Someone from Time sent me a link to a story from Fortune magazine on CNN’s Money website (if you ever needed an illustration of how concentrated the mainstream media is, this is it). The story itself is short, but quite interesting.

1. 24 are somewhat independent (though few are owned by very large companies, like Foster’s)
2. 21 are Miller or Coors owned (19 by MillerCoors & 2 by SABMiller)
3. 18 are Pabst owned
4. 9 are InBev owned (and after the merger’s approved, this will be 16)
5. 7 are Anheuser-Busch owned
6. 2 are Carlsberg owned
7. 2 are Diageo owned
8. 2 are Heineken owned
9. 14 are no longer brewed

There are also some other interesting statistics there, too, such as Anheuser-Busch’s market share over the past five decades. In 1970, A-B had a 17.&% share, which grew 10% to 27.7% by 1980. In 1990, it had risen steeply again to 43.3% but growth slowed by the year 2000, where it essentially leveled off at 48.3 and then began sliding back very slowly. By last year it was 48.2%.

In 1970, Miller wasn’t even in the top five, but thanks to the phenomenal success of Miller Lite by 1980 they enjoyed a 20.6% share of the market, but never got much higher than that and by 2007 had even dropped to 18.4%. Coors, likewise, wasn’t in the top five in 1970 and wasn’t even a national brand at that point. By 1980 they’d just cracked the top five, with 7.6% and continued to grow very slowly until by 2007 they were 11.1% of the total beer market.

There’s also an Q&A with Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company, who is now the largest remaining American brewer, depending on how that’s defined. Pabst and Yuengling also have claims to the throne. Pabst makes more beer than the other two but owns no brewery of their own. Boston Beer brews more beer than Yuengling, but contract brews a little over half of their production. Fortune describes the maker of Samuel Adams “as the country’s largest, independent, publicly-traded brewery.”

California State Bill AB 1245, better known as the Trash & Trinkets Bill, comes up for a vote in the state Senate early next week, possibly even on Monday. To re-familiarize with what’s at stake, please read my earlier post about the bill, which managed to make it through committee at the end of June. The California Small Brewers Association has issued an Action Alert in an effort to let state Senators know that craft beer lovers are not in favor in this bill, because it will give large breweries yet another competitive advantage and will make it more difficult for small breweries to get their product to market. If you live in California, please consider helping today, if possible, or as early Monday as you can. Here’s what you can do, from the CSBA Action Alert:

It is important to take just a few moments right now to pick up the phone and call your state Senator this afternoon and ask them to vote NO on AB 1245. This will only take a few minutes but will help our cause.

This phone call DOES make a difference. You can find the number to your Senator’s office here

Please call their Sacramento office and ask to speak to the Senator. If they cannot take your call, ask to speak to the chief of staff. If they can not take your call, talk to any staffer and ask them to be sure your message gets to the Senator.

Simply let them know that AB 1245 is a special interest bill that only one brewer supports — Anheuser-Busch. ALL other brewers are opposed to this bill. This bill is highly detrimental to the viability of craft brewers, it is anti-small business and will affect access to market for craft brewers.

Background: This bill will increase the spending limit on give-aways to consumers from $0.25 to $5.00. What A-B can buy in large quantities for $5.00 would cost a craft brewer $10-20.00. Imagine this; an A-B sales rep goes into a retailer and asks to do a Monday Night Football promotional night and will give away to all of the patrons a free mini cooler backpack. It is suggested that it might be a good idea to take off the three independent craft beers on draft and replace them with A-B brands. This is not far fetched. This bill could decrease access to market for the craft brewers of California.

If you love craft beer, please help the cause by contacting your elected Senator as soon as possible. Thank you.

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Yesterday, 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant launched their Brewer Outreach Program, where co-owner/brewer Shaun O’Sullivan will invite brewers to the 21st Amendment and have them brew whatever beer they like. The first guest brewer was Mitch Steele, brewmaster at Stone Brewing, who brewed his Imperial English IPA with Shaun and Jesse Houck.

In the brewery: Mitch Steele and Dave Hopwood (both from Stone) and Shaun O’Sullivan.

For more photos from Mitch Steele’s guest brewing at 21st Amendment, including a short movie of the boil, visit the photo gallery.