31 Biggest Beer Brands in America

Brewed in the Netherlands for more than 150 years, Heineken is one of the most recognizable and widely distributed beer brands around the globe — and it remains one of the world’s most popular lagers.

Originally known as Busch Bavarian Beer, this was the first beer introduced by Anheuser-Busch after Prohibition (a long time after Prohibition — 1955, while anti-alcohol legislation was repealed in 1933). The snowy mountains on the can echo the brand’s claim to be “as crisp and cold as a mountain stream.”

This lighter sibling to the original Busch has slightly less alcohol (4.1% versus 4.3%), but earns its “light” designation with 95 calories per 12-ounce can (nine fewer than Busch) and 3.2 grams of carbohydrates, roughly half what its near-namesake has.

“Natty” bills itself as “the official beer of keeping it real and letting things just happen.” A reduced-calorie light pilsner, it has the same calorie and carb count as another Anheuser-Busch light brand, Busch Light — 95 and 3.2, respectively.

The second most popular Mexican beer for American drinkers, Modelo Especial is a rich pilsner-style lager. (It has a darker, richer Munich Dunkel-style lager cousin, Negra Modelo, with a following of its own, though its sales are substantially lower.)