What the beer industry looks like in every state

This story was originally published by Stacker on Dec. 7.

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America’s relationship with beer is one of entrepreneurship and indulgence—and its history is as inseparable from the story of our Great American Experiment as immigration.

For roughly seven decades following the 1933 repeal of Prohibition, the beer industry was dominated by large companies, which conglomerated, eventually becoming known as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. Late in the 20th century, independent brewers pushed for new laws and regulations in one state at a time. They paved the way for the rich diversity of beers brewed in the U.S. today.

Brewpubs, craft beers, and microbreweries began cropping up in the 1990s. More than a decade later, the number of breweries in the U.S. started to take off in the wake of the Great Recession. Between 2010 and 2014, American craft brewers doubled production and caught the attention of lawmakers who saw the potential sales tax revenue from independent brewing.

Breweries are once again making money after being battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, like many other food service businesses. Overall beer sales were up 1% year over year in 2021, and the craft beer market has grown to 13.1% of the entire beer market, according to the American Brewers Association.

Stacker compiled statistics on beer consumption from the Beer Institute’s 2021 Brewers Almanac, which contains data from 2020. State beer consumption was calculated from estimated beer shipments to wholesalers in each state and the number of adults of legal drinking age in each state.

Brewery permits only include active permits and are also from 2020. Per capita brewery permits are calculated using the population of adults of legal drinking age. Annual calculations do not account for out-of-state drinkers.

Vermont has the most breweries per 100,000 drinking-age residents, at 22. In 1990 people in Nevada consumed more beer than any other state since that year—56.5 gallons per drinking-age resident, which comes out to just over 20 ounces per drinker per day, all year long.

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#50. Maryland

– Annual beer consumption: 19.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 176 (3.9 per 100K adults)

Does your state drink more beer than Maryland? It wouldn’t be hard to beat the home of the famous Natty Boh, which came in dead last in this ranking. Maryland enacted new laws in 2019 raising the limit on how much craft beer taprooms could produce legally, yet the limit is still the lowest in the nation.

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#49. Connecticut

– Annual beer consumption: 19.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 162 (6.0 per 100K adults)

Connecticut is the home of numerous unique farmhouse ales and New England IPAs. In the mid-19th century, Germans immigrating to New England brought their lagers and other English brews to America.

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#48. New Jersey

– Annual beer consumption: 20.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 186 (2.8 per 100K adults)

New Jersey’s relationship with manufacturing alcohol is checkered with violence dating back to the Prohibition era. It’s one that’s been romanticized in shows like “Boardwalk Empire,” set in Atlantic City.

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#47. Utah

– Annual beer consumption: 20.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 54 (2.5 per 100K adults)

In 2009, Utahans managed to get their heavily teetotaling Mormon state to legalize homebrewing. And in 2019, the law famously limiting beers to no more than 3.2% alcohol by volume was repealed, opening the door to even more brewing creativity. Today the state is home to notable brewers, including Red Rock Brewing Co. and Moab Brewery.

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#46. Rhode Island

– Annual beer consumption: 20.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 51 (6.3 per 100K adults)

Rhode Island is the home of historic brewers like Narragansett Brewing, founded in 1890 and purchased by New York’s Genesee Brewing in 2005. The state saw its brewery count increase nearly tenfold from 2011 to 2021.

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#45. New York

– Annual beer consumption: 20.2 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 666 (4.6 per 100K adults)

New York, and upstate New York, in particular, is bursting at the seams with breweries. The state had only 95 breweries in 2012, according to the New York State Brewers Association. That number has skyrocketed since.

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#44. Massachusetts

– Annual beer consumption: 21.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 293 (5.6 per 100K adults)

A decade ago, Massachusetts had just over 40 breweries, and today it boasts hundreds. It’s the birthplace of Samuel Adams Boston Lager—the most widely available craft beer in the U.S.

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#43. Georgia

– Annual beer consumption: 23.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 186 (2.4 per 100K adults)

Georgia’s capital of Atlanta was chock full of saloons before the Prohibition of the early 1900s and didn’t see microbreweries emerge until the 1990s.

