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The 50 best BEER cities in America

PKorf

PKorf

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A Recent study was done to determine the 50 BEST BEER cities in America. Here is a link to the findings:
https://www.realestatewitch.com/best-beer-cities-2021

Every city has a small blurb when you open the article to discuss they why and methodology.


Ranking
Metro Area
No. of Breweries
Avg. Beers per Brewery
Avg. Beer Styles per Brewery
1San Francisco, CA1441911
2Indianapolis, IN1023920
3Chicago, IL1803215
4Philadelphia, PA1392615
5Los Angeles, CA1582012
6Portland, OR1831911
7Denver, CO1552414
8Tampa, FL832913
9Cleveland, OH493317
10San Diego, CA693614
11Cincinnati, OH673317
12Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN1211812
13Baltimore, MD553014
14Detroit, MI583015
15Columbus, OH603015
16Washington, D.C.882314
17Charlotte, NC761911
18Milwaukee, WI581610
19New York, NY135188
20Boston, MA941810
21Raleigh, NC531511
22Pittsburgh, PA722311
23Seattle, WA97149
24Dallas-Fort Worth, TX841612
25Austin, TX711510
26St. Louis, MO632112
27Hartford, CT5097
28Atlanta, GA582012
29Providence, RI41128
30Richmond, VA372611
31Houston, TX521711
32Kansas City, MO481811
33San Jose, CA93111
34Buffalo, NY3986
35Phoenix, AZ481612
36Nashville, TN401711
37Louisville, KY331611
38Sacramento, CA431710
39Jacksonville, FL341610
40Oklahoma City, OK36149
41San Antonio, TX221711
42Virginia Beach, VA33117
43Miami, FL34148
44Orlando, FL30119
45Las Vegas, NV291210
46Birmingham, AL18158
47Memphis, TN9139
48New Orleans, LA2075
49Riverside, CA---
50Salt Lake City, UT---




Thoughts?
 
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Are we including micro breweries in this?
San Francisco being #1 makes me think of a bunch of free love drunk hippies:ROFLMAO:
 
Snickerdog said:
Are we including micro breweries in this?
San Francisco being #1 makes me think of a bunch of free love drunk hippies:ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
read the article
 
Driving for Uber a few years ago made me aware of how many Minneapolis St Paul actually had. They also have a nice variety of spirits as well. I felt sketchy going to some of them the first time because they were in the backside of commercial buildings.
 
So based entirely on quantity of breweries / beers. Interesting. Hard to argue with some of the top cities as beer meccas for sure, although I think it does a little disservice to some of the bottom cities, as while there may be few breweries, there are definitely still good ones. For example, I lived in SLC for a few years and Epic, Uinta, Wasatch and Red Rock all make some quality brews that you can even occasionally find out here in PA.

Also, I know this is based on the 50 largest metro areas, but if we're talking smaller cities, Bellingham, WA is freaking beervana. The city has less than 100K people and has at least 10 breweries last I checked.
 
Glad to see Austin on the list!
 
Pretty funny that Riverside, CA made both the 50 Best and the 10 Worst. :drinks:
 
baylrballa said:
Yup, pretty horrific ranking system.
Click to expand...
Why? Any other way would be entirely subjective no? # of breweries per capita vs variety of beers and kinds. Seems pretty simple to me.
 
baylrballa said:
Yup, pretty horrific ranking system.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same things, how does using number of styles count if they're not good to begin with?
I'm close to Denver & there are some stunning breweries but aren't in Denver (Avery, Left Hand & New Belgium come to mind) bit ad they're not 'metro area' don't count towards the ranking
 
kiwichris said:
I was thinking the same things, how does using number of styles count if they're not good to begin with?
I'm close to Denver & there are some stunning breweries but aren't in Denver (Avery, Left Hand & New Belgium come to mind) bit ad they're not 'metro area' don't count towards the ranking
Click to expand...
Its almost as if peoples minds are being blown by ranking systems today. This is literallly just a fun thing to look at and discuss yet, we are breaking down complexities of the size of metro areas??? cmon guys.
 
PKorf said:
Why? Any other way would be entirely subjective no? # of breweries per capita vs variety of beers and kinds. Seems pretty simple to me.
Click to expand...

"Best" implies something different than abundance (i.e., # of breweries per capita). Being the "best" should consider the variety/abundance, cost/value, and location itself.

Who the hell would want to pay 2-3x the national average for a beer in a city without sunshine?
 
PKorf said:
Its almost as if peoples minds are being blown by ranking systems today. This is literallly just a fun thing to look at and discuss yet, we are breaking down complexities of the size of metro areas??? cmon guys.
Click to expand...
The article is from a site that is saying if you are planning to move, consider these metro areas if you are a beer person, based on prices most metro areas are out of most peoples budgets so why not make it a more representative study of areas or states?
 
baylrballa said:
Yup, pretty horrific ranking system.
Click to expand...

For example, not a single Vermont city made the list. (Presumably not big enough.) But VT has the most breweries per capita in the nation, as well as output (Gallons/21+ adult).

My vote goes with Vermont. I'm biased

1620751081661.png
 
kiwichris said:
The article is from a site that is saying if you are planning to move, consider these metro areas if you are a beer person, based on prices most metro areas are out of most peoples budgets so why not make it a more representative study of areas or states?
Click to expand...
Do you like beer? .....yes. Are you considering moving? Yes/no? If so, consider these cities that have the most breweries and locations and varieties. Simple.

I didnt come up with the ranking for christ sake.
 
 
I am not surprised to see Columbus high up on this list. Indianapolis has some good breweries but I don't know that I can name more than 5. Over 100 doesn't sound accurate to me unless they are considering a wide area outside of the actual city.
 
Columbus has a legit micro-brew scene; glad to see Houston made the list but certainly I think we are higher than 30s
 
MattyD-MPLS said:
Driving for Uber a few years ago made me aware of how many Minneapolis St Paul actually had. They also have a nice variety of spirits as well. I felt sketchy going to some of them the first time because they were in the backside of commercial buildings.
Click to expand...

I was blown away by this a couple years ago too while up there for a few days for work. I couldnt believe it honestly
 
gmiller598 said:
I am not surprised to see Columbus high up on this list. Indianapolis has some good breweries but I don't know that I can name more than 5. Over 100 doesn't sound accurate to me unless they are considering a wide area outside of the actual city.
Click to expand...
Indianapolis takes up the entirety of Marion County. Imagine Columbus's # if it were all of Franklin County. Or Cincinnati all of Hamilton County.

I wouldn't say Ohio has the best beers or my all time favorites, but as a state of 11 million people, having three cities in the Top 15 is pretty solid.
 
I'm kinda surprised Asheville, NC wasn't on this list!
 
yeah, it should not be called best beer cities. Better name would be to rank the top 50 metro areas.....which is actually what they are trying to do......but then it's still biased on geography. As a major metric is the 25 mile radius from "city center". that undervalues newer cities ( generally in the west), i.e. dropping them for sprawl.
 
Shocked Asheville, NC was not on that list. Nicknamed "Beer City USA", it has one of the highest # of breweries per capita around. Wife and I did a great Brews Cruise there a couple years ago.
 
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