This morning, the Brewers Association released its annual list of the top 50 craft-brewing companies and overall brewing companies in the country. The not-for-profit trade association used sales-volume figures from calendar year 2022 to calculate rankings for both lists. Of the top 50 craft breweries, six had ties to San Diego County, and five of those interests made it onto the overall list.
Escondido-based Stone Brewing, which was acquired by Sapporo in September 2022, ranked highest at seventh place, up two spots from ninth, which it occupied for the four previous years. Ninth place is now occupied by Tilray Beer Brands, which includes acquired entities Green Flash Brewing and Alpine Beer Co. Though the company recently opened an Alpine Beer-branded concession unit inside Petco Park, the beer is no longer produced in San Diego County.
Up a whopping 14 spots to 13 is non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic Brewing. Founded in Stratford, Connecticut in 2017, the company established a second full-scale production facility in Miramar in 2020, and has been one of the fastest-growing beverage companies in the country.
Coming in 28th is Craft ‘Ohana, the parent company of Maui Brewing and Point Loma-based Modern Times Beer. The latter was taken over by Craft ‘Ohana and its San Diego born-and-raised owner Garrett Marrero last year. Another parent company, Kings & Convicts Brewing, rose four spots to 30 behind production of beers from Miramar-based Ballast Point Brewing.
Last but certainly not least is Pizza Port Brewing, which made its first top-50 appearance, ranking 49th overall.
The top five spots on the craft-brewery list were occupied by the same interests as the previous year: D.J. Yuengling & Sons, Boston Beer Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing, Duvel Moortgat USA and Gambrinus Company.
On the overall list, Stone ranked 16th, Tilray ranked 18th, Athletic ranked 23rd, Craft ‘Ohana ranked 38th and Kings & Convicts ranked 40th. Anheuser-Busch, MolsonCoors, Constellation, Heineken and Pabst Brewing were the top five corporations on the overall list for another straight year.
The Brewers Association defines a “craft brewer” as a small and independent brewing company producing less than six million barrels of beer per year that is less than 25 percent owned or controlled by a beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.