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#42. Kentucky

– Annual beer consumption: 23.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 118 (3.6 per 100K adults)

Kentuckians are to thank for a unique blend of German and Irish influence that birthed Kentucky Common Beer—a dark American cream ale popular as far back as 1900.

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#41. Indiana

– Annual beer consumption: 23.6 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 277 (5.6 per 100K adults)

Indiana had a rich beer brewing industry before Prohibition—a culture that overtook the state’s attachment to corn whiskey as early as the 1800s, according to the Indiana Historical Society. By the 1990s, smaller independent breweries began stepping out from behind the shadow of giant Anheuser-Busch, based in nearby Missouri, and today they pockmark the state.

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#40. Michigan

– Annual beer consumption: 23.6 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 605 (8.1 per 100K adults)

The largest concentration of breweries around Detroit can be found just northwest of the city, in Oakland County, one of the wealthier regions in the metro area.

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#39. Washington

– Annual beer consumption: 23.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 627 (10.9 per 100K adults)

Though Seattle’s Rainier Brewery and its German-influenced light lagers eventually sold to Pabst in 1999, it remains a cultural touchstone of beer lovers in the region.

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#38. Arkansas

– Annual beer consumption: 23.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 70 (3.2 per 100K adults)

The biggest local brewer in Arkansas is Lost Forty Brewing Co., and the second largest, Ozark Beer Co., has been highest business survival rates in 2022.

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#37. Tennessee

– Annual beer consumption: 24.2 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 196 (3.8 per 100K adults)

In late 2020, Forbes named Nashville the home of whiskey maker Jack Daniel’s, a rising star in the craft beer world.

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#36. Virginia

– Annual beer consumption: 24.2 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 420 (6.6 per 100K adults)

Virginia dedicates the month of August to craft beer each year. It celebrates the influences of the English and other northern European immigrants who brought their brewing techniques to Colonial America.

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#35. California

– Annual beer consumption: 24.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 1465 (5.0 per 100K adults)

California was ahead of most of the country when it became the second state to legalize brewpubs in 1982. By 2000 the state was home to 200 breweries and is now closing in on 1,500.

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#34. Pennsylvania

– Annual beer consumption: 24.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 619 (6.4 per 100K adults)

Pennsylvania is home to America’s oldest brewery—Yuengling’s Eagle Brewery in Pottsville, founded in 1829. Today, the storied beer maker is spreading its wings and expanding its availability across the country through a joint venture with Coors.

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#33. Idaho

– Annual beer consumption: 25.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 118 (9.0 per 100K adults)

Idaho’s oldest microbrewery is Highlands Hollow Brewhouse. And the establishment isn’t all that old—it’s been in Boise’s North End since 1992.

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#32. Florida

– Annual beer consumption: 25.4 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 500 (3.0 per 100K adults)

Florida laws governing how mom-and-pop brewers could distribute beverages loosened in the 2000s, and the state’s microbrewery scene and beer culture have been growing ever since.

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#31. Ohio

– Annual beer consumption: 25.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 482 (5.6 per 100K adults)

Despite Cincinnati being home to the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the U.S.—Zinzinnati—Ohio falls in the middle of the pack for per capita beer consumption.

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#30. North Carolina

– Annual beer consumption: 25.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 491 (6.2 per 100K adults)

North Carolina’s beer culture took off following the August 2005 repeal of Prohibition-era law limiting the amount of alcohol in a beverage to 6%.

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#29. Illinois

– Annual beer consumption: 25.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 405 (4.3 per 100K adults)

The award-laden Goose Island Brewery is the longest-standing brewery in Illinois, having opened its first brewpub location in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1988.

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#28. Alaska

– Annual beer consumption: 26.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 66 (12.5 per 100K adults)

One of Alaska’s most successful and longest-standing craft breweries, Alaskan Brewing Co., draws on the flavors of beers historically drunk by gold miners during the Gold Rush era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and sources water from glaciers in the region.

