The Luck Of The Irish Doesn't Extend To Leading U.S. Beer Sales

It might not matter to the masses which alcohol they’re dumping green dye into tomorrow on their annual celebration of St. Patrick, but it likely won’t be Irish beer anyway. Samuel Adams leads the best-perceived brand in the country, while Guinness comes in far down the line at sixth. Faith and begorrah!

The L.A. Times cites a survey by YouGov BrandIndex, which collected opinions based on advertising, news and word of mouth. Its results indicated that the St. Patrick’s Day beer with the best rep is Boston’s own son Sam Adams, followed by Budweiser, Bud Light, Heineken, Corona, Guinness, Dos Equis, Miller Lite, Coors Lite and Miller.

Over on the East Coast, consumer darlings are Yuengling, Beck’s and Foster’s in NYC and Busch and Amstel in Boston.

The beer industry loves St. Paddy, as sales have been declining for years and the onslaught of Irish-Americans and sorta-Irish revelers give companies a boost. Beer gardens and craft beers have also done their part to lift the industry a bit recently.

All those Irish pubs selling non-Irish beer, around 1,200 in the U.S. do well on St. Patrick’s as well, with an average of $2 million in sales each.

Slainte, and here’s to hoping you control yourself tomorrow. Seriously, have some dignity.

Non-Irish beers (Sam Adams anyone?) dominate on St. Patrick’s Day [L.A. Times]

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