Best state for Craft Breweries?

[Jlaw3000]

+1 Colorado... Specifically Fort Collins. I can hit ~10 breweries on my bike in a day with a good group of buds and about 8 miles of riding (including to and from home)... And yes I mean bicycle. Seriously some good stuff going on here and very knowledgable folks to talk to. This whole town really loves it's beer and appreciates the local economy of craft brewing.

Hear Oregon's got it going on too...

CA can hardly be considered a state... More like its own country ;-) with plenty of good stuff happening in the craft beer world.

 

[ktblunden]

And the nano I was talking about was clearly in a rural destination town.

Crossed wires, is all.

Got it. Yep, miscommunication. Sounds like their event did pretty well, though.

CA can hardly be considered a state... More like its own country ;-) with plenty of good stuff happening in the craft beer world.

Yeah that's the thing, people sometimes forget that California is a massive state. There's a lot of stuff in between San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and a lot of little hidden gem breweries that do very well in their community but don't get a lot of notice outside of them.

 

[PDX_T]

From the West Coast perspective, Idaho and Montana look to have a decent growth curve, but I don't know if they'd ever be dense enough to support craft on the scale that California, Oregon, and Colorado do.

I think the more important question is "Where do people want to live?" Look for the fastest growing communities, and you're bound to find an underserved craft market.

 

[Remmy]

From my personal experience and travel, here's my list:

1) California
2) Oregon
3) Colorado
4) Vermont
5) Tennessee

 

[mike_in_ak]

Alaska is number 8 on the 2011 Brewers Association list, and we've obviously added breweries since then.

Assuming out population is still only around 650k, we probably have a per capita of around. 25-28k per brewery.

But we really do have an amazing amount of breweries considering we have very few people. And at least two of them, Midnight Sun and Denali Brewing Company stack up to some of the best I've been in the Lower 48. (But Bell's for life.)

 

[pdxal]

Nobody really reads beyond the title of the thread, do they?

 

[Mongrel]

Nobody really reads beyond the title of the thread, do they?

Title should be enough though, right?

Oregon continues to amaze me at the ability to add breweries. Living in the Bend area, and getting to watch Deschutes expand over the years, as well as all of the other breweries pop up, I'm really astounded. Bend only has about 90k people. Deschutes is the fifth biggest American owned brewery. We actually have more breweries per capita than Portland (PDX still owns the strip clubs per capita bragging rights). Due to our small population, Bend exports a lot more beer than we can drink.

And while California produces a lot of great beer, our breweries can fill any growler, mason jar, corny, whateverthe****theywant... So yeah, in answer to the OP, Oregon.

 

[Crito]

I like to think that Texas will be up there soon. There might be a new law that will be helpful to the micros that will be starting out.

 

[ladodger34]

And a much smaller customer base.

What's a better location (all other things the same)... a brew pub in an affluent suburban city of 250,000, or a brew pub in a rural city of 5,000? It'd be hard to move up past nano size if you can't rake in money off your tap room because you can't fill the seats.

You have to remember that when us folks in Southern CA talk a "small town" that there are still 30,000+ people and they are usually surrounded by much larger cities. For example, a pretty good brewery opened up in a neighboring city (Norco for So Cal folks). It has like a population of 40,000 (again, small town/city on our scale) but the neighboring cities are all near or well over 100,000 people.

 

[Norselord]

If you are going to open up a craft brewery why would you look at a state that already has a lot of craftbreweries?

I live in GA (42nd) right by Alabama (50th) and Tennessee (36th) - There are a few decent smallish breweries in this area: Red Hare, Terrapin, and Sweetwater. Budweiser and MillerCoors both have plants in Cartersville (GA) and Albany (GA), respectively. This should say something about the beer drinking culture in GA.

In my opinion, NW GA, East TN, and NE Alabama is ready for growth in the microbrewery sector for the following reasons:
- decent sized cities: Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Huntsville.
- good amount of colleges: UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt to name a few plus dozens of smaller schools
- Low level of microbrewery competition
- Good water quality
- Low operating, overhead, and fixed costs

If this is about finding a state to go to try a bunch of microbrews, then don't bother coming to this part of the country. This is a good place to sample micro-distilled bourbons and whiskeys.

