Where Is the Best Craft Beer in The United States?

Okay, no more debating about whether New York, Chicago or Portland is THE American city for craft beer. Based on data published by RateBeer and the number of microbreweries in and around various American cities, the Polygraph collective has finally figured out which city has the best craft beer in America.


On their site The Pudding, the Polygraph collective has put out some of the most entertaining web experiences for music lovers over the past few months (like this site where you can explore the Top 5 songs from every year between 1958 and 2016; this collection of the most popular rap songs from 1989 to 2015; and this article on songs with repetitive lyrics.) So when they decided to venture into craft beer, we couldn’t wait to see what they came up with!

The results were just as good as we were hoping, but the rankings weren’t what we expected at all! So where can you get the best craft beer in America? It turns out it’s Santa Rosa, California, followed by San Diego, CA; Denver, CO; Anchorage, AK; and Portland, OR. With the biggest population of all U.S. states, California also has the greatest number of microbreweries (which probably explains why they ranked so well.) But that makes sense given the high population. In terms of microbreweries per inhabitant, Vermont is number one!

Check out their website here to adjust the rankings based on your personal tastes and interests (beer quality, number of microbreweries, etc.)

Photo: Lars Plougmann

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