The Greatest Beer Brands and Breweries In The World

"Beauty is in the hand of the beerholder." - Anonymous.

"Water is good for only two things: floating ships and making beer." - Anonymous.

"Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer." - Frederick the Great.

BEER is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Most beer is also flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. The preparation of beer is called brewing.

Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, and is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage.

Beer News, Reviews & Resources

• 5 Fun Facts About Oktoberfest, The World’s Largest Beer Festival - "Munich, Germany’s famed Oktoberfest began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Since then, it has grown into the world’s largest and most famous beer festival. This year’s Oktoberfest runs from September 16th to October 3, 2023. Here are five fun facts about the festival." Forbes.
• 8 Best Craft Beers For Summer Sipping - and Pairing - Forbes.
• 8 Ways to Upgrade Your Beer to a Cocktail - The New York Times.
• 15 best beer cities around the world - "Say cheers to the 15 best beer cities around the world."
• 18 best beer gardens in London - The Telegraph.
• 40 Most Popular Beers, Ranked Worst To Best - "But beer tasting? Well, let's say this: Everybody's a critic. Here are our picks on where the top 40 brews rank." TastingTable.
• 86-year-old ale brewed for cancelled Edward VIII coronation to be auctioned - "A workman stumbled upon the cobweb-covered stash in a bricked-up cellar after being called in to replace a floor at the 200-year-old Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 2011. To celebrate the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, several crates of the unearthed beer will be auctioned off on May 5, with all proceeds going to the charity founded by King Charles III, The Prince’s Trust."
• $125 a bottle: the exotic beer that is as expensive as vintage wine - "One Manhattan bar is charging $125 for a bottle of Belgian ale. Is beer really as costly to make as wine or is this just a pernicious way to make us pay more?"
• A beer a day helps prevent stroke & heart disease - The Telegraph.
• A Beer Drinker's Guide - "There are hundreds of little techniques in the process from field to glass that can change the style and flavour of a beer quite dramatically. When talking about beer, it can be hard to pinpoint what makes it taste so great, and how to find more beer that’s just as delicious."
• A Fight Is Brewing - "The creators of some of the most distinctive craft beers in the world are identical twins from Denmark who can’t stand each other. Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso in Brooklyn. Mikkel Borg Bjergso in Copenhagen."
• AB InBev sees a 10% hit to its first-quarter profit from coronavirus - "The world’s largest beer maker expects the coronavirus outbreak to dent its earnings."
• Aeolus is the beer-from-fridge bot we’ve all been waiting for - The Verge.
• Airlines Aim to Trick Your Taste Buds at 30,000 Feet - "Finally, beer may start tasting good at 30,000 feet."
• Anchor, first & oldest US craft brewery, to shut down after 127 years - "‘Grandfather of American craft brewing,’ started in San Francisco in 1896, to end operations amid financial struggles."
• Ban on Beer Is Latest Flash Point in World Cup Culture Clash - "Qatar’s about-face on alcohol signaled that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, may no longer be in full control of its showcase championship."
• BEER - Wikipedia.
• BEER ADVOCATE - "Respect Beer."
• 'Beer before wine, always fine'? Not really, hungover study participants say - CNN Health.
• Beer brand & leather store unwittingly named after Maori word for 'pubic hair' - "Canada’s Hell’s Basement and a shop in Wellington both thought the word ‘huruhuru’ meant ‘feather’ - they were wrong."
• BEER GARDEN - Wikipedia.
• Beer IS good for you! - "Research suggests two pints a day may slash your risk of dementia. Experts studied drinking habits and dementia rates among 25,000 over-60s. Drinking two pints a day slashed risk of the memory-robbing condition by a third. Non-drinkers a fifth more likely to be a dementia sufferer than biggest drinkers."
• BEER ME! - "The most complete source of brewery information worldwide. More than 115,251,136 beer lovers served! 61,903 beers from 30,961 breweries. 11,109 tasting notes on 9,649 beers."
• Belgian monks resurrect 220-year-old beer after finding recipe - "Grimbergen Abbey brew incorporates methods found in 12th-century books."
• Belgium crushes 2,000 cans of Miller High Life over ‘champagne of beers’ slogan - "Comité Champagne asks for destruction of shipment on grounds Miller High Life’s motto infringes champagne’s protected origin."
• BREWERS ASSOCIATION - organization of brewers, for brewers and by brewers. More than 1,000 US brewery members and 19,000 members.
• Brewie is back with version 2.0 of its automated homebrew machine - engadget.
• Brown Ales May Be Unfashionable, but the Style Is Timeless - The New York Times.
• Bud Light is ‘coming back’ but controversy is a ‘wake-up call,’ Anheuser-Busch exec says - "Anheuser-Busch InBev’s top marketing executive is speaking out following a monthslong boycott of Bud Light that has cost the brand its title as America’s top-selling beer."
