Best-Selling Beer Globally: China Edges Out US for Top Two Spots

China may not have the world's biggest economy yet but they now have the two best-selling beers globally thanks to the country's increase in disposable income.

A study of the best-selling beers in the world, released last week by Euromonitor International and Bloomberg, showed that Snow, the beer that is a joint project of SAB Miller and China Resources, is the top-selling beer globally. Tsingtao, another Chinese brewery, holds the No. 2 stop, according to the study.

"With newfound wealth comes the means for more people to kick back and enjoy a beer every now and then," writes Bloomberg's Tom Randall. "And so they are. While the U.S. still chugs more beer per person, China already reigns as king of beer when it comes to total consumption. Chinese drink about 110 billion pints a year, roughly twice as much as Americans."

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More familiar titles for American drinkers, like Bud Light and Budweiser, are listed at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, followed by Skol, Yanjing, Heineken, Harbin, Brahma, and Coors Light, according to the study.

"More than twice as many pints of Snow were downed last year than Bud Light," Bloomberg reported. "If your American keg-stand pride is feeling upturned by a third-place ranking, the news gets worse. Budweiser hasn't technically been American beer for some time now. The company that took it over in 2008, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, is based in Belgium. It now owns half of the top 10 beers in the world."

Anheuser-Busch, though, does operate 12 breweries across the United States and accounts for 47.6 percent of the country's beer sales to retailers, according to its website.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev owns more than 200 beer brands worldwide and its beverages hold either the No. 1 or No. 2 market positions in 19 countries. It also generated $36.3 billion in revenues in 2010, according to its website.

The Dayton Business Journal reported in January that Bud Light reigned supreme in domestic beer sales over 2013, followed by Coors Light, Budweiser, Miller Light, Corona Extra, Natural Light, Busch Light, Michelob Ultra-Light, Busch, and Heineken.

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