After posting a Map of Per Capita Gallons of Beer Consumed Per Adult By State, it got me thinking, what states have the biggest need for more craft breweries? To figure this out, I took the total barrels of beer consumed per year in each state divided by the number of barrels they produce in craft beer each year to represent the states need for beer in barrels. To attempt to adjust the figure by the state’s general interest in craft breweries, I took the beer need figure multiplied by the states volume in Google search interest for breweries (let’s call it the Bud Light adjustment).
Above is the full mapping of results from light to dark blue, the darker the state the greater the need for a new brewery (the complete rankings are listed in the full data set).
Top 10 States to Open a Brewery
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Iowa
- Illinois
- New Jersey
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Arkansas
- Florida
- South Carolina
Full Data Set:
| State | Craft Beer Produced in BBLs | Consumption in BBLs | Google Search Interest # “Brewery” | Per Capita Consumption |
Consumption / Production * Interest |
| North Dakota | 1,866 | 753,150 | 16 | 29.50 | 6458 |
| South Dakota | 4,008 | 742,952 | 18 | 26.70 | 3337 |
| Iowa | 29,417 | 2,397,885 | 38 | 25.50 | 3098 |
| Illinois | 136,999 | 8,708,195 | 47 | 30.00 | 2988 |
| New Jersey | 48,996 | 4,691,905 | 28 | 22.10 | 2681 |
| Oklahoma | 21,029 | 2,481,159 | 20 | 33.60 | 2360 |
| Kansas | 33,051 | 1,852,707 | 42 | 28.30 | 2354 |
| Arkansas | 10,417 | 1,823,822 | 13 | 27.40 | 2276 |
| Florida | 129,946 | 12,881,385 | 19 | 25.70 | 1883 |
| South Carolina | 46,900 | 3,631,748 | 24 | 30.40 | 1858 |
| Nebraska | 24,467 | 1,487,657 | 30 | 27.80 | 1824 |
| Alabama | 32,531 | 3,405,054 | 17 | 29.10 | 1779 |
| Rhode Island | 12,218 | 661,213 | 29 | 25.90 | 1569 |
| Nevada | 46,729 | 2,302,338 | 30 | 33.60 | 1478 |
| Mississippi | 17,560 | 2,300,737 | 11 | 28.30 | 1441 |
| Arizona | 117,457 | 4,436,917 | 38 | 24.40 | 1435 |
| Indiana | 120,828 | 3,885,980 | 39 | 33.90 | 1254 |
| Tennessee | 98,508 | 3,971,793 | 31 | 34.00 | 1250 |
| Connecticut | 51,457 | 1,883,859 | 32 | 23.20 | 1172 |
| District of Columbia | 14,889 | 445,508 | 39 | 26.20 | 1167 |
| Virginia | 129,103 | 5,144,231 | 28 | 26.80 | 1116 |
| New Hampshire | 69,164 | 1,397,740 | 55 | 28.50 | 1111 |
| New Mexico | 58,247 | 1,551,902 | 41 | 33.90 | 1092 |
| Kentucky | 52,639 | 2,509,430 | 21 | 31.00 | 1001 |
| North Carolina | 263,488 | 6,167,486 | 42 | 41.00 | 983 |
| West Virginia | 19,542 | 1,367,366 | 14 | 35.20 | 980 |
| Washington | 333,175 | 4,029,277 | 78 | 30.20 | 943 |
| Wyoming | 15,863 | 443,659 | 32 | 35.80 | 895 |
| Wisconsin | 444,311 | 4,859,589 | 75 | 28.70 | 820 |
| Georgia | 207,257 | 5,795,422 | 28 | 43.90 | 783 |
| Missouri | 299,214 | 4,362,037 | 48 | 22.40 | 700 |
| Massachusetts | 329,413 | 4,169,574 | 51 | 32.40 | 646 |
| Idaho | 43,073 | 987,314 | 26 | 22.40 | 596 |
| Texas | 848,259 | 19,889,355 | 24 | 27.10 | 563 |
| Michigan | 582,909 | 6,219,773 | 51 | 45.80 | 544 |
| Minnesota | 367,681 | 3,564,936 | 53 | 30.10 | 514 |
| Maryland | 171,470 | 3,216,919 | 25 | 28.30 | 469 |
| Montana | 133,465 | 978,877 | 61 | 30.30 | 447 |
| New York | 859,535 | 10,459,229 | 34 | 28.60 | 414 |
| Louisiana | 184,577 | 3,600,357 | 19 | 26.30 | 371 |
| California | 2,948,895 | 22,317,858 | 39 | 32.70 | 295 |
| Ohio | 1,097,955 | 8,153,103 | 36 | 38.90 | 267 |
| Colorado | 1,413,242 | 3,628,449 | 100 | 26.20 | 257 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,788,556 | 8,734,643 | 50 | 34.40 | 244 |
| Utah | 130,790 | 1,194,026 | 25 | 20.20 | 228 |
| Oregon | 877,891 | 2,824,541 | 61 | 35.30 | 196 |
| Delaware | 211,280 | 727,676 | 51 | 26.70 | 176 |
| Vermont | 229,062 | 534,524 | 75 | 24.80 | 175 |
| Maine | 259,654 | 1,108,492 | 35 | 30.30 | 149 |
| Alaska | 182,530 | 475,298 | 35 | 36.20 | 91 |
| Hawaii | 25,082 | 11,800 | 16 | 33.00 | 8 |
Source: Beer Institute, Brewers Association, Google Trends
[UPDATE 11.25.2014: A previous ranking had Washington and Wisconsin in the top 10, there was a mistake in the data that has been corrected and they have been bumped]
-610x915.jpg)
Interesting findings. Washington is definitely a surprise to me as well (although North Dakota isn’t).
Could a plausible explanation be that, outside of Red Hook, Washington doesn’t have a national brewer’s satellite brewery to provide a huge bump in production numbers that, say, Georgia has with its A-B brewery?
That could be very likely why their overall production numbers are low compared to production, has to be I guess considering the number of breweries they have. I need to find data on individual brewery production numbers.
I like the analysis, but I think some of your numbers are a bit off…
According to the Brewer’s Association website…
Washington’s production in 2013 was 333,175 bbls.
http://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/by-state/?state=WA
Wisconsin’s production in 2013 was 444,311 bbls.
http://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/by-state/?state=WI
I haven’t bothered to check every state, just the two that seemed contrary to my expectations.
Brian, you are absolutely correct. I appreciate it! Everything has been updated and the Brewers Association data double checked.
I just moved from PA to NJ, maybe its time to open a brewery in my new home state…
Do it!