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IT SELLS MORE than three times the volume of Heineken, but you’re not going to find the world’s most-popular beer on your supermarket shelves.
Snow, a largely-flavourless Chinese brew made only for the country’s massive domestic market, is the highest-selling beer across the globe by volume, despite one of its more-generous drinkers describing the lager as “water in a can”.
Figures from analysts Euromonitor, as crunched by Bloomberg, show the beer now makes up 5.4% of the world’s total market with sales up more than sixfold since 2005.
In 2012 its consumption was enough to full 12 Olympic swimming pools every day of the year – as noted by brewing giant SABMiller, which makes the beer as part of a joint venture with a Hong Kong-listed firm.
However it appears the beer’s main appeal is its price - which starts at about 3 yuan (€0.43) for a small can or bottle – rather than its taste.
Reviewers have variously described it as having hints of “fruit (and) wet cardboard” with the overall verdict ranging from “nothing special” to ”quite awful”.
It was generally dismissed as a poor flavour cousin to Chinese rival Tsingtao, the second-highest selling beer in the world, which unlike Snow has made its way onto the export market.
This was one drinker’s take:
Mouth-feel is unpleasant – sticks to the inside of your mouth. I want to say ‘soap’ again. Light body. Drinkability low. Won’t be finishing the can.”
The beer economy
Four of the world’s top-10 selling brews are now Chinese, reflecting the sheer size of the country’s market for beer – its most-popular alcoholic beverage.
This chart from Euromonitor puts the figures in perspective when sales within the Asian nation are compared to those for Germany, western Europe’s biggest consumer:
Snow first overtook the most-popular beer in the US, Bud Light, to become the world’s highest-selling brand in 2008.
Unlike sales of the popular Chinese lagers, which have been riding the wave of rising incomes among the country’s burgeoning middle class, consumption of top American beers like Bud Light and Budweiser has been falling as US drinkers increasingly turn to craft and imported alternatives.
These are the top-10 beers in the world, according to Euromonitor:
1. Snow (China) – Market share: 5.4%
2. Tsingtao (China) – Market share: 2.8%
3. Bud Light (US) – Market share: 2.5%
4. Budweiser (US) – Market share: 2.3%
5. Skol (Brazil) – Market share: 2.2%
6. Yanjing (China) – Market share: 1.9%
7. Heineken (Netherlands) – Market share: 1.5%
8. Harbin (China) – Market share: 1.5%
9. Brahma (Brazil) – Market share: 1.5%
10. Coors Light (US) – Market share: 1.3%
Calling Bud Light “beer”? Surely that must border on libel against beer?
It’s like having sex in a canoe – They’re both fůcking close to water.
I was on that hop house 13 last night. I’m on the toilet now!
Dear lord HH13 is absolute tripe!
it’s worse than the canadian stuff..
Tsing Tao, ahhhhh, and it’s Friday as well….yayyyy. Don’t drink that yellow Snow.
Was looking at the chart. We are always been told we drink very very heavily here in this country. We don’t even make the top ten. Someone is telling porkies. Those Chinese seem to have the problem not us.
More people live in those countries….
Dutch gold your only man
Get perlenbacher from Aldi/lidl..chill for a while..best beer ever..
Mmmm beer
Tasting like water isn’t so bad…Heineken tastes like piss…
I haven’t tried piss so I can’t compare. Call me old fashioned.
Heineken is unpleasant though.
I think the comments on Snow (tastes like cardboard, couldn’t finish the can) are way over the top. It’s very light and drinkable and goes down well with food. It’s not going to win any awards but for that price you can’t go wrong. Harbin (also on the list) is a much nicer light Chinese beer and as the article mentions tsing dao is by far the best of the bunch.
Agreed – thought that headline was quite harsh. When I was in China I thought it was fine. Harbin was my tipple of choice tho
Try hobgoblin beer, at least you can taste something. Most lager is flavourless muck.
Had snow beer in a Chinese restaurant, it’s a lovely beer. It’s very smooth and goes great with food
Same here, nice beer
Berliner Kindl. Oh my sweet divine. Hard to find mind.
Loving the new Guinness larger
Is that a bigger Guinness than the usual pint ?
I’m surprised at the reviews. I lived in shenyang in northern China for a period, not far from where snow was brewed and I thought it was at least as good as any standard lager. Delicious with a Korean barbecue. It was more in the Heineken stable than Bud. Tsingtao wasn’t as nice, and more like an American lager. Not surprising as Anheuser-Busch held a stake in the business and helped them set up the mass distribution network for a country that size. Corona light, now that’s pish.
Never tried Dead Dog on the Barbie. Nice was it? What type, Jack Russell, Alsatian, Poodle?
One thing we can glean from this is that the good people of Poland are drinking well above their weight.
Surprised that Antarctica is not making the top ten – I thought it was a bigger seller than Brahma in Brazil.
Only in Rio. Skol and Brahma are all over.
The top ten selling would also make my top ten most disgusting. Chinese people should try making their own.
I only drink wine cooler for this very assumption
The chinese a great bunch of drinkers
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