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#27. Hawaii

– Annual beer consumption: 26.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 44 (4.1 per 100K adults)

Hawaii’s craft beer culture experienced a revival once liquor laws were updated in 2005 to allow brewpubs to operate and sell growlers to patrons.

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#26. Oklahoma

– Annual beer consumption: 26.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 88 (3.1 per 100K adults)

It wasn’t until 2018 that grocery and convenience stores in Oklahoma could legally sell beer with any more than 3.2% alcohol content, allowing for the sale of more varieties of craft beer.

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#25. Missouri

– Annual beer consumption: 26.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 212 (4.7 per 100K adults)

On one side of the state is St. Louis, home to Anheuser-Busch. On the other side, Kansas City, Missouri-based Boulevard brewing dominated the state’s local craft beer for decades. But in 2013, Boulevard was bought by Belgian brewing giant Duvel and began distribution across the globe.

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#24. Arizona

– Annual beer consumption: 27.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 170 (3.1 per 100K adults)

Arizona’s beloved Four Peaks Brewing Co. sponsors an annual Oktoberfest celebration that draws tourists and visitors from across the state. The craft brewery, famous for its Scottish ale and named after the mountains that loom northeast of Phoenix, first opened in 1996 and sold to Anheuser-Busch in 2015.

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#23. Minnesota

– Annual beer consumption: 27.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 286 (6.9 per 100K adults)

Beer festivals first organized by early brewers 20 years ago remain a mainstay of Minnesota’s craft beer scene. In 2003, the state changed its laws to allow the sale of beer growlers for off-premise consumption, and by 2011, it legalized drinking beer on-premise in brewpubs.

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#22. New Mexico

– Annual beer consumption: 27.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 151 (9.7 per 100K adults)

The first brewery to open following Prohibition’s repeal in New Mexico was Santa Fe Brewing in 1988. Today it is the largest in the state.

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#21. Oregon

– Annual beer consumption: 27.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 428 (13.2 per 100K adults)

The brewing industry was born again in Oregon with the 1985 passage of laws legalizing brewpubs. Hundreds of breweries have emerged since to serve the throngs of drinkers in rainy Portland and beyond.

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#20. Kansas

– Annual beer consumption: 27.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 78 (3.7 per 100K adults)

Topeka-based Blind Tiger Brewery won two awards at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022 for its Bock and Smoke Beer. The state had a law banning happy hour beverage discounts until 2011.

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#19. West Virginia

– Annual beer consumption: 27.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 35 (2.6 per 100K adults)

Beverage production was one of the fastest-growing industries in West Virginia before the pandemic, according to Forbes. Today, the federal government is offering an apprenticeship program intended to get impoverished residents in the state into high-paying brewery jobs.

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#18. Delaware

– Annual beer consumption: 27.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 47 (6.3 per 100K adults)

Delaware’s earliest brewers were Swedish immigrants who prioritized brewing beer over building their first church, according to the Delaware Historical Society.

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#17. Colorado

– Annual beer consumption: 28.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 561 (12.9 per 100K adults)

Beer is a way of life in the Rocky Mountain State. And it plays a role in politics, considering U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper first won an election in part based on his popularity from the success of Wynkoop Brewing. Hickenlooper and three other men founded Wynkoop as the first brewpub to open in Denver.

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#16. Louisiana

– Annual beer consumption: 28.4 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 68 (2.0 per 100K adults)

Louisiana is home to brewers who have leaned into the state’s history and resilience, with beers named after alligators and hurricanes. The New Orleans brewing scene grew steadily following the city’s recovery from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and rapidly as the Great Recession faded in the early 2010s.

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#15. Nevada

– Annual beer consumption: 29.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 71 (3.0 per 100K adults)

Nevada regularly outdrank the rest of the U.S. each year from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, Nevadans were estimated to have consumed 56.5 gallons of beer annually per drinking-age resident. But the number of out-of-state visitors on alcohol-fueled trips to Las Vegas and other conference and party destinations in the state may be a factor.

