Beer Consumption Around the World: 10 Popular Beers

Beer comes third as the most consumed beverage worldwide. It effortlessly amasses wealth for the brewing industry. This feat is due to the collective efforts of many brewing companies across the globe. In 2018, China produced more beer than any other country in the world. It brewed over 300 million hectoliters, while the United States produced less.

The massive production of beer allows most beer lovers to go on a binge without keeping a tab on their alcohol consumption. More so, beer enthusiasts don’t just get to enjoy a large volume of beer, but they can also try out a variety of international brands. As a result, lots of brewing companies keep trying to outsell other competing brands.

Here’s a list of ten popular beers found in every corner of the world to the delight of beer lovers. These brews are distinctive both in brand and age. Below, we’ve ranked the beers in descending order with the most popular beer taking the number one position.

10. Miller Genuine Draft (MGD)

An easy-to-gulp beer like the Miller Genuine Draft ale sure deserves all the recognition it has garnered since its inception. At the World Beer Cup, Miller Genuine Draft obtained the gold medal in the American-style Premium Lager category. Also, in the early 2000s, the beer received a Silver Medal in the Great American Beer Festival.

It isn’t a pasteurized beer, but it’s cold-filtered four times, making it a draft beer to gulp now and then. Its ingredients include water, barley malt, maltose, yeast, hops, and hop extract.

This refreshing beer tastes crispy and clean. More so, barbecue lovers are inclined to love this bright, pale yellow American beer.

9. Yanjing

Yanjing isn’t merely popular in its home country, but also the nooks and crannies of the world. The Chinese people’s interest in the beer has earned it a title as the real taste of Chinese. Its manufacturer, Beijing Yanjing Brewery, is one of the foremost beer producers in the Asian continent.

With its global fame, Yanjing has become best-selling, inherently increasing its yearly production. This beverage undergoes annual improvements while adopting the latest technology of beer brewing to keep up with latest industry standards.

The Beijing Olympics picked Yanjing beer as its official beer sponsor. Subsequently, Yanjing beer won prestigious awards like the gold medal at an international exhibition in Brussels, Belgium. This development further buttresses the fact that it’s a brew deserving of its success.

Furthermore, the origin of this beer’s water is the springs of the Yanshan Mountain in Beijing. This origin gives it a clean, pure taste. Many old beer enthusiasts are familiar with this ale since it’s been around for years.

8. Coors Light

This beer is an American light lager manufactured by the Coors Brewing Company. Coors Light is one of the most refreshing beers catering to youngsters. The company displays this characteristic in the advertising story of the ale, depicting young folks in “cool places they love.”

The company puts the blurb “perfect shot of refreshment” beneath its age-long phrase, “Silver Bullet,” as a means of popularizing the beer’s refreshing quality.

Coors Light primarily vies against other brew brands like Miller Lite, Natural Light, and Schlitz Light. It has become the delight of many Halloween lovers, being the first beer brand ever to support Halloween in grand style.

7. Dos Equis

If you’ve watched The Most Interesting Man in the World, then you must know how Dos Equis looks. This beverage is probably new to non-Mexicans, but it isn’t taking the back seat in the scheme of beer success.

The lager consists of corn starch/syrup, malted barley, citrus hops, ascorbic acid, and water. These ingredients give drinkers a blend of caramel malt, brown sugar, and a bit of spice and fruit flavors. With some of its elements remaining a well-kept secret, the brand is sure to be indispensable for quite a long time.

Even if beer isn’t your thing, Dos Equis is sure to be. After all, the “most interesting man in the world” has only this beer on his shelf.

6. Heineken

Heineken is a long-standing beer recognized even by non-beer drinkers. The red star logo on its bottle gives it a distinguished appearance from other competing beers. Heineken International brewery is its manufacturer, and it originates in the Netherlands.

The ale brandishes its dual awards by inscribing them on its label. The prizes include Medaille D’Or and Diplome d’Honneurs. Heineken Lager consists of natural recipes – barley, hops, and water – making it a perfect delight when served chilled.

Even though it sometimes gives off a skunky taste, the beer has managed to sustain its popularity and consistency over the years.

5. Stella Artois

This beer has its root in Belgium. However, it has enjoyed success across Europe. The distribution of this beer to the United States is under the aegis of Anheuser-Busch.

More than any beer, Stella has an unusual likeness for the yuletide season because the Christmas star (Stella – Latin for star) inspired its name.

Its ingredients are Saaz hops, malted barley, maize, yeast, and water. Stella beer’s alcohol percentage is quite high and is just about what diehard vegan beer-lovers need.

4. Guinness

For many good reasons, beer enthusiasts around the world will most probably agree that it’s “good for you” to have some pints of Guinness.

The beer is a product of the Irish, and it won’t go into oblivion anytime soon. Thus, there are going to be many happy returns of the rich, dark, and original stout.

Despite its incremental decline since two decades ago, Guinness remains a flourishing alcohol brand that globally boasts of sales running into billions. It’s a hybrid of malted and roasted un-malted barley, with the latter giving the drink its peculiar dark color. The stout’s ingredients are mainly water, barley, roast malt extract, hops, and brewer’s yeast.

The most significant alteration Guinness has ever witnessed was the use of nitrogen, which resulted in changes in its texture and taste. This development is a step in the right direction because it eliminated its usual sharp flavor, replacing it with a smoother and creamier feel.

3. Budweiser

Budweiser beer has dominated the US brewing market for years. The lager is also famous in many other countries around the world. It’s a refined beer that comes in different mediums like draughts, cans, and bottles. This beer consists of rice with hops and barley malt common to other lagers.

The use of cans in its formative years boosted Budweiser’s sales. The beer also witnessed advanced bottling techniques. It comes with a small label at the top of the bottle forming a bowtie, which makes for an exciting sight.

As an American domestic beer, Budweiser cans carry the patriotic US symbols – eagles and the red, white, and blue colors. Its barley malt content gives it zest and sugar. The hops ingredient adds aroma and bitterness to the beer while the rice element makes the beer sharp.

2. Tsingtao

Tsingtao got its inspiration from the German pilsners at its time of inception. This Chinese beer has garnered worldwide accolades amongst many other brands from different countries.

Over the years, the beer has evolved from its original recipe, tilting more towards a typical Chinese brew than to the German pilsner. Tsingtao beer is a product of high-quality ingredients like barley, rice, Laoshan mineral water, and hops.

It takes more than a month to brew a Tsingtao Beer using sophisticated beer preservation technology to protect it from aging badly. This beer comes second to Snow beer and has won many prestigious awards.

1. Snow

It’s incredible how a beer that has never really made it into the American brewing market managed to top this competitive list. Snow remains a commercial success in China and even ranks as the most consumed brew. The many snow-like foams aloft the drink earned this beer its fascinating name, “Snow.” 

The beer appears to be light yellow with a strong malt scent while packaged in bottles or cans. However, the bottled type is preferred to the canned beer judging by the sale of the former. Undoubtedly, Snow ale has been the most massively sold drink worldwide.

Chinese are the primary consumers of this beer, but this factor does not diminish its sales. It’s, therefore, safe to say, China runs the foremost beer market, overshadowing America and other countries of the world.

What brings beer enthusiasts together is more of the joy in cheering for and gulping some glasses of chilled brew than a beer’s brand name. So try out any of the aforementioned most-popular beers even if they’re foreign to you. After all, these beers all have something in common – refreshing quality and exquisite taste. Who knows, a trial could just win you over.