• Carlsberg is working on beer bottles made of paper - "Carlsberg started working on the new type of packaging in 2015, and is still a few years away - at least - from selling the bottle to customers."
• Climate crisis will make Europe’s beer cost more & taste worse, say scientists - "Experts say hop yields and quality will continue to drop by 2050 if farmers don’t adapt to higher temperatures. Climate crisis will make Europe's beer cost more and taste worse, say scientists. Climate breakdown is already changing the taste and quality of beer, scientists have warned. The quantity and quality of hops, a key ingredient in most beers, is being affected by global heating, according to a study."
• countries that consume the most beer per capita - The Telegraph.
• Glass of wine or beer a day reduces risk of an early death, says new study - The Telegraph.
• How many bubbles are in a glass of beer? - "Beer's effervescence affects its flavor. When you pour a glass of beer, a frothy cascade of fizz rises to the top; as more and more tiny bubbles coalesce, they form a nose-tickling layer of foam. At first, that frothy stream of carbonation seems endless. But just how many bubbles can emerge from a glass of beer before it goes flat?"
• How to look like you know more about beer than you really do - The Telegraph.
• How to open a beer bottle with a newspaper - The Telegraph.
• How well do you know the world's beers? - The Telegraph.
• Inflight beer: How brewers make craft beers for high altitude - CNN Business Traveller.
• instant BEER for hikers tastes impressive - Wired.
• KÖlsch - style of beer first brewed in Cologne, Germany. It is unusual because although it is warm fermented with ale yeast, it is then conditioned at cold temperatures like a lager. Kölsch has an original gravity between 11 and 16 degrees Plato (specific gravity of 1.044 to 1.065). In appearance, it is bright and clear with a straw-yellow hue.
• Manchester hotel charges Australian £55,000 for a beer - "Cricket writer was stunned to find his bank honoured payment of A$99,983.64."
• Mexico stops brewing Corona beer, deemed non-essential in epidemic - "Mexico’s Grupo Modelo said on Thursday it will temporarily stop brewing Corona beer and other brands exported to 180 countries after its business activities were declared non-essential under a government order aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus."
• Microbrewery - brewery that produces small amounts of beer, typically much smaller than large-scale corporate breweries, and is independently owned. Such breweries are generally characterized by their emphasis on quality, flavor and brewing technique.
• Monte Carlo Beer wins prestigious gold medal in Frankfurt - "Monte Carlo Beer’s latest creation, their very own alcohol free blonde ale has won the gold medal of the Frankfurt International Trophy 2024. The MCB Alcohol-Free Blonde ale stood out among 696 samples from 49 different countries, which were tried by 511 international tasters as part of what was a very fierce competition, earning a remarkable score of 86/100, and subsequently the highly sought after gold medal."
• Oktoberfest - "The official site for the 188th Oktoberfest from September 16 to October 3, 2023." The Oktoberfest is the largest folk festival in the world, a unique synthesis of the arts, a piece of Munich's soul. It is tradition that customs and the Bavarian way of life experience a lively renewal here in particular. The Oktoberfest stands for a sense of home and the hospitality of the people of Munich - a funfair for everyone, with a variety of pleasurable moments for all the senses at the highest level of quality. The brand essence of the Oktoberfest stands for encounters, shared experiences and the joy of life.
• Oktoberfest: Germany's sophisticated alternative to Oktoberfest - "Every September, millions of tourists flock to Munich for Oktoberfest. However, the true centre of German beer culture lies three hours north in the medieval town of Bamberg."
• Oktoberfest is back. But religious politicians in this country want it banned - "The world's largest beer festival is finally back after a two year dry spell but politicians in one country are still against celebrations returning - and it isn't because of the pandemic."
• PINTPRICE.COM - the price of beer in 206 countries.
• PlzeŇskÝ Prazdroj - Pilsner Urquell Brewery Museum. Pilsen, Czech Republic. "History lovers will be impressed by the model of the brewery from the 19th century, the brew house from the 1930s and the historical cellars, where Pilsner Urquell beer is still produced today using the same traditional method as during the era of the first brewer."
• Prost! 2017 Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, in pictures - The Telegraph.
• Prost! Germany celebrates 500 years of beer purity law - The Telegraph.
• Ranked: Which Countries Drink the Most Beer? - Every region in the world increased its overall beer consumption in 2021 compared to 2020, with global consumption rising by 4%. Asia holds a 31% share of the global beer market, remaining the world’s largest beer-consuming region over the last 14 years.
