"Eight Beers Americans No Longer Drink" Shows America Getting Smart

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 12, 2011 8:40PM

24/7 Wall Street has an article on what they call the "eight beers Americans no longer drink." The business web site analyzed sales of the top 23 beer brands from 2005 to 2010 and found eight of them have lost more than 30 percent of their sales share in that time frame.

24/7 Wall Street makes the assumption, based on this analysis, that beer drinkers are moving away from Budweiser and MGD in favor of light beers and craft beers. Scores of words, paper and ink and server space has been used in recent years to report on the rise in craft beer business. And, so long as InBev/Anheuser-Busch and Miller-Coors have advertising budgets, light beers will retain their market share through ads intended to sell consumers on Bud Light, Miller Lite and Coors Light.

The list shows Michelob may be going the way of the dinosaur, B to the E and New Coke. It also shows that maybe, just maybe, discount brands such as Milwaukee's Best are having a harder time competing in the marketplace. Do we really think it will happen? No: as long as we have consumers looking to get real drunk real quick, we'll have Milwaukee's Best, Natty Light and other discount brands.

The article once again affirms the true innovations happening in the beer industry are happening from craft brewers and that the two major brewers are taking notice.