No votes yet — be the first to vote and help rank this list.
- 1Budweiser
Budweiser was introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch, co-founder of what became Anheuser-Busch, and the beer was deliberately modeled after the pale lager style brewed in Budweis, Bohemia (now Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic), a naming and stylistic connection that later led to decades of international trademark disputes with the Czech brewer Budweiser Budvar. Budweiser grew into one of the best-selling beer brands in the United States for much of the 20th century, and Anheuser-Busch's advertising, including its long-running Budweiser Clydesdale horse team campaign introduced in 1933 to celebrate the end of Prohibition, became one of the most recognized recurring advertising images in American marketing history. The company became one of the largest advertisers during the Super Bowl specifically, with Budweiser and its related Anheuser-Busch brands running some of the most consistently talked-about and awarded commercials during the broadcast for decades running. Budweiser's combination of its century-and-a-half status as one of America's best-selling beers and its iconic Clydesdale advertising campaign has made it one of the most culturally significant beer brands in American history.
Be the first to vote
0 - 2Guinness
Guinness was founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland by Arthur Guinness, who signed a remarkable 9,000-year lease on the St. James's Gate Brewery site at an annual rent of £45, a lease that has become a frequently cited piece of brewing industry trivia given its almost absurdly long duration. The beer's distinctive dark color and thick, creamy head come from its use of roasted unmalted barley, and Guinness pioneered the widget, a small nitrogen-filled ball placed inside cans in 1988 that recreates the beer's distinctive creamy draught pour texture even when poured from a can rather than a tap. Guinness became one of the most internationally recognized Irish cultural exports, and the Guinness Book of Records, now known as Guinness World Records, was originally created in 1955 by the brewery's own managing director specifically as a promotional publication to settle pub arguments about factual records. Guinness's combination of its famous 9,000-year brewery lease and its origin story behind the now-independent Guinness World Records has made it one of the most culturally significant beer brands in the world.
Be the first to vote
0 - 3Heineken
Heineken was founded in 1864 in Amsterdam when Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased an existing brewery, and the company grew over subsequent generations under continued Heineken family involvement into one of the most internationally distributed beer brands in the world. The brand's distinctive green bottle and red star logo became one of the most recognized beer packaging designs globally, and Heineken built a particularly strong international export business earlier and more extensively than many domestic-focused American beer competitors of comparable size. Heineken has remained significantly family-controlled through the Heineken Holding company structure for more than a century and a half, an unusually sustained family ownership stake for a beer brand operating at genuinely global commercial scale. Heineken's combination of its globally recognized green-bottle branding and its unusually sustained century-and-a-half family ownership has made it one of the most internationally significant beer brands in the world.
Be the first to vote
0 - 4Corona
Corona was introduced in 1925 by Cerveceria Modelo in Mexico City, and the beer became particularly associated internationally with its distinctive clear glass bottle and the common practice of serving it with a lime wedge inserted into the bottle's neck, a serving custom whose exact origin remains genuinely disputed among different accounts. Corona grew into the best-selling Mexican beer brand internationally and one of the top-selling imported beers in the United States specifically, helped significantly by marketing campaigns closely associating the brand with beach vacations and casual outdoor relaxation. Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired a majority stake in Grupo Modelo, Corona's parent company, in 2013, though the beer's exclusive United States distribution rights were separately sold to Constellation Brands as part of the same broader transaction, splitting Corona's global versus U.S. business operations between two different major beverage companies. Corona's combination of its globally recognized lime-in-the-bottle serving tradition and its unusual split ownership structure between AB InBev internationally and Constellation Brands in the U.S. has made it one of the most commercially significant Mexican beer exports in the world.
Be the first to vote
0 - 5Stella Artois
Stella Artois traces its brewing history to 1366 in Leuven, Belgium, and the modern brand name was introduced in 1926 as a special Christmas beer, with "Stella" derived from the Latin word for star, reflecting the beer's original holiday-season launch. The brand became closely associated with its distinctive chalice-style glass and a widely publicized nine-step pouring ritual that Stella Artois has promoted extensively in its marketing, positioning the pouring process itself as part of the beer's premium branding and consumer experience. Stella Artois became part of Anheuser-Busch InBev's global beer portfolio following that company's formation through a series of major brewing industry mergers, and the brand has marketed itself with a deliberately premium, European-heritage-focused positioning within AB InBev's broader lineup of beer brands. Stella Artois's combination of its centuries-old Leuven brewing heritage and its widely marketed nine-step pouring ritual has made it one of the most distinctively marketed premium lager brands in the global beer industry.
Be the first to vote
0 - 6Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pabst Blue Ribbon traces its origins to 1844 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the beer's name comes from the blue silk ribbons the company began tying around the necks of its bottles starting in 1882 to help the beer stand out at industry competitions and on store shelves. The brand grew into one of the largest beer companies in the United States by the early 20th century before experiencing a significant decline in mainstream popularity through the late 20th century, positioning it as a lower-cost, less fashionable option compared to major national competitors. Pabst Blue Ribbon experienced a genuinely unusual and heavily documented resurgence in popularity during the 2000s and 2010s specifically among younger, urban, hipster-associated consumers, a demographic shift widely covered in marketing and cultural media as an example of ironic or nostalgic brand rediscovery. Pabst Blue Ribbon's combination of its 19th-century blue-ribbon competition origin story and its unusual late-20th-century cultural resurgence among a younger demographic has made it one of the most distinctively rebranded legacy beer companies in American history.
Be the first to vote
0
Related Lists
Suggest an addition
Log in to add a place to this list.
Barks
Log in to bark.