Should We Really Celebrate Craft Beer Passing Budweiser?

This graphic has been all over the beer-web lately.  It’s from the Wall Street Journal and it depicts the number of barrels shipped by craft beer versus Budweiser.  Yes of course it’s an interesting milestone (our sales up, their sales down), but it won’t be one I plan to celebrate.

First off, I don’t consider Budweiser to be a measuring stick that craft beer should seek to compare itself too.  In my mind we’re comparing apples and oranges, or more accurately mopeds to Formula 1 cars.  I don’t expect craft beer to outsell big beer any more than I expect our lunch room to outsell Burger King.  They’re simply two different things with one word in common…..”beer.”

Secondly, for those of us that take pride in this industry, saying that close to 3000 craft breweries COMBINED, only now have reached the number of total barrels shipped by Budweiser is disappointing at best.  And keep in mind that “craft” does include the tall craft-beer-pygmies like Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and Yuengling in these totals.

As if that’s not enough to temper your enthusiasm, keep in mind that Bud Light not only easily outsells it’s heavier Budweiser brother but ALL of craft beer by more than two times…and this after it’s consumption has dropped for five consecutive years.

So take the time to look at the graphic and say, “yay us!” but keep in mind, if big beer is how we intend to measure ourselves, we have a long way to go.