• by Erik Oster , February 15, 2024

While brewing conglomerates may have spent millions on advertising during the Kansas City Chiefs defeat of the San Francisco 49ers, none of these brands were the top seller in either city leading up to and on Super Bowl Sunday, with one city’s top choice an alternative to the category on beer’s big day – according to data from Total Wines & More on sales in each city from Feb. 8-11.

In the home of Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, fans were loyal to a local brewer, with Boulevard Brewing -- which opened in Kansas City in 1989 and was acquired by Flemish brewer Duvel Moortgat about 25 years later -- the top seller.

Coors, a big Super Bowl advertiser -- including an extensive campaign leading up to the Big Game -- is notable as the only brew to reach the top 10 in both cities.

The other big brewer advertiser, AB InBev, featured ads for Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Budweiser, the first two of which did achieve top 10 status in Kansas City.

Hometown 49ers fans’ favorite fell outside the category, with Cutwater Spirits outselling all brews and demonstrating the popularity of the canned cocktail category. The top three selling flavors in the city were Cutwater Tequila Lime Margarita, Cutwater Vodka Mule, and Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai. Cutwater also made the list for Kansas City, at number five. In San Francisco, a canned cocktail bran, Buzzballz, also earned the number three spot, while another brand in the category -- VMC --  rounded out the list at number ten.

The runner-up in San Francisco was a beer: Modelo, which surpassed Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the country for the first half of 2023. In Kansas City, the second best seller was outside the beer category, with fans reaching for Crown Royal Canadian Whisky. A whisky -- Jack Daniel’s -- also made San Francisco’s list at number nine.

Kansas City was by far the more beer-friendly of the two cities, with Yuengling, Michelob, Coors, Miller, Bud Light, and Busch also making the list of the city’s 10 best sellers. In San Francisco, Coors and Corona made the city’s top five list, in addition to Modelo, but no other beer brands cracked the top 10. Sierra Nevada and Bud Light rounded out San Francisco’s list of top five best-selling beers for the occasion

Here are the full lists of the top 15 sellers in each city from February 8-11, according to Total Wines & More:

Kansas City:

1. Boulevard

2. Crown Royal

3. Yuengling

4. Michelob

5. Cutwater

6. Coors

7. Miller

8. Titos

9. Bud Light

10. Busch

11. Fireball

12. Kim Crawford

13. Kendall Jackson

14. Josh Cellars

15. Mom Water

San Francisco

1. Cutwater

2. Modelo

3. Buzzballz

4. Coors

5. Corona

6.Tito’s

7. Duckhorn

8. Jameson

9. Jack Daniels

10. VMC

11. Don Julio

12. Josh Cellars

13. Sierra Nevada

14. White Claw

15. Bogle