 

[Norselord]

Thought some more about this, and these are the factors I would consider if I were to look for a place to open a microbrewery:
- state corporate income tax
- state personal income tax
- state laws pertaining to manufacture/distribution/sale of beer
- cost of living index
- accessiblity to raw materials
--- cost of grain (is it grown in-state)
--- cost of hops (is it grown in-state)
--- cost and quality of water
- consumer base
--- proximity to urban centers
--- proximity to key demographic
--- average disposal income of region
--- beer IQ of region
- competitive environment

I would find the indices that correspond to the above and work out a scoring system, and identify a major tri-state area and then whittle down from there.

 

[pdxal]

If you are going to open up a craft brewery why would you look at a state that already has a lot of craftbreweries?

I live in GA (42nd) right by Alabama (50th) and Tennessee (36th) - There are a few decent smallish breweries in this area: Red Hare, Terrapin, and Sweetwater. Budweiser and MillerCoors both have plants in Cartersville (GA) and Albany (GA), respectively. This should say something about the beer drinking culture in GA.

In my opinion, NW GA, East TN, and NE Alabama is ready for growth in the microbrewery sector for the following reasons:
- decent sized cities: Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Huntsville.
- good amount of colleges: UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt to name a few plus dozens of smaller schools
- Low level of microbrewery competition
- Good water quality
- Low operating, overhead, and fixed costs

If this is about finding a state to go to try a bunch of microbrews, then don't bother coming to this part of the country. This is a good place to sample micro-distilled bourbons and whiskeys.

Great answer.

Mongrel- it seems like Bend is making beer to export (Deschutes, 10 Barrel, Boneyard, Crux, Bend Brewing) while PDX makes beer to drink on location, doesn't it?

 

[thadius856]

You have to remember that when us folks in Southern CA talk a "small town" that there are still 30,000+ people and they are usually surrounded by much larger cities. For example, a pretty good brewery opened up in a neighboring city (Norco for So Cal folks). It has like a population of 40,000 (again, small town/city on our scale) but the neighboring cities are all near or well over 100,000 people.

Gotcha.

Smaller towns than 30,000 seem to be much more common in the Northern part of the state, where the outlying Eastern areas of the Sierras are habitable.

If you are going to open up a craft brewery why would you look at a state that already has a lot of craftbreweries?

This has been answered several times already in previous posts.

- good amount of colleges: UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt to name a few plus dozens of smaller schools

I don't know about you, but when I was in college 10 years ago, we didn't drink microbrews. We drank what we could afford, which was BMC, any malt beverage in a 40 oz container, MD 20/20 and cheap distilled liquor usually with flavorings for the ladies (Smirnoff, I'm looking at you). And lots of it. At sporting events, there wasn't any craft brew either.

This wasn't in backwater GA, either. This was in the SF Bay Area.

- Good water quality

Is this really a deciding factor in the modern age? Water treatment is easy and inexpensive, especially compared to the price of licensing, building a tap room, or buying any of the actual brewing equipment.

 

[Jayhem]

I live in Virginia and our market for craft beer is huge but the closest brewery to me is 35 miles!

At the local grocery store there 60-70% of the beer on the shelves is "craft", macro or micro and 30-40% is BMC and other standard domestics and imports.

I would also think that North Carolina is in the same boat, good sized population, not many micro-breweries.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Great answer.

Mongrel- it seems like Bend is making beer to export (Deschutes, 10 Barrel, Boneyard, Crux, Bend Brewing) while PDX makes beer to drink on location, doesn't it?

I would agree, but this may have more to do with location and I think it may shift a bit in Bend in the future. If you can brew right in the heart of a dense population, there's no need to send the beer out...have them come to you and they can eat something while they're at it. 10 Barrel is maybe the exception in Bend. They have an absolutely fantastic menu at their pub and the atmosphere is cool. One of those places where they put as much effort into their food as their beer. I would love to see Boneyard open a pub in Bend. They have a tasting room, but I definitely think there is a wide open market for brewpubs in Bend. Just try to get a seat at Ten Barrel.

 

[HerbieHowells]

I agree with Norselord that you would want to take beer IQ into consideration when determining the best place to open a new brewery. Last year, Prost Brewing, a brewery specializing in German beers, opened here in Denver. One of their strategies has been getting their product into local bars and restaurants. And not just their run of the mill offerings- one of the first beers that I saw at the two bars that I frequent was their dunkelweizen. So they had to be able to convince bar owners that the bar would actually be able to sell a dunkelweizen. In a community where the collective beer IQ is lower, that might have been a hard sell. Here, there is demand for different and unusual styles, so a bar would jump at the chance to offer quality beer from a new brewer, even if it is an unusual style. Sure, you are going to have more competition here than you would in a city with fewer breweries per capita. But more diversity might make it easier for you to get people to stock and drink your best offerings.

