Green County cheese is world famous — but don’t forget the beer. Three Wisconsin breweries were honored earlier this year as being named one of the Top 20 producing craft brewing companies in America by the Brewers Association.

And two of them are from Green County — New Glarus Brewing Co. and Minhas Craft Brewery of Monroe.

New Glarus Brewing Co. took the No. 12 position, Minhas Craft Brewery No. 17; and Stevens Point Brewery was ranked No. 18.

New Glarus, whose beer is sold only in Wisconsin, also was named one of 2018’s Top 50 U.S. craft breweries by the Brewers Association. 

The brewery, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018, ranked 16th among craft breweries in sales. And it even ranked 21st among breweries overall, a list that includes such larger breweries like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. 

“We feel very fortunate and very blessed,” said New Glarus’ co-owner Daniel Carey. “We’ve always believed beer should be a local phenomenon, historically that’s how it’s been where beer was sold around the smokestack.”

Sales of the company’s signature brew ‘Spotted Cow’ are sure to increase this year as well, since it’s the first time it will be available by the case. Other efforts to continue growth will come from the company’s innovative brewers and market staff, he said.

The Minhas Craft Brewery is owned by brother and sister, Ravinder and Manjit Minhas. It is the Midwest’s oldest brewery and the second oldest in the United States. It survived the Great Depression, prohibition and a major fire at the facility. It is currently the 26th largest craft brewery in America.

Minhas brands include the Lazy Mutt line of craft beers which have proven especially successful in Canada, among other markets. Those include Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, Double IPA, So Cal IPA, Traditional IPA, and Chocolate Stout. Other craft labels made in Monroe include Huber Bock, Swiss Amber, and 1845 Pils. Huber Bock, the company notes, has been the “most rewarded beer at this brewery for 65 years.”

The Brewer’s Association represents nearly 6,000 U.S. brewery members.

Carey said New Glarus has managed to capture market position despite the explosion in the overall craft brew market over the recent decade.

“Brewing the most beer or being the biggest has never been our goal,” he said. “We’ve always tried to stay focused on making the best beer that we can.”

Rank Company City, State

1 Anheuser-Busch Inc (a) St. Louis MO

2 MolsonCoors (b) Chicago IL

3 Constellation (c) Chicago IL

4 Heineken USA (d) White Plains NY

5 Pabst Brewing Co (e) Los Angeles CA

6 Diageo (f) Norwalk CT

7 D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc Pottsville PA

8 FIFCO USA (g) Rochester NY

9 Boston Beer Co (h) Boston MA; Milton DE

10 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Chico CA

11 New Belgium Brewing Co/Kirin (i) Fort Collins CO; San Francisco CA

12 Duvel Moortgat USA (j)

Paso Robles CA; Kansas City MO; Cooperstown NY

13 Founders Brewing/Mahou San Miguel (k)  Grand Rapids MI; Boulder CO

14 Gambrinus (l) Berkeley CA; Shiner TX

15 Bell’s Brewery, Inc (m) Comstock MI

16 CANarchy (n)

Longmont CO; Tampa FL; Salt Lake City UT; Comstock MI; Dallas TX

17 Artisanal Brewing Ventures (o) Downingtown PA; Lakewood, Brooklyn NY

18 Stone Brewing Escondido CA

19 SweetWater Brewing Co (p) Atlanta GA

20 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR

21 New Glarus Brewing Co New Glarus WI

22 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY

23 Matt Brewing Co (q) Utica NY

24 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co San Jose CA

25 Abita Brewing Co Covington LA

26 Minhas Craft Brewery (r) Monroe WI

27 Stevens Point Brewery (s) Stevens Point WI

28 Great Lakes Brewing Company Cleveland OH

29 Odell Brewing Co Fort Collins CO

30 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA

31 Summit Brewing Co Saint Paul MN

32 Allagash Brewing Company Portland ME

33 Troegs Brewing Co Hershey PA

34 Georgetown Brewing Co Seattle WA

35 Three Floyds Brewing (t) Munster IN

36 Athletic Brewing Company Stratford CT

37 Rhinegeist Brewery Cincinnati OH

38 Kona Brewing Co Kailua-Kona HI

39 August Schell Brewing Company (u) New Ulm MN

40 Alaskan Brewing Co Juneau AK

41 Narragansett Brewing Co Pawtucket RI

42 Rogue Ales Brewery Newport OR

43 Kings & Convicts Brewing/Ballast Point San Diego CA

44 Flying Dog Brewery Frederick MD

45 Long Trail Brewing Co Bridgewater Corners VT

46 Lost Coast Brewery Eureka CA

47 Anchor Brewing Co/Sapporo USA (v)  Tarrytown NY; San Francisco CA

48 Revolution Brewing Chicago IL

49 Surly Brewing Company Minneapolis MN

50 Ninkasi Brewing Co Eugene OR

Note: Numbers are preliminary. For additional insights from Bart Watson, visit Insights & Analysis on the Brewers Association website. The full 2021 industry analysis will be published in the May/June 2022 issue of The New Brewer, highlighting regional trends and production by individual breweries.

* Does not include FMBs/FSBs. With those included, total taxed-as-beer products increased 2%.

1 An American craft brewer is a small and independent brewer. Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3% of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Independent: Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. Brewer: Has a TTB Brewer’s Notice and makes beer.

2 Absolute figures reflect the dynamic craft brewer data set as specified by the craft brewer definition. Growth numbers are presented on a comparable basis. See full methodology.

3 Volume by craft brewers represents total taxable production.

4 Figure based on companies that met the craft brewer definition for all or part of 2021.

­— Information available on BrewersAssociation.org.