The BA released the top 50 by volume produced in 2016. I always give it a look to see which breweries have moved up, and which have moved down on the list. Some dropped off due to selling more than 25% to another brewery/alcohol producer.
Saw this around facebook yesterday where people were losing their minds about the rankings not realizing this is based exclusively on qualitative sales data.
Definitely some interesting shifts around the top half with the mergers and acquisitions.
Numbers don’t matter. All that matters is me filling my Instagram feed with beer pron.
2015 to 2016 in the overall category.
Lagunitas moved 10 to 9
Ballast Point 17 to 11
Founders 20 to 16
It would get harder to move up as the brewery gets bigger, as the volume jumps a lot with each place. Lagunitas had a small bump. BP moved a lot with investment from Constellation. Founders moved a fair amount.
Interesting list. A bit confusing to me.
Why is Duvel Moortgat USA considered to be a small and independent brewer, while Ballast Point is not?
I had to look up North American Breweries. I see it includes Genesee, as I suspected, but also “Labatt Lime”. I did not know that Labatt’s made a lime beer. I bet that is wretched.
The BA definition says that you’re a craft brewer as long as your parent company meets the rest of the standards for a craft brewer.
Okay, then why is Yuengling a craft brewery and Pittsburgh (Iron City) is not?
As I remember it, Charlie Papazian and Tom Schlafly signed an op-ed in the Post Dispatch a couple years ago that singled out Yuengling as one of the “crafty” breweries trying to cash in on a trend. Yuengling’s reply defending their beers went viral, and lo and behold they’re on the list.
Iron City specifically seems to be wholly owned by something called Unified Growth Partners.
Thanks. a10t2. In other words, don’t pay any attention to what the BA considers to be craft beer. 
They don’t define craft beer. They have their definition for craft breweries. Yuengling and Minhas(!) fall under that.
Hey Sean, wasn’t it a letter from August Schell’s that also went viral. We plan to stop there making our drive to HomebrewCon.
In Yuengling’s defense, they do something right that the majority of craft breweries do wrong: Make a tasty, lower ABV beer that’s relatively inexpensive.
I think the biggest reason why people hate on Yuendling is their use of corn. Adjuncts aren’t in and of themselves evil. British brewers have used them for years, corn included. The issue is if the adjunct brings anything to the party. With BMC I think most would agree that isn’t the case…but the corn in Yuengling does help the beer.
I make a few recipes that use corn. It can be a good addition if used right.
Yuengling does have cereal cookers at the Tampa brewery to cook grits.
The Schells tour is one of my favorite brewery tours. The buildings are beautiful, the grounds are spectacular with the garden and peacocks.
Same here.
Yuengling just came to Indiana. I can’t even remember what it is like. It has been years, like 20+, since I’ve tried it.
IMO yuengling is fine. It doesn’t deserve to be crapped on, but also doesn’t deserve the fanboyism that it has. Solid inexpensive beer is always welcome in my belly.
Yeah, I like it for the $. The rest is just hype, at least partly from its limited distribution. It’s weird, I’ve had tons of it (bought in other states) and just getting it here now.
Could be, I was working from memory.
If I can make it to NHC I’ll try to join you at Schell’s. It looks great.
Thankfully, there’s less of that fanboy issue here where I live…my area is fiercely proud of everything local/Maryland, and Yuengling is just another outside product to many. The local beer of choice is a 10-ounce can of Budweiser. (Yes, ten ounces, one of I think two counties nationwide that get cans that size. Somehow that makes it OK even though it’s brewed in Virginia.)
I think the reason I’ve become such a big fan of Yuengling is it’s the only low ABV beer I can find fresh. All the more sessionable craft beers don’t sell well compared to the big IPAs, so they linger on the shelf till they’re well past their prime.
Had a Yuengling tonight actually. I found it to be a nice change. Amber in color and a nice flavor. Way better IMO than an AmberBock. What I didn’t get is them selling at a craft price.