 

[cheezydemon3]

St Louis is the mecca as far as I am concerned. No, I do not live there, and there are a ton of great breweries around Louisville.

 

[IffyG]

In my opinion, NW GA, East TN, and NE Alabama is ready for growth in the microbrewery sector for the following reasons:
- decent sized cities: Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Huntsville.
- good amount of colleges: UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt to name a few plus dozens of smaller schools
- Low level of microbrewery competition
- Good water quality
- Low operating, overhead, and fixed costs

Until the beer tax is fixed in TN, I don't see it being a huge market for new breweries. Give this web page a read, it's certainly interesting and makes it clear to me why the beer culture in TN is terrible (compared to my baseline of Wisconsin and Illinois). http://www.fixthebeertax.com/news/

 

[Hoplander]

I don't know if anyone mentioned NJ yet. A few micros have opened up and seen to be thriving. I know atleast 2 more in the process of opening up and NJ has been lightening up on the laws. Breweries are now allowed to sell pints in their taprooms and sell directly to the public as well as stores without using a distributor. Which is awesome.

 

[ledhead72486]

I would say its the West in general... of course Cali but CO and the Northwest put out some great stuff!

 

[cody6173]

We need a good micro here in central/North Louisiana. The few breweries that we have are all near the coast.

 

[Norselord]

We need a good micro here in central/North Louisiana. The few breweries that we have are all near the coast.

I hear that. I work as an engineer for a large water treatment equipment manufacturer, and my territory is everything east of the Mississippi excluding New England and FL...There is no beer in N.LA

Wish the Southeast was better for microbrew, it would mean more work for me, and more enjoyable time off.

 

[ladodger34]

Gotcha.

Smaller towns than 30,000 seem to be much more common in the Northern part of the state, where the outlying Eastern areas of the Sierras are habitable.

For sure. A place like Bishop is a "city" in the sense that people from tiny towns go there for shopping and all of that other stuff. It has a population of like 3,900 but it seems larger. I guess it is a matter of scale.

 

[Mongrel]

Mongrel- it seems like Bend is making beer to export (Deschutes, 10 Barrel, Boneyard, Crux, Bend Brewing) while PDX makes beer to drink on location, doesn't it?

****, we can only drink so much now matter how hard we try. Bend really goes out of its way to encourage beer tourism. The Bend Ale Trail has been a huge success. Bend Brewfest is growing.

I would agree, but this may have more to do with location and I think it may shift a bit in Bend in the future. If you can brew right in the heart of a dense population, there's no need to send the beer out...have them come to you and they can eat something while they're at it. 10 Barrel is maybe the exception in Bend. They have an absolutely fantastic menu at their pub and the atmosphere is cool. One of those places where they put as much effort into their food as their beer. I would love to see Boneyard open a pub in Bend. They have a tasting room, but I definitely think there is a wide open market for brewpubs in Bend. Just try to get a seat at Ten Barrel.

Worthy Brewing opening up has pulled quite a few people over, but it's new. Had to wait over an hour to get in shortly after it opened. 10 Barrels small batches have really improved since Tanya moved over from Bend Brewing, but they're rushing their bottled beers to keep up with demand. Their pub is probably the most fun, and the food is great. And yeah, a Boneyard pub would be great.

 

[grayhalladay]

Fayetteville, Ar just opened its "ale trail" we have 4-5 in Fayetteville and one in the next town up (springdale). The beers are good, the only problem is they aren't exceptional. They do have to operate with an area that is pretty low on income which manifests in mostly Busch Lite drinkers. I like it and I frequent many of the tap rooms regularly, and can even buy growers on a sunday from some when our bible belt alcohol sales laws wont let me anywhere else.

However, some of the most stand out beer I have had has been in Alaska. That being said I have never been to Oregon. The beers have interesting recipes and since people up here really have an adventurous spirits it works well. I am writing this in a nano brewery in Wasilla (last frontier) and am about to fly home to Fayetteville.

AK is obviously way out of the way if you are just looking for a place to open a brewery, but their laws are ideal for it and the people love their beer. Northwest Arkansas has good laws that aren't very restrictive on abv or titles like Texas. NWA is also a young market with rising potential (in both age of residents and breweries) and an increasing standard of living.

 

[Calichusetts]

I getting more and more impressed by the Massachusetts breweries. Some epic stuff. Probably not #1 but living in a state where I'm about an hour drive (at most) to every brewery has to get some extra points.