• RATE BEER - the largest collection of beer reviews and used as an authoritative buying guide by consumers worldwide.
• Reinheitsgebot - (German, literally "purity order"), sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" in English, is the collective name for a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and its predecessor states. The best-known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516, but similar regulations predate the Bavarian order, and modern regulations also significantly differ from the 1516 Bavarian version.
• Russian ex-president mocks Carlsberg after brewer says its business was stolen - "Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev sneered at the Danish brewer Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) on Wednesday for having thought it could quit Russia without penalty after the West sanctioned Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen on Tuesday said Russia had stolen its business when President Vladimir Putin in July granted temporary control of its majority stake in the Russian brewer Baltika to the federal government."
• ‘Sophisticated’: ancient faeces shows humans enjoyed beer & blue cheese 2,700 years ago - "Austrian Alps salt miners had a ‘balanced diet’, with an analysis of bronze and iron age excrement finding the earliest evidence of cheese ripening in Europe."
• S.P.B.W. | The Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood - established 1963.
• Steve Jobs had a ‘beer test’ he used for Apple job interviews - "Going slightly against the idea that job interviews should be pretty formal affairs, the late Apple CEO wanted to buck the trend of people turning up to interviews with pre-planned answers and scripted responses. A key question for Jobs when interviewing someone was: 'Would I have a beer with this person? Would I talk to him or her in a relaxed way while taking a walk?' So, that’s exactly what he did."
• THE BEST BEERS IN THE WORLD BY STYLE
• THE BREWERS OF EUROPE - "To equip Europe’s brewers with the tools to freely, cost-effectively and responsibly brew and market beer."
• The Close Ties Between Exercise and Beer - The New York Times.
• the surprising health benefits of drinking beer - The Telegraph.
• The treasure inside beer lost in a shipwreck 120 years ago - "Long-forgotten yeast strains are being sought out from shipwrecks, abandoned breweries and other locations in the hope they could be put to good use if resurrected."
• These Are The Best Beers In America, According To The Great American Beer Festival 2022 - "This year 2154 breweries entered the competition with a mind blowing 9,904 beers. Over 177 different beer styles were judged this year (yes, there are that many), but 325 different judges. The average number of beers entered in each category is 99, with the highest number of entries happening, as always, in the American Style India Pale Ale category. 268 breweries walked away with medials this year, 18 of them for the first time. 301 breweries entered for the first time."
• This beer is made from recycled shower water. Is it the taste of the future? - "Epic Cleantec’s beverage highlights one way to tackle extreme drought: by turning recycled waste into potable products."
• Top 50 rated beers - RateBeer.com.
• Trappist beer - brewed by Trappist breweries. Eight monasteries — six in Belgium, one in the Netherlands and one in Austria — currently brew beer and sell it as Authentic Trappist Product.
• Two miles of beer: Bruges pipe dream becomes a reality - "Enough booze to fill 12,000 bottles an hour will soon be flowing in a pipeline under the medieval streets of the Belgian city."
• Visualizing Which Countries Drink the Most Beer - "Where do people drink the most beer? China ranks number one due to its sheer size, and the Czech Republic comes out on top, per capita."
• What beer made from 5,000-year-old yeast tastes like - " Israeli scientists have brewed beer from a 5,000-year-old strain of yeast - and apparently it tastes pretty fruity."
• Where people drink beer for breakfast - "Known as a 'Weißwurstfrühstück', this traditional sausage-pretzel-and-beer-breakfast might be Germany's most 'German' meal."
• Why beer bottles are usually brown glass - "When hops in beer are exposed to strong light, a photooxidation reaction takes place, creating the compound 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol. To prevent the process of skunking from occurring, beer brewers have opted for darkly tinted glass. It's why you see so many beers in brown glass bottles today."
• why craft beer lovers are falling for murky ales - The Guardian.
• Why the sound of New Year bells could make your beer taste sour - The Telegraph.
• WILLIAMS WARN PERSONAL BREWERY - "Personal Brewing Without Compromise." The first personal brewery in the world. Commercial quality beer in just 7 days.
• World Beer Awards - "Celebrating the world's best beers."
• WORLD BEER CUP - "The most prestigious beer competition in the world."
• World's largest brewer says rival tried to steal its secret recipe - "AB InBev accuses rival of obtaining the secret recipe for Bud Light."
• World's largest brewer sells stake in 11 Russian breweries - "Budweiser brewer AB InBev is selling its stake in 11 Russian breweries."