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#14. Alabama

– Annual beer consumption: 29.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 68 (1.9 per 100K adults)

In Alabama, a grassroots campaign to modernize alcohol production called “Free The Hops” won looser limits on alcohol content and container size, leading to a surge in breweries.

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#13. Wyoming

– Annual beer consumption: 29.8 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 51 (11.9 per 100K adults)

In Wyoming, a craft beer and liquor manufacturing boom over the 2010s has created jobs across the state’s many small towns and cities. The least populous state punches above its brewing weight, with a similar rate of breweries per 100,000 adults to its southern neighbor Colorado.

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#12. Iowa

– Annual beer consumption: 31.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 149 (6.5 per 100K adults)

Iowa loosened restrictions on alcohol content by volume in beverages in 2010 and saw the number of breweries triple over the following five years.

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#11. Mississippi

– Annual beer consumption: 31.6 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 25 (1.2 per 100K adults)

Mississippi was the last state to repeal Prohibition—in 1966. And in 2012, the state loosened laws that limited alcohol content by volume to 6.5% in 2012. New breweries have been thriving in the state ever since.

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#10. Nebraska

– Annual beer consumption: 31.6 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 73 (5.3 per 100K adults)

The Cornhusker State saw new breweries spawn during the Great Recession, growing sales in the double digits.

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#9. Texas

– Annual beer consumption: 31.9 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 526 (2.5 per 100K adults)

The Lone Star State’s economy is more significant than many developed countries, and its people drink beer enough to match. Like the East Coast, the Texas hill country in the central portion of the state was settled by Germans who brought their brews across the Atlantic, influencing a beer scene that today features hundreds of breweries.

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#8. Maine

– Annual beer consumption: 32.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 197 (18.7 per 100K adults)

Maine was the first state to pass anything resembling a Prohibition law, in 1851, setting the stage for the national prohibition of alcohol in the early 1900s. Today, Maine drinks some of the most beer annually compared with any other state, and its most significant concentration of craft breweries is around Portland.

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#7. South Carolina

– Annual beer consumption: 32.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 131 (3.4 per 100K adults)

South Carolina passed its “Pop The Cap” law in 2007, two years after its neighbor North Carolina, which allowed the sale of drinks with more than 5% alcohol by volume.

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#6. Wisconsin

– Annual beer consumption: 33.7 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 365 (8.4 per 100K adults)

Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller, Schlitz, Leinenkugel, the list goes on—Wisconsin, and specifically the Milwaukee region, gave birth to many famous and popular German-influenced brews.

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#5. Vermont

– Annual beer consumption: 34.0 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 106 (22.1 per 100K adults)

In Vermont, a state with rich history and nature, and a self-styled home for creatives, beer is serious business. The state’s breweries-per-drinker rate dwarfs all others, with 106 breweries fermenting and bottling or canning week in and week out.

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#4. South Dakota

– Annual beer consumption: 37.3 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 58 (9.1 per 100K adults)

Home of the salty “South Dakota Martini,” this state loves to drink beer. Younger generations of South Dakotans have helped push the popularity of pairing a pickle with a beer in recent years.

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#3. North Dakota

– Annual beer consumption: 37.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 31 (5.6 per 100K adults)

North Dakota has garnered increasing attention from beer aficionados. The state’s brewing industry leans into the prairie identity and the state’s industrial roots. Drekker Brewing, one of North Dakota’s better-known breweries, is located in an old train repair warehouse and foundry in Fargo.

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#2. Montana

– Annual beer consumption: 41.1 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 128 (15.8 per 100K adults)

In Montana, craft-brewed beer is as close to a farm-to-table operation as anyone can get. Montana brewers source much of the malted grain they use in their craft beers from the state’s fields, according to the local brewing association.

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#1. New Hampshire

– Annual beer consumption: 41.5 gallons per drinking-age adult
– Number of brewery permits: 135 (12.7 per 100K adults)

When spread out over a calendar year, the annual beer consumption of New Hampshire adults means consuming a 12-ounce can of beer daily. New Hampshire can thank a 2011 law called the Nano-brew Act for opening the floodgates for creative brewers to produce and sell tiny batches of unique beers.

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