Founders Passes Bell’s To Become Michigan’s Largest Brewery

It’s the changing of the guards in Michigan where for the first time ever Founders has surpassed Bell’s to become the state’s largest brewery!

But it was close…

According to production numbers released last week, Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewing produced about 466,700 barrels of beer in 2017. And the Detroit Free Press went on to report that Bell’s Brewery produced 464,000 barrels last year.

So it was a mere 2700 barrel win for Founders…but a win nonetheless. And given that they’ve never in their history produced more beer than the legendary Bell’s Brewery, it’s certainly worthy of notice.

And Bell’s might argue that it still is the largest CRAFT brewery in Michigan…But does that justification even carry the weight that it once did?

In 2014 Founders sold 30% of their company to a large Spanish brewer Mahou San Miguel. And under the guidelines established by Brewers Association, the nation’s leading craft beer trade organization, the brewery can no longer even be considered a ‘craft’ brewery…

The Brewers Association defines “craft brewer” as a small, independent, traditional brewer, with an annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less.

The BA also specifies that a brewer must be less than 25% owned or controlled by an alcohol industry member that is not itself defined as a craft brewer.

So in keeping with the Boulder- based industry’s definition, Founders fails to meet their criteria on both counts…Not that that matters one bit to Founders who entered into their arrangement with Mahou San Miguel well aware of the Brewers Association long-held position.

Founders and Bell’s remain the two biggest names in Michigan beer. Both breweries grew substantially last year (Founders by 34% and Bell’s by 9%) and they both brew serious beer.

According to Brewers Association Founders was the 16th-largest beer company in the US last year, and Bell’s was 14th-largest brewery.

But in the BA’s Top 50 Craft Breweries ranking, Bell’s was the #7 brewery in the nation last year and Founders wasn’t even included.

And just as the brewing torch been passed in Michigan, so might what truly defines a craft brewer be changing (at least in the eyes of the consumer)…And we’ll just have to see how things shake out going forward.

Greetings from Michigan album cover credit: Sufjan Stevens