 made attempts at developing premium beers in the European tradition such as Killian’s Irish Red.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter legalized the private brewing of beer in one’s home. This change, along with the emergence of new microbreweriessuch as New Albion and Sierra Nevada in Northern California, led to a growth of manufacture and interest in beer in the 1980s, which continues to this day. Due to the resurgence of the commercial craft brewing industry in the 1980s, the United States now features many beers, offered by over 1400 brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional brewers. However, the majority of beer sales in the United States are still for pale lager produced by national and international brewing companies.
While in volume the large brewers still dominate, smaller producers brew in a variety of styles influenced by local sources of hops and other ingredients as well as by various European traditions. The success of the commercial craft brewing industry has led the large breweries to invest in smaller breweries such as Widmer Brothers and Goose Island, and to develop more complex beers of their own.
Beer sales in the premium market are increasing, while sales in the standard and economy section are decreasing. The major beer producers merged together to strengthen their position – Anheuser-Busch merged with InBev to form Anheuser–Busch InBev, and Molson Coors merged with Miller Brewingto form MillerCoors. Despite legal challenges, the country’s three-tiered distribution system remains in place.
Nearly 80 percent of convenience stores sell beer, about 93 percent of which is sold cold. The U.S. convenience store industry sells more than 2 billion gallons of beer a year – roughly one-third of all the beer purchased in the United States. (In 2007, U.S. consumption was 6.7 billion gallons.)
Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in America and accounts for about 85% of the volume of alcoholic beverages sold in the United States each year. As of 2009, the top three beer companies in the US were Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, and Pabst Brewing Company. The top beer brands by market share were Bud Light (28.3%), Budweiser (11.9%) and Coors Light (9.9%). Corona Extra is the #1 imported beer, followed by Heineken. 2009 figures show an overall decline in beer consumption from previous years, with only craft beer sales rising at a rate of 7–10%, earning 4.3% of sales by volume. Overall U.S. beer consumption was calculated at 205.8 million barrels. Light beer constitutes a 52.8% share of US beer sales.
The best selling style of beer made in the US is pale lager, which is made by most large-scale brewers, including Anheuser–Busch InBev and MillerCoors. These large-scale, or “macro”, companies also brew popular styles which descend from the pale lager. Light beer, which was introduced on a large scale by Miller Brewing Company in the early 1970s, is a beer made with reduced alcohol and/or carbohydrate content, and has grown to eclipse many of the original pale lager brands in sales. Bud Light, brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, is the top-selling beer in the United States. Ice beer is an example which has been partially freeze-distilled with the intention of concentrating flavor and alcohol. The technique is based on that used to make Eisbock, but the two styles share no stylistic similarities (apart from both being lagers) otherwise. Dry beer, a Japanese style based on pale lager, is also brewed by some American companies. In dry beer, the yeast is encouraged to consume more fermentables, resulting in a crisper finish and an unusually subtle hop flavor.
Malt liquor is a high-abv pale lager. It has often incited controversy due to its alcohol content, larger-sized containers, low prices, and advertising frequently targeting inner-city neighborhoods.
Other beer styles indigenous to the United States include California common beer or “steam beer”, amber ale, blonde ale and cream ale. Adapted styles with distinct American variations include pale ale, India Pale Ale, red ale, brown ale, stout, barleywine.
Belgian beer styles have 