We drank a lot of beer in 2022. Partly because it’s our job and mostly because we wanted to. Stouts, IPAs, porters, pale ales, lagers, sour beers, and everything in between. Obviously, there were beers we only drank once or twice and those we went back to again and again. The same goes for most beer drinkers.
In that vein, we were stoked to see that Drizly recently released its list of the top-selling beer brands of 2022. We’re always interested to see what beers other people drank last year. And while this list is filled with popular brands from throughout the globe, there are a few intriguing surprises as well. Keep scrolling to see Drizly’s top ten top-selling beer brands (with their most popular beer listed) of 2022.
Which ones did you drink last year? Do you agree with our tasting notes?
10) Voodoo Ranger (Voodoo Ranger IPA)
ABV: 9%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
New Belgium’s line of Voodoo Ranger beers has become incredibly popular in the last few years. This is obvious by its spot in Drizly’s top ten. The line’s flagship beer is its Voodoo Ranger IPA is brewed with an explosion of Amarillo, Cascade, Mosaic, Chinook, HBC 522, Mosaic, Strata, and Citra hops.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple and fresh pine needles greet you before your first sip. The palate is more grapefruit, citrus peels, caramelized pineapple, mango, sweet malts, and bright, floral, earthy, dank pine. The finish is pleasantly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This isn’t the best IPA on the market, but there are reasons it’s one of the most popular. It’s a decent IPA and has eye-catching images on the bottles and cans.
9) Stella Artois
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Belgium is well-known for its brewing prowess and while there are myriad historical brands, there is none more well-known globally than Stella Artois. First brewed in 1926, this 5.2% pilsner is classic, crisp, and always there.
Tasting Notes:
The aroma is fairly bland with some cereal grains, cracker-like malts, and lightly floral hops. The palate has some sweet corn, cereal grains, light fruity flavors, and more floral, earthy, bitter hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
It’s not the most exciting beer in the world (not even remotely one of the best beers from Belgium), but it’s easy to drink and clearly, people enjoy it.
8) Budweiser
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Budweiser is called the “king of beers” and based on this list, it’s probably no longer completely true. Still wildly popular, this 5% ABV American-style pale lager is known for its crisp, crushable, easy-to-drink flavor that’s been the same since its inception in 1876.
Tasting Notes:
It smells like adjuncts. Corn, yeast, and other sweet not discernable aromas. It’s bland, but not terrible. The flavor continues this trend with more corn syrup, cereal grains, and minerality, all with a crisp, slightly bitter finish. It’s sweet, easy to drink, and just as boring as always.
Bottom Line:
For such a popular beer, Budweiser is one of the most boring, bland, generic beers on the market. It tastes exactly like you imagine it does. Like a beer with few discernable flavors.
7) Heineken
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Dutch beer Heineken is the kind of beer that you literally see everywhere. It feels like this lager is available on every plane ever, at every sporting event, and at every bar you’ve ever set foot in. This is because it probably is.
Tasting Notes:
The classic slightly skunky aroma is the first thing you smell when you crack open a bottle or can of Heineken. This is followed by cereal grains, corny sweetness, and floral hops. The palate is exactly the same with a bit of funky skunk on the front, followed by generic sweetness and some slightly bitter, floral hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This beer always smells and tastes a little skunky. But, weirdly, that’s part of its appeal. It’s sweet, skunky, and unique. If that’s what you’re into.
6) Modelo (Modelo Especial)
ABV: 4.4%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
While Corona seems to get most of the press when it comes to Mexican beers, Modelo Especial just might be a more well-balanced beer. Brewed simply with water, malted barley, unmalted cereal grains, and hops, it’s known for its sweet, crisp, earthy flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is corn sweetness, bready malts, caramel, and earthy, herbal hops. Drinking it reveals notes of caramel malts, sweet corn, cereal grains, and more floral hops. It’s crisp, easy-drinking, and reasonably well-balanced.
Bottom Line:
As cheap lagers go, this is a pretty good, crisp, easy-to-drink lager that tastes really great on a hot day. That’s about it.
5) Michelob (Michelob Ultra)
ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Michelob Ultra appears to be a beer created for athletes and health-conscious beer drinkers. Our thoughts are that if they were so health conscious, they wouldn’t drink beer at all. But that’s neither here nor there. It’s definitely not known for its great taste.
Tasting Notes:
There is very little to find on this beer’s nose. Some generic sweet aromas and bready malts and maybe some muted floral hops. The palate is thin and watery and tastes more like hop-flavored sparkling water than beer. It’s really awful.
Bottom Line:
Why anyone would buy this beer (let alone enough to make the best-sellers list) we have no idea. There are other beers almost as “healthy” that don’t taste like fizzy, yellow water.
4) Miller Brewing (Miller Lite)
ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: $7 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Often referred to as the “original lite beer”, Miller Lite was first released in 1975. This 4.2% ABV light lager is known as one of the healthiest beers on the market with only 96 calories per bottle or can. It’s light, watery, fizzy, and borderline flavorless.
Tasting Notes:
The aroma is light with some sweet generic corn and light floral hops. You really have to try hard to find either of these aromas though. The palate has some malt sweetness, corn syrup-like sweetness, and some floral hops. It’s thin, fizzy, watery, and undeniably boring.
Bottom Line:
Another beer that more resembles hop-flavored seltzer water (not even hard seltzer) than beer, Miller Lite is a light beer that tastes like a light beer.
3) Coors (Coors Light)
ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: $7 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This 4.2% light beer was first introduced back in 1978 and has remained a popular beer for the “healthy beer crowd” ever since. It’s brewed with 2-row malt, corn syrup (Dextrose), yeast, and hop extract.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find light lemon, corn syrup, bready malts, and floral hops. Everything is fairly muted though. The palate continues this trend with some cereal grains, corn syrup sweetness, and generic hop flavor. It’s light, fizzy, and doesn’t have much depth.
Bottom Line:
In a sea of terrible light beers, Coors Light is just a little better than most of the others. Not much, but enough.
2) Corona (Corona Extra)
ABV: 4.6%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Corona Extra is a wildly popular Mexican lager. It’s crisp, sweet, and easy to drink, but there’s a good chance that you usually drink it with a slice of lime added to the neck of the bottle. It makes it tastes like a delicious, lime-flavored beer. But it’s also a necessity because Corona extra without a lime tastes like yellow, fizzy water.
Tasting Notes:
The aroma is all sweet corn, caramel malts, and lightly floral hops. It’s over-the-top sweet to a cloying degree. The palate continues this with sweet corn syrup, bready malts, and floral hops being the only discernable flavors. It’s too sweet and requires the addition of a lime.
Bottom Line:
Corona Extra is watery and overly sweet. If a beer requires the addition of another flavor to make it drinkable, it’s not a good beer.
1) Bud Light
ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: $8 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Similar to Heineken, Bud Light is the type of beer that you find pretty much everywhere that sells beer. It tops Drizly’s 2022 list of highest-selling beers and this is clearly mostly due to advertising. There’s not much to say about this beer.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of skunk and corn syrup. It’s not a very inviting aroma. Drinking it reveals lightly sweet malts, generic corn syrup sweetness, and a little more skunky, floral hop flavor. Everything is so watery and thin that it’s barely a beer at all.
Bottom Line:
Not a lot can be said about Bud Light and that’s not because it’s bad. It’s because it really doesn’t have much flavor at all. It’s hard to believe it actually has any alcohol in it at all.
