There are hundreds of breweries in the world, big and small, good and bad. These are some with websites that we think you should have a look at. Some of the sites we've listed are of particular brands, others for brewing conglomerates such as Interbrew and Foster's. Generally, these have links to their individual brand websites. We have also included some large breweries that are noteworthy for their ability to produce terrible beer.
Due to the impossibility of obtaining information about every brewery in the world, then keeping lists up to date, we have decided to ditch the idea. (We're also wondering what posessed us to think we could actually achieve our goal.) We will now only keep information on breweries in our native Australia. For information on other breweries around the world, we suggest you consult one of the following links.
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- Beamish
- The Irish brewer, based in the city of Cork, that also produced a fine red ale.
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- Binding Group
- A German brewery that makes Binding, Schofferhofer wheat beers and Kutscher Alt. The group also owns Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei (DAB), the Radeberger Exportbierbrauerei in Radeberg near Dresden, the Krostitzer Brauerei near Leipzig, the Allgäuer Brauhaus and the Selters Mineralquelle. Its overseas interests are Königliche Brauerei Krusovice in the Czech Republic and the Polish brewery Browar Dojlidy.
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- Budweiser
- The US Budweiser group, one of the world's largest brewing conglomerates. This site has links to various pastimes in which the company is involved.
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- Budweiser Budvar
- The original, and the best, Budweiser. This is a pilsner brewed in the Czech Republic and is true to the style. It is nothing like the bland, American offering of the same name.
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- Carlsberg
- The famous Danish lager. A Carlsberg scientist was the first to isolate a single cell of a beer yeast, which was possibly the most significant breakthrough in the thousands of years of brewing.
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- Chimay
- These Trappist monks are really with the times, with their website promoting their beer and cheeses. You can even stay at their inn near the monastary that offers a restaurant-brasserie, hotel and gourmet restaurant. Their beers are excellent. Their motto is “A beer brewed with knowledge is tasted with wisdom”.
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- Cooper's
- Cooper's is our favorite brewery. It has long produced fine ales, and stood alone among the onslaught of lager in Australia. It did not produce a lager until 1969 and remains renowned for its ales and stout, which are unlike any other style beer. Cooper's ales are available widely in Australia and can also be found at some outlets in the US and Europe.
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- Duvel
- Moortgat's brewery was founded in 1971 and has been brewing the strong beer Duvel since 1923. The story goes that during the first tasting of this brew someone commented it was “a real devil” and the name Duvel was adopted. The brewery also makes Maredsous abbey beers and Bel-Pils, a highly hopped Pilsner.
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- Foster's Group
- Foster's owns many Australian breweries, including Carlton & United, Cascade and Tooth's. Most of its beers are uninspiring, but its Cascade Stout and Sheaf Stout are outstanding. But CUB has also managed to brew Carlton Cold, which tastes more like lemonade than beer and seems like it was developed for drinkers who don't like beer! See our review.
Foster's Australian brands include Carlton, Cascade, Reschs, Matilda Bay (Dogbolter and Redback), Tooths (Sheaf Stout) and Powers. Foster's also has two breweries in Vietnam and one each in India and China. The Foster's brand is the world's sixth-largest and the beer is available in 150 countries.
The brewery was founded by two American brothers in Melbourne, Australia. They brewed Australia's first lager in 1888 in their brand-new brewery that was decked out with refrigeration. Soon after Foster's Lager was launched the brand was booming, but the brothers sold up and headed back the US.
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- Grupo Modelo
- The huge Mexican brewer, maker of Corona, which is the United States' largest imported beer brand. It recently overtook Heineken.
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- Guinness
- When most people think stout, they think Guinness, and with good reason. It's revered (not to mention brewed) the world over.
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- Heineken
- One of the world's best-known beer brands, Heineken is a light lager but also brews small quantities of dark beers. The brewery's parent company, Heineken NV, also owns Amstel and Murphy's. It is the world's third-largest brewer.
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- Inbev
- The world's largest brewer by volume (and second-largest in revenue behind Anheuser-Busch, brewer of Budweiser), formed in 2004 through the merger of Belgium's Interbrew and Brazil's Ambev. Has a 13 per cent share of the global market and owns more than 200 brands, including Stella Artois, Staropramen, Beck's, Brahma, Skol, Labatt, Rolling Rock, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Belle-Vue. Through its British Whitbread arm it brews Bass, Boddington's, Carling, Caffrey's and Worthington. It has breweries in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, France, Hungary, Korea, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine and the US, has licensing agreements in Australia, Italy, Sweden and Britain and exports beer to more than 80 countries.
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- Kirin
- A large Japanese brewer.
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- Lion Nathan
- This New Zealand-owned brewing conglomerate owns many Australian breweries, including Castlemaine Perkins (makers of XXXX) in Queensland, Tooheys in New South Wales and South Australian Breweries (makers of Southwark and West End). It also has extensive interests in Asia. One of its best beers is Speight's Old Dark Ale, which unfortunately is only available in New Zealand.
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- Moosehead
- A great Canadian lager. This site is a completely different Moosehead site. Go figure.
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- Pilsner Urquell
- The first pilsner on Earth, according to its website. The Plzensky
Prazdroj firm in the Czech Republic is now owned by South African Breweries. Some believe Pilsner Urquell has lost some of its character in recent years (possibly due to modern production methods), but it is still regarded my most as the quintissential pilsner.
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- Samuel Adams
- Samuel Adams' Boston Lager is one of the best American beers we've tasted and a standout among some fairly ordinary US brews which are widely available. Unfortunately, few of the Boston Beer Company's other beers are available outside the US.
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- Scottish & Newcastle
- This British brewer is one of the largest in Europe. It owns or has a stake in 50 breweries and brews, among others, McEwan’s, Newcastle Brown Ale, Theakston’s (including the fantastic Old Peculier), John Smith’s, Holsten, Foster's, Miller, Molson, Kronenbourg 1664, Beamish, Beck's and Carling.
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- SABMiller
- SABMiller (formerly South African Breweries) is an increasingly large force in brewing around the world. It has been operating since 1895 and claims 98 per cent of the South African beer market. Some of its well-known brands include Castle Lager, Carling Black Label and Hansa Pilsener. The company also has a stranglehold on brewing in Africa, with operations in about a dozen countries. In China, it owns six breweries. In Europe, SAB has operations in Hungary (Dreher), Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Russia, the Czech Republic (Pilsner Urquell and Radegast) and Canary Islands.
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