There are lists for everything. We just love lists don't we? From the best places to eat to the best "Twitter Feuds" (seriously), there is a list for almost anything. Some matter and some don't. But best beer states? Now that's important!
The internet's largest coupon site, Groupon, has put together the best states for beer lovers, and Minnesota fares pretty well, coming in at #8 overall. As we should. There are terrific breweries from the Arrowhead to the metro, Warroad to Winona, and everywhere in between.
Groupon took a look at a lot of publicly available data, and some of their own proprietary data, to compline the list. It was calculated with three metrics: the average score of the 5 best-tasting beers in each state (quality), the average cost of a 12oz. beer (affodability) and the number of beer-related Groupons sold in that state per 1,000 people (enthusiasm).
As for Minnesota, Groupon has us ranked #2 for enthusiasm. Lower for quality (#16) and affordability (#29) though.
The top spot was a neck-and-neck race between California and Colorado which should be no surprise to beer lovers. Both states are reknown for their beers. California edged out Colorado for #1. Some surprising states were low on the list. Oregon (#18) and Vermont (#34) are two states famous for their craft breweries and high quality. Both were hurt by low affordibility scores. Our neighbors in Wisconsin settled in at #14 due to an average quality score, while Iowa somehow snuck ahead of Minnesota to #6 with a quality rank of second overall behind Massachusetts.
When you look at the whole country, it's fair to say the Great Lakes states have bragging rights as we've created a beer belt around Michigan (#3), Illinois (#4), Pennsylvania (#7), Minnesota (#8) and Ohio (#11).