Top 35 High-End Beer Brands & Breweries

• ANHEUSER-BUSCH - the largest brewing company in the United States. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in other countries.
• ASAHI BEER - Japanese beer brand.
• BALTIKA - founded 1990. The largest brewery in Eastern Europe and the second-largest brewery in Europe (after Heineken Brewery)
• Birra Menabrea - founded 1846. Italian brewing company located in Biella, Piedmont.
• BREWDOG - award winning Scottish brewery.
• BUDWEISER - "The Great American Lager." Made by Anheuser-Busch in the United States, was first marketed in 1876 as "Budweiser" in the United States and Canada.
• BUDWEISER BUDVAR BREWERY - founded in 1895. Best known for brewing a beer known as Budweiser Budvar in the European Union, Czechvar in the United States and Canada.
• 
• CARLSBERG - Danish brewing company founded in 1847.
• Russian ex-president mocks Carlsberg after brewer says its business was stolen - "Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev sneered at the Danish brewer Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) on Wednesday for having thought it could quit Russia without penalty after the West sanctioned Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen on Tuesday said Russia had stolen its business when President Vladimir Putin in July granted temporary control of its majority stake in the Russian brewer Baltika to the federal government."
• 
• Chimay - since 1862. Beer brewery in Chimay, southern Hainaut, Belgium. One of the eight breweries worldwide that produce Trappist beer.
• COBRA - 1989. Main product is an extra-smooth premium beer with an alcohol strength of 5% volume.
• CORONA - founded 1925.
• DOS EQUIS - since 1897. Mexican beer. The Most Interesting Man in the World-advertising campaign for the Dos Equis first began appearing in the United States in 2006.
• EISBOCK 28
• 
• Grimbergen - first brewed in 1128. Group of Belgian abbey beers. The name refers to the abbey that Saint Norbert of Xanten built for the Premonstratensian (Norbertine) canons regular in Grimbergen. They became famous for providing hospitality and their home-brewed beer to visitors, and handed down the recipe over the centuries. The beers are now brewed by Alken Maes brewery group.
• HEINEKEN - founded 1873.
• IMPERIAL - since 1924. Costa Rican brand of beer.
• JACOBSEN VINTAGE NO. 1
• JACOBSEN VINTAGE NO. 2
• JACOBSEN VINTAGE NO. 3 - 15% vol., the world's most expensive beer: €270.
• Kirin Beer - since 1885. Sells two of the most popular beers in Japan: Kirin Lager, the country's oldest beer brand; and Ichiban Shibori.
• 
• Kriek lambic - Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries.
• Kronenbourg Brewery - (Brasseries Kronenbourg) is a brewery founded in 1664 by Geronimus Hatt in Strasbourg (at the time a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire; now France) as the Hatt Brewery. The name comes from the area (Cronenbourg) where the brewery relocated in 1850. The company is owned by the Carlsberg Group. The main brand is Kronenbourg 1664, a 5.5% abv pale lager.
• LA VIEILLE BON-SECOURS
• MAGIC HAT BREWERY - recommended brew: Single Chair Ale.
• MILLER HIGH LIFE - put on the market in 1903 and is Miller Brewing's oldest brand. High Life is grouped under the pilsner category of beers and is 4.7% ABV. The prevailing slogan on current packaging is "The Champagne of Beers".
• OLDE ENGLISH 800 - brand of American malt liquor produced by the Miller Brewing Company. It was introduced in 1964 and owned by Miller Brewing Company since 1999.
• PILSNER URQUELL - bottom-fermented beer produced since 1842 in Pilsen, Bohemia.
• ROCHEFORT BREWERY - since 1595.
• SAMUEL ADAMS
• SAMUEL SMITH OLD BREWERY - established in 1758. Samuel Smith's Ale is the favourite beer of the fictional Inspector Morse in the eponymous series of detective novels and tv series by British author Colin Dexter.
• SAPPORO BREWERIES
• SINK THE BISMARCK - world's Strongest beer at 41% ABV. Each bottle comes with a bottle stopper so you can reseal the beer and enjoy it over time.
• Stella Artois - pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia, where it has a reduced ABV. Stella Artois is owned by Interbrew International B.V. which is a subsidiary of the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.
• TSINGTAO BEER
• UTOPIAS - Wikipedia.
• 
• Westvleteren Brewery - Belgian brewery founded in 1838. Its Westvleteren 12 (XII) rated "Best Beer in the World": 2013, 2012,2010,2007,2006,2003 & 2002.
• ŻYWIEC - since 1856. Polish medium-light bodied pilsner beer that is popular in Poland and gaining popularity in the United States and all over the world.