The Top 50. The top-producing craft brewers in the USA

sponsor

This is not a list of the best breweries in 2021. This list is based on production volume and not popularity. It includes only those breweries that qualify as craft brewers according to the definition provided by the Brewers Association. Each year, about this time of year, the Brewers Association releases this list as part of its industry analysis of the previous year.

A few things to note about the list this year, and especially about how it compares to the previous year.

To begin with, it seems that some of the movement on the list is related to the return of on-premise sales. This includes companies that fell off the list. As I recently reported, the resurgence of on-premise sales was a big deal in 2021. That said, as always, there are all sorts of forces at work that move breweries up and down, on and off this list.
There was little movement or change among the top 10. There is nothing surprising or interesting at the top of the list.
Athletic Brewing, which produces non-alcoholic beer, debuted on the list this year. Surprisingly, it ranked 27th. This probably means that I need to pay more attention to the NA segment. Someone is drinking all that NA beer.
Kona Brewing found its way onto the list this year and ranks 29th. It’s boring to talk about, and even more boring to write about, but government regulators required Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) to sell Kona Brewing when Anheuser-Busch bought complete control of CBA. Blah, blah, blah. Kona is now owned by PV Brewing Partners (since September 2020) and qualifies as a craft brewer. The company just recently opened a new 30,000 square-foot brewing and canning facility in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I really don’t know where Kona Brewing produced all the beer that got it onto the 2021 list.
Gordon Biersch was a big mover in 2021, moving up to 15th from 27th. I honestly don’t know why. Perhaps the jump is because it brews a lot of beer for Costco (Kirkland beers)? I don’t know.
Georgetown Brewing is the only brewer in Washington state to make the list. It moved up to 25th from its previous spot at 28th.
Fremont Brewing fell off the list in 2021. The previous year Fremont ranked 45th. Again, I’d guess this has to do with the return of on-premise sales. I’d guess Fremont sold a lot of canned beer when we were all masked up and unable to go out to the pub for a beer. PLEASE do not take this as a sign of anything! Fremont Brewing is doing just fine, thank you. For all I know, they’re ranked 51st.