Which brewery is the next Sam Adams?

I feel like Sierra Nevada is the closest. Here, Across the country, sn pale ale along with Boston lager are the most common craft type beers on restaurant menus. Even my non beer drinking friends here in nj know the brand

 

In descending order:
NB
Flying Dog
Stone
Sierra Nevada
Lagunitas

 

There is no "next Sam Adams". Sure, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are ramping up production but their beers aren't anything like SA. SA is much more accessible palate wise to the general american public and both SN and NB make more "flavorful beers."

I think everyone under SA production numbers in the top 10 is defining their own path!

 

2014 stats aren't out yet, but for 2013 it was:

BBC- 2,875,000 bbl.
SN - 980,000 bbl.

So, roughly 2.5 times larger. BBC's figures are for the beers only, and delete their cider and FMB totals, which brings them to around 3.4 million barrels IIRC.

And SN was brewing pretty much to capacity at the time, so with the opening of their NC brewery, they should get a large increase for that part of the year and forward.

 

You mean Boston Beer Company?

 

Does BBC produce any beer that is not labeled under the Samuel Adams brand? Or is it just Angry Orchard cider and Twisted Tea?

 

They're also brewing many of their subsidiary's Alchemist & Science beer brands:



Also the shandies under the "Traveler" brand.

 

Jack, they were running Chico a little over a sustainable capacity, and I have heard that brewery is happy running at around 800-850k bbl/year. They were way above that, but that does not let you do PM on equipment when you run flat out.

The Mills River facility has a capacity of about 350k bbl/year. So that puts them around 1,150-1,200 bbl/year. Maybe Bill can nail that down better.

They do have more than ample room to grow in Mills River.

Lagunitas is growing like crazy, and will soon have a capacity of about 1.5m bbl/year.

 

My prediction (notwithstanding capacity values) is that Sierra Nevada will be selling more beer than Lagunitas over the next few years.

Cheers!

 

They will to me. They said they own 230 acres in Mills River, they could expand operations there by a lot if need be.

 

Interesting. If you look at the websites of those other "breweries", only the Angel City one mentions being owned by Alchemy & Science, as it appears it existed prior to being purchased. The rest just look like brands set up to appear as separate breweries.

This is the same thing that many cry foul about InBev doing with their "faux craft" brands.

 

i didnt know about them, thanks for sharing!

 

New Belgium is a strange case. They are #3 and don't distribute in the North East, the most heavily populated part of the USA. They have a lot of room for grow. Do they have the capacity?

 

They will when the get their (temporarily postponed) North Carolina brewery built.

 

This is what I clicked on the thread to say. Sierra Nevada seems the likely candidate to be as big as Sam Adams, although I guess they'd have to go public to make that happen.

 

Why? Yuengling's been running neck and neck with BBC for the last decade and a half, bought a "macro" brewery and built another large capacity brewery outside of town in Pottsville, and remains family-owned.

 

We could see the location from the bridges as we crossed the French Broad river in Asheville about 10 days ago. It is a muddy construction site at this time, it looks like they aren't much beyond foundation work, no walls were up.

 

I'd put my money on New Belgium.

(which probably means its not them)

 

It's one of two breweries. SN or NB