We may be living in the golden age of good beer. According to the Brewers Association, there are more breweries and brewpubs in the United States today than at any point in the past century. And the number is only increasing. In 2014 alone, 456 new microbreweries opened for business in the U.S. That’s more than the total number of U.S. microbreweries in operation as recently as 2008.
Needless to say, all of this is great news for beer drinkers. Cooler aisles that were once mostly limited to a handful of generic products from the big two (Miller and Anheuser-Busch) are nowoverflowing with a diverse selection of craft beer.
Better yet, in many cities and towns across the country beer connoisseurs can leave out the middle man entirely by hitting up a brewpub or paying a visit to the local microbrewery – the perfect way to spend a cold winter day.
To determine the best cities for beer drinkers1, SmartAsset looked at data on microbreweries, brewpubs and bars for 296 of the largest cities in the U.S. We considered the total and per-capita number of microbreweries and brewpubs in each city, as well as the average Yelp star rating for these establishments.
Our analysis also considered the number of bars per capita and the average price for a pint of domestic beer in each city. To read the full methodology and learn about each city, please CLICK HERE.
