It’s not exactly breaking news that beer is big business, and the world’s most valuable beer brands are doing pretty well for themselves.

I guess it’s an indication of just how much beer the Yanks drink (can’t blame them, considering who their president is) that the two most valuable brands are Bud Light and Budweiser, with values of $7,4 billion and $7,1 billion respectively.

Bud Light has seen its value increase by a full 12% over the past year, and Budweiser by 21%.

It’s also been a fantastic year for Heineken, who have now cracked the $6 billion evaluation, which represents a whopping 16% increase over the past 12 months.

Here’s the table of the top five, via BusinessTech:

Those top three are globally recognisable, but it’s four and five that are pretty surprising. In case flags aren’t your game, Brahma is a Brazilian beer, and Harbin is Chinese.

I suppose you’re playing with pretty large audiences there.

Now I don’t expect to see many people drinking Buds around South Africa, but given that it’s summer, and the sun is going to be working its magic, there should be plenty of ‘Espiritu Libre’ on display.

That means ‘spirit of freedom’, in case you’re wondering, and Sol Beer perfectly embodies what that phrase stands for.

Beers with a view, and toasting to the good life with mates? Check:

Sol also boasts the most influential brand ambassador in the world.

Quite a claim, but we’re talking about the sun, of course. Sol recognises that the power of the sun is boundless, and it’s through their new ambassador that they will spread the sunshine to all corners of the country.

After all, the sun is always at the hottest rooftop parties, can comment from every corner of South Africa, and knows how to bring people together to embrace the sunshine.

About those banging parties – take a look at what December has in store.

Nothing quite screams holiday like sharing a cold one with friends, and celebrating the spirit of freedom that comes with the year-end holidays.

Cheers to us all – we’ve earned it.

[source:businesstech]