Japan surpassed Britain last year to become...

Japan surpassed Britain last year to become the world’s fourth-largest beer brewer, a Japanese beer company says. Kirin Brewery Co., Japan’s biggest brewery, said world beer production rose 2% in 1989 to a record 28.8 billion gallons. The previous record was 28.2 billion in 1988, company officials said. The largest producer by far was the United States, with 6.07 billion gallons, up 0.6% from 1988, Kirin said. U.S. brewers accounted for 21.1% of global production, the officials said. They said West Germany was second followed by China, Japan and Britain. The figures are based on data from beer associations around the world, Kirin said. In terms of per-capita beer consumption, the average West German downed 37.5 gallons in 1989, closely followed by East Germans, Czechoslovaks, Danes and Belgians, the officials said. They said the average American drank 23.3 gallons in 1989, while an average Japanese consumed 12.3 gallons.