Top 50 Beer Brands

12th March, 2009

One of our clients is a large chain of licensed premise so we try and keep abreast of things by reading the relevant trade publications including The Publican who recently commissioned some research into the UK's top 50 beer brands.

Normally we see this sort of research as being consumer focussed but in this instance the information was gathered from a group of 500 licensees who were asked what brands they would stock if given a completely free choice regardless of price or availability.

I'm unsure what the research hoped to achieve but none the less it is still an interetsing role call of beer brands. One thing that did strike me is that there isn't a cask bitter in the top ten.

The Top 50 Beer Brands

1. Carling
2. Foster’s
3. Guinness
4. Stella Artois
5. John Smith’s
6. Tennent’s
7. Carlsberg
8. Kronenbourg 1664
9. Beck’s Vier
10. Peroni
11. London Pride
12. Budweiser
13. Greene King IPA
14. Worthington’s Creamflow
15. Harvey’s Best
16. Belhaven Best
17. Tetley Smooth
18. Grolsch
19. = Abbott Ale, Sharp’s Doom Bar, Heineken
22. Amstel
23. = Carlsberg Export, Timothy Taylor Landlord
25. = Black Sheep Bitter, Budvar, San Miguel
28. = Bombardier, Woodforde’s Wherry
30. = Adnams Bitter, Wadworth 6X
32. Staropramen
33. = Coors Fine Light, Hoegaarden, Holsten Pils
36. = Deuchars IPA, Bass
38. = Beck’s, Miller Genuine Draft
40. = Corona, Leffe, Kirin, Marston’s Pedigree, Shepherd Neame Spitfire, St Austell Tribute
47. = Boddingtons, Copper Dragon Best, Old Speckled Hen, Otter
50. Courage Best

Although the list includes some
micro-brewed beers, the majority of
licensees want the brands that excite consumers and have the
marketing budgets to back that up. What is slightly worrying is that of all the beer brands listed there are only seven that I haven't tried yet.....still it's nearly the weekend!

Jason Edge