Bud vs. Microbrew: How Beer is Made(In GIFs!)

The methods for brewing beer are always pretty similar. You make the wort; add hops; allow the yeast to ferment the sugars; then carbonate and bottle the beer.

But a brewery that makes 15 million barrels a year (like Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis brewery) looks very different from one that makes a couple thousand barrels (like Perennial Artisan Ales’ microbrewery in south city).

Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis brewery is one of the largest breweries in the world and makes Budweiser, Bud Light, and about two dozen other brands. Perennial is just three years old, but its barrel-aged imperial stout, Abraxas, has a strong following. Here are just a few ways the breweries make beer differently.