The craft brew scene has exploded all across the U.S. in the past few years. But if you’re a true hophead, which state’s the place for you?
In terms of absolute number of breweries, California, Washington, and New York are the biggest players in the US. California had almost a thousand breweries by March 2017, according to data from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
However, California’s also got the highest population of any state. To see which states really go crazy for beer, you have to take into account how many breweries they have compared to their population. Here’s an animation that shows which states have the highest concentration of breweries per 100,000 people:
(Source: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; U.S. Census)
In this case, tiny Vermont packs a big punch with over 10 breweries per 100,000 people.
Even states that don’t have a huge concentration of breweries have still seen a lot of growth in the past five years. The South in particular appears to be having a beer renaissance. Several states doubled, tripled, or — in the case of Mississippi — even quadrupled the number of breweries in just half a decade. (Mississippi went from four to 16 breweries.)
So in the end, hopheads can be happy anywhere. Whether you’re in the snow-capped mountains of Vermont or the bayous of Louisiana, you’ll have more choices of beer than ever.
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