Breweries Industry Overview

Excerpt from Breweries Report

The US brewery industry includes about 400 companies with combined annual revenue of about $25 billion. The two major brewers in the US, Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser brands) and MillerCoors (Miller and Coors brands), are part of international brewing companies; The Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) is the leading US craft beer brewer. Counting brewpubs and microbreweries, the brewery industry in the US includes more than 2,000 establishments, according to the Brewers Association. Annual beer production in the US is about 230 million hectoliters, according to the Barth-Haas Group. The industry is highly concentrated: the eight largest breweries account for about 90 percent of industry revenue.

Competitive Landscape

The major driver of demand is consumer leisure activity. The profitability of individual companies depends on marketing, distribution, and operational efficiency. Large companies have advantages in marketing and sales, production economies of scale, and influence with distributors. Small companies can compete effectively by developing specialty products and serving a local or regional market. The industry is capital-intensive: average annual revenue per worker is about $900,000, but is much lower for smaller companies.

Products, Operations & Technology

Major brewery products are malt beverages, primarily beer and ale, packaged in cans, bottles, barrels (31 US gallons), or kegs (half-barrels). Canned beer and ale case goods account for about 50 percent of industry revenue; bottled beer and ale case goods, for about 40 percent; and beer and ale in barrels and kegs, for 6 percent. Additional products include other malt beverages, such as porter, stout, and non-alcoholic beer, and brewing materials, such as brewers grains and malt extracts.