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Beer in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about beer in the USA. For the documentary film, see American Beer (documentary). For the Fear album, see American Beer (album).
Pint of American beer

Beer in the United States is manufactured by more than 3,000 breweries, which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries.[1] The United States produced 196 million barrels of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly 28 US gallons (110 L) of beer per capita annually.[2] In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.[3]



Economy[edit]

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 wereAnheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, and Pabst Brewing Company.[53] The top beer brands by market share were Bud Light (28.3%), Budweiser (11.9%) and Coors Light (9.9%).[54] Corona Extra is the No. 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%.[55][56] Overall U.S. beer consumption was calculated at 205.8 million barrels.[56]Light beer constitutes a 52.8% share of US beer sales.[57]

Nearly eighty 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. Of the twenty percent of convenience stores that do not sell beer, the majority of those are in Pennsylvania—the nation's sixth-largest state by population—due to limitations on alcohol sales in the state, which make it illegal to sell in convenience stores and restrict sales inside supermarkets. Although legislation is currently pending in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to legalize alcohol sales in convenience stores as well as to loosen restrictions on supermarkets,[58] Pennsylvania is the only state in which beer sales are illegal in convenience stores.

In 2007, U.S. consumption was 6.7 billion US gallons (25,000,000 m3).[59] Beer sales in the premium market are increasing, while sales in the standard and economy section are decreasing.[60] 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.[60] Despite legal challenges, the country's three-tiered distribution system remains in place.[60]

Cascade cone hop, an American hop varietal

Beer styles[edit]

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, an example of an American Double IPA
See also Category:American beer styles.

Pre-Prohibition styles[edit]

Beer styles indigenous to the United States include California common beer or "steam beer", Kentucky Common Beer, amber ale, blonde ale and cream ale.

Contemporary craft styles[edit]

Numerous beer styles have emerged in the United States since the beginnings of the craft beer movement in the 1970s, ranging from variations on traditional European styles to much more experimental ales and lagers. American craft beers frequently employ newer American hop varietals such as Cascade, Citra, Simcoe, Willamette, or Warrior.[61] These hops, developed by private growers and universities since the 1970s, contribute to the distinctiveness of many American craft beers but are especially important to the flavor of American Pale Ale (APA) and American India Pale Ale. These beers can deviate considerably from the traditional English styles they were adapted from and are often robustly bitter, resinous, or fruity.[62] The American "double" or "imperial" IPA, a popular style credited to Russian River Brewing Company brewmaster Vinny Cilurzo, can be extremely hoppy and strong, ranging from 7-14% ABV with bitterness ratings routinely topping 90 IBUs.[63][64][65] Similarly, American stout beer, inspired by Russian Imperial Stout, may be hoppy and high in ABV, such as Deschutes Abyss or Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, which is fermented to 15% ABV and conditioned in bourbon barrels.[66][67] An emerging style associated with the Pacific Northwest is Cascadian Dark Ale, alternatively known as Black IPA, a heavily hopped beer with dark, roasted malts.[68] Other adapted styles with distinct American variations include Irish red ale, brown ale, Scotch ale, wheat beer, rye beer andbarleywine.[69][70][71][72][73] Some breweries, such as Off Color Brewing in Chicago, focus on resurrecting styles that have been essentially extinct since the advent of Reinheitsgebot in Germany.[74]

Belgian beer styles have also been adapted by American breweries, including saison, dubbel, tripel, and Belgian strong ale.[75] The lighter of these (saison, golden strong ale and tripel) beers have soft malt flavors and mild to strong "spicy" characteristics that come from yeast or the addition of spices. The darker of these beers (dubbel and dark strong ale) may have flavors of dried fruit that derives from the malts, yeast and sugar used to make them. All of these beers are high in carbonation and low in hop character. Witbier, a style nearly extinct until reintroduced by Belgian brewer Pierre Celis in the 1960s, is one of the top-selling craft beer styles in the United States.[76] Brewery Ommegang, Jolly Pumpkin, andThe Bruery are other examples of breweries that produce Belgian-inspired beers. In 2014, Spencer Brewery, opened by the monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, became the first certified Trappist brewery outside of Europe.[77]

Pale lager and malt liquor[edit]

