ST. LOUIS — After years of gaining ground, the Silver Bullet has finally caught the King.
Coors Light outsold Budweiser last year to become the nation’s second-most-popular brew after Bud Light, according to estimates by an industry trade publication.
Beer Marketer’s Insights reported this week that Anheuser-Busch InBev sold 17.7 million barrels of its flagship lager in the U.S., less than the 18.2 million barrels that beer drinkers bought of Coors Light. It marks the first time in nearly two decades that Anheuser-Busch hasn’t claimed the two top spots on sales charts.
It comes amid a broad downturn in beer sales, especially for big guns such as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. Beer Marketer’s Insights estimates that AB InBev’s volume fell 2.9 percent last year and that less of its beer was purchased than has been in a decade.
MillerCoors volume fell by roughly the same clip, though its biggest label — Coors Light — grew through aggressive marketing and broader distribution.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
