Groupon, the service known for its discounted deals on everything from restaurants to travel to auto repair, has leaped into the beer ranking game, releasing its rankings of all 50 U.S. states based on their overall appeal to beer lovers.
Topping the list is California followed closely by Colorado. Michigan took the number 3 position with Illinois and Massachusetts rounding out the top 5. Taking up the rear is North Dakota at number 50, Hawaii at 49, Kansas at 48, Alaska at 47, and New Mexico at 46. The states ranked near the top are not too surprising, although I did expect Oregon to crack the top 5. The ones at the bottom are not too shocking either, but I did find it ironic that North Dakota, with its high per- capita consumption of beer, would wind up at the bottom of the rankings.
Groupon compiled these rankings based on three criteria: Affordability, Quality, and Enthusiasm. For affordability, Groupon examined the cost of a 12 oz. glass of Miller Lite in bars and the price of a case of Miller Lite or Bud Light in stores- Walmart and Total Wine, to be precise. Of course, using the price of craft beer could have produced different results, but I realize that there are not many craft brands sold in every state, and this would have made it more difficult to compare data.
For the quality component, craft beer was given its due. Groupon used the top five highest rated beers in each state as indicated by the beer rating site BeerAdvocate.com. All top five beers in every U.S. state are of the craft variety, so this helped to balance the fact that the affordability score was based solely on mainstream brew.
With enthusiasm, Groupon relied on its own sales data. They looked at the total number of beer- related Groupons sold in each state and, using official U.S. Census data, determined the number of beer Groupons sold per 1000 people. Of course, Groupon sales do not necessarily correlate perfectly with the population’s love of beer, as we all know. But you can’t necessarily fault Groupon for adding a little of its own data to come up with this ranking. It is, after all, a Groupon devised evaluation so it makes sense that they would add their own twist to the criteria.
Below is another graphic showing how each state ranked in each of the three categories plus the state’s overall ranking:
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