2009 Breweries Per Capita – Ranking by State

The recent attention from media outlets on the 2010 U.S. Census got me pondering the topic of beer-related demographics – specifically breweries and brewpubs. Where are all of these breweries and brewpubs distributed throughout the country? Are there some areas of the country that have more than others? Certainly.  Some states just outnumber other states in terms of breweries or brewpubs. But simply looking at the absolute numbers doesn’t really tell the story. Sure California has the most brewing establishments in the US, but isn’t it also the most populated state? So what matters more: shear numbers or some other measure?

In order to get a better idea about how these breweries/brewpubs are patterned throughout the US, I decided to calculate out the breweries per capita numbers for each state – the number of brewing establishment per 100,000 residents. By taking the number of breweries in each state and dividing it out by the 2009 US Consensus estimates, I arrived at the data presented below. (It should be noted that the term ‘brewery’ in this post will refer to both breweries and brewpubs, and the term ‘state’ refers to the 50 US states plus the District of Columbia)

While this ‘Per Capita’ method has its faults (for example, states with smaller populations get a positive bias), by normalizing the data in such a fashion, it makes it possible to gauge the presence of breweries within a particular state, independent of population. While Vermont (#1) and Alaska (#5) have small populations (less than 1 million residents), these states have between three and four times as many breweries/brewpubs per capita than such venerated state as California (#18). This means that establishments in Vermont and Alaska have one-third to one-quarter of the local resources (patrons, employees, supplies, etc) as many other states, but these brewing operations are still able to thrive. Why is this? Probably because of strong, accommodating communities within the states that embrace beer culture - states like Oregon (#2), Colorado (#6), and Washington (#8) certainly exemplify this.

Of course, these data have to be taken with a proverbial grain of malt. Are these data definitive in sorting out which states have the best beer cultures in the US? Of course not. It’s merely another way to slice the information and examine how different parts of the country foster and support brewery-based businesses. If nothing else, its just plain fun to sift through stats looking at which states beat which states.

Ok, enough long-winded musing - here’s the data…

Top 5 ‘Brewery Per Capita’ States for 2009
1. Vermont (#1)      2.734 breweries per 100,000 residents
2. Oregon (#2)        2.640 breweries per 100,000 residents
3. Montana (#3)      2.564 breweries per 100,000 residents
4. Maine (#4)          2.503 breweries per 100,000 residents
5. Alaska (#5)         2.148 breweries per 100,000 residents

Worst 5 ‘Brewery Per Capita’ States for 2009
1. Mississippi (#51)       0.034 breweries per 100,000 residents
2. Alabama (#50)          0.085 breweries per 100,000 residents
3. Arkansas (#49)         0.138 breweries per 100,000 residents
4. Kentucky (#48)         0.139 breweries per 100,000 residents
5. North Dakota (#47)  0.155 breweries per 100,000 residents

If one compares the per capita rates from 2009 with those of 2008, there is some jockeying of the positions. The top 10 states see only one change - Oregon (#2), which clawed up and flip-flopped positions with Montana (#3). The bigger changes can be seen further back in the pack.

Biggest Positive Movers from 2008 to 2009
1. Indiana               (up to #20 in 2009 from #27 in 2008)
2. West Virginia     (up to #37 in 2009 from #44 in 2008)
3. North Carolina   (up to #27 in 2009 from #32 in 2008)

Biggest Negative Movers from 2008 to 2009
1. Kansas              (down to #30 in 2009 from #24 in 2008)
2. Nevada             (down to #19 in 2009 from #14 in 2008)
3. South Carolina   (down to #39 in 2009 from #35 in 2008)
4. Arkansas           (down to #49 in 2009 from #45 in 2008)

And on a personal note, I’m very pleased to see that Lug Wrench’s ‘facility’ in Rhode Island (#31) beat out the Lug Wrench ‘facility’ in Virginia (#34). So how about a big “neener neener neener” to you folks down in Virginia, Tom. : )

2009 Breweries Per Capita - Ranking by State

2009 Rank	2008 Rank	State	Breweries/ Brewpubs	2009 State Population	Breweries Per 100,000
1	1	Vermont	17	621,760	2.734
2	3	Oregon	101	3,825,657	2.640
3	2	Montana	25	974,989	2.564
4	4	Maine	33	1,318,301	2.503
5	5	Alaska	15	698,473	2.148
6	6	Colorado	104	5,024,748	2.070
7	7	Wyoming	10	544,270	1.837
8	8	Washington	113	6,664,195	1.696
9	9	Wisconsin	80	5,654,774	1.415
10	10	Idaho	21	1,545,801	1.359
11	15	Delaware	10	885,122	1.130
12	11	New Hampshire	14	1,324,575	1.057
13	12	Nebraska	16	1,796,619	0.891
14	13	New Mexico	16	2,009,671	0.796
15	17	Michigan	77	9,969,727	0.772
16	16	Hawaii	9	1,295,178	0.695
17	20	Iowa	20	3,007,856	0.665
18	18	California	238	36,961,664	0.644
19	14	Nevada	17	2,643,085	0.643
20	27	Indiana	41	6,423,113	0.638
21	19	Massachusetts	42	6,593,587	0.637
22	25	Missouri	38	5,987,580	0.635
23	21	South Dakota	5	812,383	0.615
24	23	Utah	17	2,784,572	0.611
25	22	Pennsylvania	75	12,604,767	0.595
26	26	Arizona	35	6,595,778	0.531
27	32	North Carolina	49	9,380,884	0.522
28	28	Minnesota	27	5,266,214	0.513
29	29	Distr. of Columbia	3	599,657	0.500
30	24	Kansas	14	2,818,747	0.497
31	31	Rhode Island	5	1,053,209	0.475
32	34	Maryland	27	5,699,478	0.474
33	30	Connecticut	16	3,518,288	0.455
34	33	Virginia	32	7,882,590	0.406
35	36	Ohio	44	11,542,645	0.381
36	37	Illinois	45	12,910,409	0.349
37	44	West Virginia	6	1,819,777	0.330
38	38	New York	63	19,541,453	0.322
39	35	South Carolina	14	4,561,242	0.307
40	39	Oklahoma	10	3,687,050	0.271
41	43	Tennessee	17	6,296,254	0.270
42	40	New Jersey	20	8,707,739	0.230
43	41	Florida	41	18,537,969	0.221
44	42	Louisiana	9	4,492,076	0.200
45	49	Georgia	16	9,829,211	0.163
46	48	Texas	39	24,782,302	0.157
47	47	North Dakota	1	646,844	0.155
48	46	Kentucky	6	4,314,113	0.139
49	45	Arkansas	4	2,889,450	0.138
50	50	Alabama	4	4,708,708	0.085
51	51	Mississippi	1	2,951,996	0.034

The number of breweries/brewpubs was taken from Beer Advocate’s BeerFly Directory. State populations were taken from the 2009 US Census estimates.

If you’ve braved it all the way down to the bottom of this post, please take a moment and let us know how your state did.

Slainte!

-JW


“The pub has always been much more than just a tavern – it is a clubhouse, a meeting place, a community center.”
-Anthony Dias Blue