overall list you will see the Craft Brewers Alliance at #8. That includes Widmer and Redhook. The determination of a craft vs. non craft is not by volume, but by ownership percentages.