Drink-a-Pint

The IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits Practice, an independent company which provides manufacturers, distributors and retailers with market information, announced its “Top 30 Beer Brand Performers in 2007″ and “Top 15 New Beer Brands in 2007.” The lists provide a look at the industry’s 30 fastest growing beer brands as well as emerging new brand entries.

For the Top 30 Beer Brand Performers ranking, IRI analyzed volume growth, share of segment trends, everyday base pricing, and incremental sales growth in 2007 versus 2006 to determine the brands with the strongest performance in the beer industry. (Or, if you’ve had a couple already today, that’d be a ranking of the brews which saw the biggest growth in 2007, not necessarily the brands that sold the most overall.)

The 300-pound gorillas are on the list: Coors Light at #6, Bud Light at #7 and Miller Lite at #9. But, the exciting part of this type of survey is who’s sitting at the top: Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, Samuel Adams Seasonal, Heineken Premium Light Lager, Stella Artois Lager and Newcastle Brown Ale. While they’ll never sell the volume that the big three do, it’s nice to see that they took a bigger piece of the pie in 2007. It’s also interesting to see some domestics like Busch Light, Keystone Light, Yuengling Traditional Lager and Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager make the list after years and years in the market.

“The historic trend of consumers trading up and paying a premium price for their favorite brands continued in 2007,” said Bump Williams, general manager, IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits Practice. “In fact, 20 of the top 30 Beer performers are high-end brands that include 13 imports and seven craft brands.”

As for the top new beer brands, Miller Chill landed in the top spot followed by Bacardi Silver Mojito, Anheuser-Busch’s Landshark Lager, Bud Light Chelada and Smirnoff Ice Pomegranate Fusion.

IRI Top 30 Beer Brand Performers in 2007

1. Blue Moon Belgian White Ale
2. Samuel Adams Seasonal 
3. Heineken Premium Light Lager 
4. Stella Artois Lager 
5. Newcastle Brown Ale 
6. Coors Light 
7. Bud Light 
8. Yuengling Traditional Lager 
9. Miller Lite 
10. Samuel Adams Boston Lager 
11. Keystone Light 
12. Corona Light 
13. Tecate 
14. Guinness Draught 
15. Samuel Adams Variety Pack 
16. Model Especial 
17. Michelob Ultra Light 
18. Dos Equis XX Especial Lager 
19. Samuel Adams Light 
20. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 
21. Michelob Golden Draft Light 
22. Heineken 
23. New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale 
24. Grolsch Lager 
25. Dos Equis XX Amber Lager 
26. Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager 
27. Red Stripe 
28. Busch Light 
29. Shiner Bock 
30. Guinness Extra Stout 

IRI Top 15 New Beer Brands in 2007

1. Miller Chill
2. Bacardi Silver Mojito 
3. Landshark Lager 
4. Bud Light Chelada 
5. Smirnoff Ice Pomegranate Fusion 
6. Mike’s Hard Light Cranberry Lemonade 
7. Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus 
8. CM Parrot Bay Pineapple Colada 
9. Budweiser Chelada 
10. Michelob Ultra Tuscan Orange Grapefruit 
11. Mike’s Cocktail Crantini 
12. Alaskan IPA 
13. Mike’s Cocktail Lemon Drop 
14. Zima Pineapple Citrus 
15. Kokanee Gold