Brands Report: Beer

Shay Waterworth asks whether the Peroni/Heineken cycle is on the verge of being broken.

The two-horse race between Peroni and Heineken continues to keep this list interesting, with each brand snatching the lead from each other every year. In 2016, Heineken had reclaimed first position from the Italian lager brand but this year, Peroni has risen from fourth place to reclaim the top spot with 6% of the votes – not bad considering 161 beers received votes this year.

Peroni worked hard throughout 2017, releasing its Ambra expression which became an aperitif in many European bars due to the smaller volume bottles and curious addition of chinotto fruit to the recipe.

Asahi is another big climber, coming up the field from sixth to challenge for pole position. The Japanese branding is very popular within modern bar culture and this is the brand’s highest ever ranking, so it remains to be seen if it can break the ongoing Heineken/Peroni cycle.

Brooklyn lager could be a popular choice for a three-way bet to place in the list of top-selling brands in 2019.

The US brand has entered the list at seventh and is second on the Top Trending list as it continues to assert itself as a big player within the craft beer movement, appealing to beer drinkers around the world.

Miller High Life is probably the biggest surprise, coming in at number 10 on the Best Selling list.

The US brand does not sit in the premium bracket for lagers and is actually quite rare across large parts of Europe and Asia.

However, it has gained its cult following among top bartenders around the world through Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. But, as the show’s future is hanging in the balance, it could spell the end of the romanticism afforded to the brand among the bar elite.

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Methodology

The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.

To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.