Where are the most popular beers in the United States?
The craft beer revolution is well underway. Many people rejoice (and a few lament) the sheer number of choices that we're afford with each brewery that pops up on the map. With 2822 breweries in the US and 10x that in beers, it's daunting to approach. When looking on to rows and rows of 6-packs, 12-packs and bombers, how do you know what to choose? Where are the good beers hiding?
Where are the most popular beers, according to Beer Advocate?
For help, I turned to Beer Advocate's top beer list, which is comprised of 250 beers that are high esteemed by the BA community. The ratings are based on look, smell, taste and feel that produce a cumulative overall score. The average number of ratings is right around 1000 per beer.
Of the 250 beers that made the cut on Beer Advocate's top beers list, California boasted 56 of them that hailed from 16 different breweries. Although that's impressive, California leads many areas of the craft beer industry, with 381 breweries and 2,948,895 barrels of beer produced in 2013 (compared with North Dakota, that only produced 1,866 barrels). California's craft beer history is rich - Anchor Brewing was one of the first craft breweries after prohibition and arguably jumpstarted the craft beer revolution. Their age and experience shows - of top few sunshine state breweries, only one (The Bruery) is less than 10 years old, the oldest topping off at 22 years young.
Their lead is hefty, but doesn't come as a shock considering size and history.
Interestingly, Vermont trailed closely behind California despite only having 29 breweries and producing only 229,062
barrels. The 31 beers on the list came from 7 breweries, most notably Hill Farmstead Brewery that churned out 20 beers - more than any other brewery in the United States.
What are the most popular breweries?
Hill Farmstead Brewery leads breweries in producing the most popular beers for craft drinkers, despite only offering their brews in Vermont and being extremely limited in availability. Their most highly rated, Abner, is a Double IPA and is described as, "aromatic and flowery, bursting with notes of citrus and pine." Their most popular styles are Double IPAs, American IPAs and farmhouse ales.In 2015, the brewery even took #1 in the world's best brewer category by RateBeer.com.
Much like Hill Farmstead, Trillium Brewing Company is only available in Massachusetts, mostly around the Boston area. Their most popular style is American Pale Ales, though is closely followed by Double IPAs and American IPAs. Though they appear to be well seasoned, their brewery just had their second birthday at the end of March.
Although old, mainstream brewers dominate the current beer market, it's easy to see how microbreweries, regardless of age, have come to be revered as the future of beer. The average age of the top breweries producing favored beers is around 13, whereas Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have been around for well over 100 years. In terms of sales in 2014, the overall beer industry was up 0.5%, but the craft beer segment boasted a 17.8% increase. At this rate, craft brewers could achieve 20% market share by 2020.
Most craft brewers just aren't interested in pursuing the scale of big brewers, they just want to make great beer. They're interested in cultivating flavor and community.
What are the most popular types of beer?
You may be thinking, "what the hell are these?" For reference, Bud Light is an American Lager - which you don't see anywhere on this list.
An American Double / Imperial IPA (also just known as a Double IPA) is like a normal IPA that goes a little hop crazy (it has double the amount of hops, ergo Double IPA). It's "robust and malty." The "imperial" portion is in the vein of Russian Imperial Stouts, which are strong and dark and very flavorful (maybe too flavorful, but that's just me). You can thank the West Coast for this one.
American Double / Imperial Stout (American Double Stout) is dark, dark, dark. Most are barrel aged in whiskey barrels and sometimes infused with coffee or chocolate. Stouts tend to have high ABV, generally ranging from 9% to an astounding 16%. According to Beer Advocate, The difference between the American Double and a regular stout is that the former are "very full-bodied with rich roasted flavors far surpassing normal stouts." This is the dessert wine for beer drinkers, except instead of being served with dessert the sweet treats are already infused with hops and alcohol.
American Wild Ales are "funky" beers. The wild portion is derived from the practice of adding "wild" yeast or bacteria into the batch, either from the barrels or from directly pitching the ingredients into the beer. They often have "sour notes as well as barnyard, Band-Aid, animal or earthy characteristics." If that doesn't get you hooked, I don't know what will. Thanks, Wikipedia.
Ah, the American IPA. Of the popular beers that have been highlighted, this one you can order at a bar without being fearful of the bacteria or dessert products that went into it. It's a comparatively lighter beer, with an ABV of around 6-7%. Just throw an orange into your glass and you're good to go.
Kin to the American Double Stout, the Russian Imperial Stout is similar in darkness and ABV, though slightly less. It still boasts of a chocolate-y flavor with a little of "burnt malt flavours." In my experience, Stouts are mostly good for trying to look like you're a beer snob. But hey, obviously some people like it.
The American Pale Ale is the American IPA's little brother. It's got a lot of the same basic ingredients, all the way down to the citric hops flavors, but is generally more mild overall. Often described as "clean" and "hoppy."
If you're a wine fan looking to break into beer, and unblended Lambic is a good start. The taste borders more closely to a cider or white wine, because of the tartness. Unlike most beers that are carefully crafted from start to finish, Lambics are fermented spontaneously with wild yeast and bacteria. Though they are relatively low in the hops department, they are heavy with wheat that brings out a little bit of crispness amidst tartness.
Take note, the number one beer, Heady Topper, is Vermont native. Surpisingly, there's no California beer, the other four are situated in the Midwest.
California and Vermont, overall, produce the most popular beers. California also has the most craft breweries in the United States and produces the most craft beer. Vermont has the 2nd most breweries per capita. Most of these breweries are clustered up and down the East and West coasts - though, there are a few outliers that have sprung up in the relatively uncrowded craft beer market of the Midwest.
Header image source: Flickr, Quinn Dombrowski