Booze billionaires top US rich list

A wealth of family dynasties have made a fortune in the drinks industry, according to a new Forbes report on America’s richest families.

The report, an update of that which we reported on recently, ranks the Busch family of St. Louis as the number-one beverage billionaires (they placed 17th overall among America’s richest families), with an estimated fortune of $13 billion (£7.6bn).

The Brown family, of Brown-Forman fame, ranks number two among beverage billionaires (20th overall) at $11.6 billion (£6.8bn). Next is the Gallo family, which has owned E.&J. Gallo Winery for more than 80 years, coming in third (25th overall) at $9.7 billion (£5.7bn).

Also among America’s richest families are the Reyes family ,the beer distribution at $8 billion (£4.7bn), the Wirtz family of Wirtz Beverage at $4.2b (£2.5bn), the Coors family at $2.9bn (£1.7bn), beer distributor John Anderson’s family at $2.5bn (£1.5bn) and the Jackson family of Kendall-Jackson fame at $2.3bn (£1.3bn).

We will be compiling a concise list of the top booze billionaires shortly.