SmartAsset Ranks the 25 Best Cities for Beer

SmartAsset, the online site known for its advice on all things financial, released its 2016 rankings of the 25 best cities for beer and this year’s list is bound to rattle a few kegs and raise a few beer- drenched eyebrows among members of the craft beer crowd.

SmartAsset bases its rankings on an index tied to five specific criteria: Total number of craft breweries, Craft breweries per 100,000 residents, Bars per 100,000 residents, Average Yelp Score of Breweries, and Average Price of a Pint of Domestic Beer. The five criteria are not weighted equally. Due to its perceived high level of importance, the total number of craft breweries receives double weight. Craft breweries and bars per 100,000 residents received single weight. Average Yelp score and average price of a pint are considered less significant and therefore receive half weight.

With the scores tallied, SmartAsset produced its ranking of the best American cities for beer and they are:

Checking back to last year’s SmartAsset rankings reveals some significant changes. Seven cities in last year’s rankings fell off the list completely. They are Grand Rapids, MI; Omaha, NE; Bend, OR; Cleveland, OH; Kalamazoo, MI; Indianapolis, IN; and Madison, WI. They were replaced by newcomers Las Vegas, NV; Charleston, SC; Syracuse, NY; Eugene, OR; New Orleans, LA; Rapid City, SD; and Springfield, IL.

The cities that climbed the most number of places were Las Vegas, Spokane, Boulder, Charleston, and Syracuse. Las Vegas bolted into the rankings to the number 12 position after being previously unranked. Newly ranked Charleston and Syracuse debuted in a tie for 17 while Boulder and Spokane both moved forward nine places. In the category of biggest loser, Grand Rapids plummeted from 12th place and Omaha dropped from 15^th place. Both cities are no longer ranked, so they dropped by at least 14 and 11 positions respectively.

Many will argue about SmartAsset’s 2016 rankings, and rightfully so. The omission I find most puzzling is San Diego- a city with a robust craft beer scene, located in a county with more than 120 breweries! A case could also be made for inclusion of Burlington, Vermont; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. And to see a listing of Best Cities for Beer that no longer includes Bend, Oregon just seems very wrong, almost immoral.

SmartAsset based its ratings on official statistics, but I must question some of the wisdom behind these five criteria. First, it is difficult to take Yelp very seriously. This is, after all, a service whose members will cut an establishment’s rating down to one star for reasons like “My napkin wasn’t folded properly” or “The restroom was too far from my table”. Then, there is the average price of a pint. The quoted cost to purchase a pint in these cities seems unreasonably low and I think it’s safe to say that these prices are the average for any pint- not just a pint of craft beer. This will, of course, favor cities with a large number of dive bars and other places selling macro brew at bargain basement, clearance level prices.

Still, there is no denying that the rankings confirm some of America’s craft beer heavyweights. Asheville, Denver, Seattle, Austin, both Portlands, and other cities consistently finish highly in these “best beer cities” rankings and they finish highly in this ranking, too. It’s hard for me to take a best beer city listing seriously that ranks Rapid City, South Dakota higher than San Diego, but so be it. Every ranking takes different criteria into account and there are bound to be differences from one to the next.

So, there you have it- SmartAsset’s Best Cities for Beer Drinkers, 2016. I can certainly vouch for the inclusion of several of these cities and I can’t wait to visit more of them in the coming year as Great Beer Now seeks out new beer drinking adventures in different parts of the country. If you live in or near one of these top cities, raise a pint, support local, and give SmartAsset.com something to write about when it comes time to rank the Best Cities for Beer Drinkers in 2017.