ARA Beer · Q3 2026 · Full Shelf Diagnostic · Q2→Q3 movement
Beer is the most closed shelf we have measured.
Why these three lead the shelf
1. Coronachosen 19× / 7.8% / 4/4 models
Named on the occasion questions rather than the taste ones: what to bring, what to drink on a beach. The situation is already attached to the brand.
2. Heinekenchosen 17× / 7.0% / 4/4 models
Present across the widest spread of questions of any beer here, which is what a century of unbroken distribution reads like in text.
3. Modelochosen 12× / 4.9% / 4/4 models
Most often named in answer to what is worth paying more for: a claim it has spent a decade making explicitly rather than implying.
About the AI Shelf
The AI Shelf is the short list of names an AI assistant gives when someone asks what to buy. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer the questions a real buyer asks, and every brand they name lands on the shelf. Your customer sees it before they see yours, and nobody can pay for position on it.
Each time a model chooses a brand over every other brand it could have named, that counts once. 243 choices were made here. Slice size is share of all of them.
61.4% → 66.7%cohort share, Q2 to Q3
82 → 75distinct brands named
12 of 12largest holdings are cohort brands
The takeaway
The top of this shelf belongs to brands with an occasion attached. Corona, Heineken and Modelo are not the best-reviewed beers in the category: they are the ones tied to a moment a question can name.
In the current ARA IndexNot currently in the ARA Index — shaded by rank, darkest = chosen least often
All 75 brands — the annotated ranking
#
Name
Chosen
Share
Models
Best
Δ vs Q2
1
Corona
19
7.8%
4/4
#1
+6
2
Heineken
17
7.0%
4/4
#1
+1
3
Budweiser
12
4.9%
4/4
#1
+3
4
Modelo
12
4.9%
4/4
#1
+3
5
Sierra Nevada
12
4.9%
4/4
#1
+3
6
Guinness
11
4.5%
4/4
#1
-2
7
Founders
9
3.7%
3/4
#1
+5
8
Bud Light
7
2.9%
4/4
#1
-2
9
Coors Light
7
2.9%
4/4
#2
+1
10
Miller Lite
7
2.9%
3/4
#2
0
11
Athletic Brewing
6
2.5%
4/4
#1
+1
12
Blue Moon
6
2.5%
3/4
#1
+3
13
Pilsner Urquell
6
2.5%
2/4
#1
-2
14
Stella Artois
6
2.5%
4/4
#4
-4
15
Allagash
5
2.1%
4/4
#1
-2
16
Dogfish Head
5
2.1%
3/4
#1
+5
17
Lagunitas
5
2.1%
2/4
#2
+1
18
Pacifico
5
2.1%
3/4
#2
+1
19
Sam Adams
5
2.1%
4/4
#2
-2
20
Weihenstephaner
5
2.1%
3/4
#1
0
21
Firestone Walker
4
1.6%
3/4
#1
-2
22
Michelob Ultra
4
1.6%
3/4
#1
0
23
Bell's
3
1.2%
2/4
#2
0
24
New Belgium
3
1.2%
3/4
#4
+3
25
Asahi
2
0.8%
2/4
#6
0
26
Brooklyn Brewery
2
0.8%
2/4
#3
+1
27
Chimay
2
0.8%
2/4
#5
-1
28
Clausthaler
2
0.8%
2/4
#3
0
29
Goose Island
2
0.8%
2/4
#6
+2
30
Hoegaarden
2
0.8%
2/4
#6
+1
31
Kona
2
0.8%
2/4
#4
0
32
Peroni Nastro Azzurro
2
0.8%
2/4
#4
+1
33
Russian River
2
0.8%
2/4
#2
+1
34
Toppling Goliath
2
0.8%
2/4
#3
+2
35
Victory
2
0.8%
1/4
#2
0
36
Ballast Point Even Keel
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
37
Big Drop
1
0.4%
1/4
#7
0
38
Bitburger
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
0
39
BrewDog Nanny State
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
40
Brooklyn Brewery Special Effects
1
0.4%
1/4
#6
+1
41
Brouwerij St. Bernardus
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
42
Cigar City Florida Cracker Witbier
1
0.4%
1/4
#6
+1
43
Clausthaler Dry Hopped Non-Alcoholic
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
44
Coors Banquet
1
0.4%
1/4
#1
-1
45
Duvel Moortgat
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
46
Imprint
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
47
Jester King
1
0.4%
1/4
#2
+1
48
Lord Hobo 617 Lager
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
49
Mortalis
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
50
New Glarus
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
51
O'Doul's
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
0
52
Orval
1
0.4%
1/4
#7
-2
53
Oskar Blues
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
54
Other Half Brewing
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
55
Partake Brewing
1
0.4%
1/4
#2
+1
56
Paulaner
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
57
Perennial
1
0.4%
1/4
#7
+1
58
Peroni
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
59
Reissdorf
1
0.4%
1/4
#6
+1
60
Rochefort
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
-1
61
Rothaus
1
0.4%
1/4
#3
+1
62
Rough Draft Weekday IPA
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
63
Sapporo
1
0.4%
1/4
#7
+1
64
Shiner Bock
1
0.4%
1/4
#2
+1
65
Stillwater Classique/Brontide
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
66
Stone Go To IPA
1
0.4%
1/4
#2
+1
67
The Veil
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
68
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer
1
0.4%
1/4
#5
+1
69
Tree House Brewing Company
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
70
Trillium Brewing
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
71
Trumer
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
72
Tröegs
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
+1
73
WeldWerks
1
0.4%
1/4
#7
+1
74
Westvleteren
1
0.4%
1/4
#1
-2
75
Yuengling
1
0.4%
1/4
#4
-3
ARA · ALGORITHM READINESS ANALYSIS · ARACO.AI — 4 models × 11 drinker questions, top 7 answers per cell. Q2 and Q3 ran the identical battery, verified query by query, and both quarters were resolved to brands by the same alias rules — so a delta is movement in the answers, not a difference in processing. MEASURING AI TRUST IN BRANDS. Naming variants merged before counting: none. Query counts for merged brands are upper bounds.
