This is the world’s all-time favorite beer

May 14, 2022

Beer is among the handful of alcoholic beverages that have been consumed for centuries. Varied forms of beer can be obtained by effecting alterations to the beer brewing process. Some of the most common types of beers consumed today include bitters, ales and stouts. Other types of beer are standard beer, low/no alcoholic content beer, premium lager, crafted beer and specialty beers.

The global beer industry has undergone a steady process of consolidation. Ten years ago, the global beer industry was highly fragmented. Since then, a steady process of consolidation via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has taken place, often focused on cost-cutting opportunities or geared toward acquiring attractive emerging market assets: (e.g. the $60-billion-U.S.-dollar merger between Anheuser-Busch and InBev in 2008; or Heineken’s 24 billion U.S. dollar acquisition of Asia Pacific Breweries in 2012).

Image Credit: andresr.

The world’s favorite beer brand

In 2019, Anheuser-Busch InBev controlled almost 30 percent of the global beer market. This American brewing company is responsible for the production, importation and distribution of many global brands, specifically, Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Corona, Leffe and Hoegaarden. The company also produces domestic brands, such as Bud Light, Busch, Michelob and Shock Top, to name a few.

In the past two decades, beer has become globalized in the same sense as other familiar branded products which originate in one country and later are manufactured and consumed throughout the world. The pace of globalization for beer has greatly accelerated over this period with the increased activity of multinational beer enterprises acquiring existing breweries and constructing new facilities in emerging markets, as well as licensing production of their brands outside their home countries. As incomes rise and living styles change in developing countries, demand for such products will growing.

Here are the world’s favorite beers, ranked by sales of the leading beer companies worldwide in 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars).

Image Credit: erikreis / istockphoto.