It's a great time to be drinking beer in America. Not that it was ever, you know, a BAD time to be doing that necessarily, but with craft breweries multiplying like rabbits who've been drinking beer, you can literally find some serviceable (if not downright tasty) local brews in all 50 states. Which made the process of ranking them all the more difficult, but we were up to the challenge, especially since it meant drinking and thinking about beer for weeks straight.
Here they are, all 50 states in the Union, ranked according to their beer. A couple notes about our criteria. Quantity and quality are both important, but quality's a bit MORE important. If you're a small state turning out a disproportionate amount of great beer, it did not go unrecognized. We also gave a boost to states who played a historical role in American beer as we know it today. We also argued a lot, so if you want to do that as well, please join us in the comments!
50. Mississippi
49. West Virginia
48. Rhode Island
47. North Dakota
46. Nevada
45. South Dakota
44. Nebraska
43. Hawaii
42. New Jersey
41. New Hampshire
40. Wyoming
39. Connecticut
38. Arkansas
37. South Carolina
36. Kansas
35. Arizona
34. Iowa
33. Tennessee
32. Kentucky
31. Georgia
30. New Mexico
29. Idaho
28. Virginia
27. Louisiana
26. Oklahoma
25. Alaska
24. Maryland
23. Montana
22. Alabama
21. Utah
20. Texas
19. Delaware
18. Indiana
17. Florida
16. Minnesota
15. North Carolina
14. Maine
13. Illinois
12. Ohio
11. Missouri
10. Massachusetts
9. New York
8. Pennsylvania
7. Wisconsin
6. Vermont
5. Washington
4. Michigan
3. Colorado
2. California
1. Oregon
Article and commentary here
Ouch. LTH needs to move
Looks like I need to visit Oregon
Cool article, for the most part. But, I don't know how the authors consider Capt. Lawrence upstate (they're in Westchester County, FFS), and are remiss in not mentioning Southern Tier (we're not quite Canadians here in WNY, eh?)
I started drinking craft beer about two years ago and can't drink macro-brewery stuff anymore. If I go to a place where they only sell Coors light, Heineken and the like, I might take one beer, but usually end up drinking water, juice or soft drinks. That was a big downside to Spain. They only sold Macro breweries light lager stuff (in the places I went). I asked a few times if they had local micro-brewery stuff, and maybe it was my Spanish, but they were looking at me as if I was an Alien.
I knew that there were great breweries in New England, but didn't know about the rest of the USA. From what I see, the West Coast is very good also.
Tonight, a friend of mine from out of town is visiting and we'll be drinking good beer. If you ever come to Quebec or Ontario (don't know about the rest of Canada), there is great beer being brewed here too.
Cyber, I think that Maudite and La Fin du Monde are exported to the US. Did you know that Unibroue was purchased by a Japanese company a while back? I just found that out. Damn it.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Singer who runs a smidge
DH is from #5 Washington originally, but I have dragged us to #28 Virginia. Clearly I have doomed him to a wasteland of inferior beer.
When it's all said and done, no one remembers how far we have run. The only thing that matters is how we have loved.
I started drinking craft beer about two years ago and can't drink macro-brewery stuff anymore. If I go to a place where they only sell Coors light, Heineken and the like, I might take one beer, but usually end up drinking water, juice or soft drinks. That was a big downside to Spain. They only sold Macro breweries light lager stuff (in the places I went). I asked a few times if they had local micro-brewery stuff, and maybe it was my Spanish, but they were looking at me as if I was an Alien. I knew that there were great breweries in New England, but didn't know about the rest of the USA. From what I see, the West Coast is very good also. Tonight, a friend of mine from out of town is visiting and we'll be drinking good beer. If you ever come to Quebec or Ontario (don't know about the rest of Canada), there is great beer being brewed here too.
I have never had bad beer in any province and I hate craft. I have Labatts and Molson at home via the duty free store.
Putting WV at #49 is no surprise. We do have a few decent breweries in the state but none of them distribute outside of the state so it's difficult to get their beer.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
We copy Oregon for everything, so put BC at the top if the Canadian list.
I maintain that maybe with the exception of Belgium, we make better beer (& a wider variety of it) in the US than anywhere else in the world.
DW is from Oregon so I have been there a number of times. They are pretty proud of their beer tradition, and refer to their state as "Beervana". They were pretty much the cradle of the American craft beer movement. I first went out there >20 years ago before I had ever heard of a microbrewery or a brewpub. They were all over the place there, and I was in heaven. (Similar story with coffee, by the way.) Fortunately it spread, and you can find good beer in most places these days; just a bit more effort in some places than others. When traveling anywhere on business, I generally look for a brewery if possible, or pick the restaurant based on their beer list.
And with this list I no longer have to apologize for being biased when I talk about how great Michigan beers are. Some really outstanding breweries here; Founders is one of the best in the country.
I have decided for me, life is too short (and calories too valuable) to drink bad beer. If only a macrobrew is available, I don't drink any. Incidentally, whenever I do have a sip of one, I have vivid flashbacks to high school.
Dave
uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sǝʇᴉɹʍ ʇI
It's nice to see that CA is actually good at something.
Skirt Runner
This is a great article, thanks for sharing! I'm surprised Wisconsin is not higher....I guess it is because many of their beers are only sold in state. I traveled to Madison two summers ago to visit a friend who had moved their and we drank amazing local beer the whole time.
I'm going to need to plan a West Coast microbrewery tour, as the West Coast states dominated the top 5. Also more eager to visit my brother now, who just moved to Detroit.
I will definitely shout out New York.....I was at Ommegang brewery this summer and their stuff is amazing. And living in Brooklyn I have been to the brewery several times and love most of their beers. Six Point is always on tap at our bars and their Sweet Action is good stuff.
PRs: 5K- 28:16 (5/5/13) 10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13) 4M- 41:43 (9/7/13) 15K- 1:34:25 (8/17/13) 10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14) HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14) Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)
I started a blog about running :) Check it out if you care to
I think they are too. To me, Unibroue is almost a macro-brewery though. They brew good beer, but I don't call that craft beer anymore.
Also more eager to visit my brother now, who just moved to Detroit.
I will tell you that if you actually want to go to breweries, the best ones are on the western side of the state (Grand Rapids area), more so than in the Detroit area.