This Top-Selling Beer Isn't Made In The US Or Europe

When asked about popular beers, you may immediately think of Budweiser, Miller, and maybe an import like Corona. If you're into craft beers, you might think of Founders, Dogfish Head, or Ballast Point. But the top-selling beer when looking at volume is one you've probably never seen. A Chinese beer called Snow Beer holds that honor, despite it not being widely available outside of the country.

Considering we're basing this on how many liters of beer were sold rather than the sales generated, and with China's population listed at 1.4 billion (via Worldometer), you start to see how a beer nearly exclusively sold inside the country could secure a top spot in a list of best-selling beers. In fact, when looking at the top 10 beers across several such reports, you notice that four of them are Chinese: Snow, Tsingtao, Yanjing, and Harbin. Of those four, only Tsingtao has a significant presence outside of China. 

What truly stands out about Snow Beer topping the list of beer sales by volume is the margin of its lead. The most recent data shows Snow Beer moves 101 million hectoliters per year (via Accio). Budweiser (so popular that its story includes tidbits worth knowing for every beer fan) and Tsingtao each sell about 49 million hectoliters (via Sipit.Art). Even combined, the two beers are below Snow's annual sales by volume. So, how does Snow achieve these impressive numbers? Besides China's unmatched numbers for beer consumption, it comes down to price and availability.

How did Snow Beer manage to gain such a foothold in a nation with such a large population of beer drinkers? It's certainly not taste, as many reviews find Snow Beer bland at best. One reviewer even compared its aroma to wet cardboard. BeerAdvocate, a beer ranking forum that's well-respected among the American beer community, gives Snow Beer a score of 61 out of 100. On the same site, Tsingtao scores a 65 and Budweiser only 57. That Budweiser score shouldn't be too surprising, as it and Bud Light are at the bottom of the list of our cheap beer rankings. So if not taste, what sets Snow apart from the rest?

In my own travels to China, two things stood out about the country's drinking culture. First, drinking is a social event. When groups sit down to drink at a restaurant, they're served small glasses that get filled from a single large beer bottle. When the open bottle is empty, the group orders or opens a new one. Second, the majority of people in China depend on a working salary that doesn't leave a lot of money for luxuries such as expensive imported beer. One bottle of Budweiser in China will cost you the equivalent of $1.40, while a bottle of Snow Beer is only 53 cents. The other part of Snow Beer's strategy is availability. You'll find it just about everywhere beer is sold: restaurants, bars, karaoke spots, night markets, and more. Popular beer brands rely on name recognition, and the craft beers tout hoppiness and complex flavor notes. Snow Beer is refreshing, it's cheap, and it's everywhere.