Beer in The United States - Economy

Economy

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter legalized the private brewing of beer in one's home. This change, along with the emergence of new microbreweries such as New Albion and Sierra Nevada in Northern California, led to a growth of manufacture and interest in beer in the 1980s, which continues to this day. Due to the resurgence of the commercial craft brewing industry in the 1980s, the United States now features many beers, offered by over 1400 brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional brewers. However, the majority of beer sales in the United States are still for pale lager produced by national and international brewing companies.

While in volume the large brewers still dominate, smaller producers brew in a variety of styles influenced by local sources of hops and other ingredients as well as by various European traditions. The success of the commercial craft brewing industry has led the large breweries to invest in smaller breweries such as Widmer Brothers and Goose Island, and to develop more complex beers of their own.

Beer sales in the premium market are increasing, while sales in the standard and economy section are decreasing. The major beer producers merged to strengthen their position – Anheuser-Busch merged with InBev to form Anheuser–Busch InBev, and Molson Coors merged with Miller Brewing to form MillerCoors. Despite legal challenges, the country's three-tiered distribution system remains in place.

Nearly 80 percent of convenience stores sell beer, about 93 percent of which is sold cold. The U.S. convenience store industry sells more than 2 billion US gallons (7,600,000 m3) of beer a year – roughly one-third of all the beer purchased in the United States. In 2007, U.S. consumption was 6.7 billion US gallons (25,000,000 m3).

Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in America and accounts for about 85% of the volume of alcoholic beverages sold in the United States each year. As of 2009, the top three beer companies in the US were Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, and Pabst Brewing Company. The top beer brands by market share were Bud Light (28.3%), Budweiser (11.9%) and Coors Light (9.9%). Corona Extra is the #1 imported beer, followed by Heineken. 2009 figures show an overall decline in beer consumption from previous years, with only craft beer sales rising at a rate of 7–10%, earning 4.3% of sales by volume. Overall U.S. beer consumption was calculated at 205.8 million barrels. Light beer constitutes a 52.8% share of US beer sales.