While craft brewing companies with myriad style offerings continue to gain market share, the best selling style of beer made in the U.S. is still pale lager, most often made by most large-scale brewers, including Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors. These large-scale or, "macro", companies also brew popular styles which descend from the pale lager. Light beer, which was introduced on a large scale by Miller Brewing Company in the early 1970s, is a beer made with reduced alcohol and carbohydrate content, and has grown to eclipse many of the original pale lager brands in sales. Bud Light, brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, is the top-selling beer in the United States. Ice beer is an example which has been partially freeze-distilled with the intention of concentrating flavor and alcohol. The technique is based on that used to make Eisbock, but the two styles share no stylistic similarities (apart from both being lagers) otherwise. Dry beer, a Japanese style based on pale lager, is also brewed by some American companies. In dry beer, the yeast is encouraged to consume more fermentables, resulting in a crisper finish and an unusually subtle hop flavor.

Malt liquor is a high-ABV pale lager. It has often incited controversy due to its alcohol content, larger-sized containers, low prices, and advertising that frequently targets inner city neighborhoods.[78][79]

Distribution[edit]

Beer distribution in America is divided into manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. The middle man in this arrangement is a requirement of the laws in most states in order for more efficient taxation and regulation of the industry. Before Prohibition, beer was sold to the American people almost exclusively through saloons.[80] Patrons either drank their beverage in the bar or in some cases used "growlers" (large tin pails) to bring beer home from the saloon. The vast majority of saloons in America at this time were owned or controlled by breweries.[81] After the end of Prohibition in 1933, states passed laws regulating the sale of alcohol, inserting an intermediary between the brewer and retailer that did not exist before, known as the distributor, supplier, or wholesaler.[82] Breweries produce the beer, distributors transport and sell it to retailers, and retailers sell it to the public. To ensure that the incentives that resulted in over-serving and corruption before Prohibition did not exist, states adopted provisions to ensure independence of manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing in the beer industry. Delaware’s Code of law states that “It shall be unlawful for a manufacturer or supplier…to own or be interested in any manner in any establishment licensed by the Commissioner to sell alcoholic liquors”.[83] This system gives the states more control over alcohol sales than before because now market participants at each of the three steps need state license to do business.

Under the three-tier system taxes could be levied at three levels of the beer distribution process. Breweries pay a federal excise tax.[84] Distributors are taxed by the states (usually on a per volume basis),[85] and then retailers have to pay a sales tax. While this adds much to the price of beer, it was believed higher beer prices would lead to temperance. Small breweries like this system because it ensures that large breweries cannot control the distributors and block them from the market.[86] Tax rates vary from state to state; Tennessee taxes wholesalers on volume ($4.21 per barrel) and on sales (17% of the wholesale selling price).[87] A Standard and Poor analysis estimated that all the taxes levied during the manufacture, distribution, and retailing of beer adds up to 44% of the retail price.[88]

Another issue is the deterioration of independence between the breweries and distributors. Most distributors even label themselves as “Anheuser-Busch” or “Miller-Coors” distributors, and recently A-B InBev has strengthened incentives in its exclusivity program.[89]While they lack the same degree of control as Pre-Prohibition times, manufacturers can still have substantial influence over what beers make it to shelves. In fact, one of the reasons InBev recently bought Anheuser-Busch was to gain access to its distribution channels.[90] This lack of independence is especially threatening to small breweries, who claim that wholesaler independence is critical to making sure the success or failure of beer depends on consumer demand, not barriers to distribution.[91] They would also like to see the ban lifted on contracts between brewers and wholesales, especially when they feel that incentive programs from the larger manufacturers have been getting around this ban for years.

Those pushing for a more open system of beer distribution often point to recent changes in the laws concerning wine sales. All but 11 states now allow wineries to ship directly to the consumer, cutting out the wholesale middle man.[92] The reasoning behind these laws is that because of high shipping costs, only enthusiasts looking for high end, expensive wines are taking advantage of this method, eliminating the need for temperance-inducing increased costs.[93] Proposals to open up laws in the remaining 11 states are opposed by distributors and retailers who claim it would hurt small business, but supported by small breweries who hope the changes may spread to the beer industry as well.

See also[edit]