e increase in thiamine in the diets of the soldiers and factory workers would improve performance on the battlefield as well as in the factory and that this increase sufficiently justified the need for beer. The American government decided that the benefits of the vitamin B in brewers yeast, alongside the taxes coming in from beer sales were enough to justify a request for fifteen percent of beer production for servicemen.
Although America’s breweries had the backing of their government, they still needed to capture the hearts and the wallets of the American people. In order to accomplish this, the major breweries banded together and launched the “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” advertising campaign. The campaign can be well summarized from the following 1942 magazine advertisement:
“If you’re a man, it’s a shine on your shoes … the sweet feel of a fly rod in your hand … If you’re a woman, it’s a tricky new hair-do maybe … or a change of lipstick. Morale is a lot of little things like that. People can take the big bad things … the bitter news, the bombings even … if only a few of the little, familiar, comforting good things are left.”
From the time America entered the war in 1941 until it ended in 1945, the overall production of beer increased by over 40% despite the small number of active breweries. This wartime growth allowed the large breweries such as Anheuser-Busch to dominate the American market for over fifty years. During this period they produced beers more noted for their uniformity than for any particular flavor. Beers such as those made by Anheuser-Busch and Coors Brewing Company followed a restricted pilsner style, with large-scale industrial processes and the use of low-cost ingredients like corn or ingredients such as rice that provided starch for alcohol production while contributing minimal flavor to the finished product. The dominance of the so-called “macrobrew” led to an international stereotype of “American beer” as poor in quality and flavor. However, in recent years the major brewers have 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-B