Chinese “Snow” Passes Germany as 5th Largest Beer Market

The researcher also said the Heineken brand was the biggest western European beer brand for the 24th year in a row since its record began, and in 2011 was followed in popularity by Carlsberg, Molson Coors’ Carling, Amstel and Foster’s – both owned by Heineken – and Kronenbourg, owned by Carlsberg.

In a sign of the growing importance of emerging markets, the researcher added that the world’s biggest brand, the Chinese beer Snow, owned by a SABMiller joint venture, was now larger than the world’s fifth biggest beer market, Germany, producing just over 90 million hectolitres of the beer in 2011.