Portland US’s biggest craft beer city

Cities on the West Coast of the US really are the country’s biggest craft beer lovers, according to a new report.

Portland, Oregon, where craft brewers roam

MarketWatch ranked the top 10 US cities for craft beer sales and, slightly unsurprisingly, the towns where craft beer rules are indeed largely centered along the Pacific seaboard.

Portland, Oregon, the town that craft beer built, took the number one spot with 43.5% of all beer sold there coming from craft breweries.

Seattle, in mist-shrouded “beervana” that is Washington came in at number two with craft beer accounting for 38.2% of the beer market followed by San Diego at number three with a 34.9% share.

San Francisco came in fourth place with craft beer scooping 34.7% of the beer total and Californian capital Sacramento, despite not being regularly touted on the craft beer scene, nonetheless perhaps benefits from nearby UC Davis students tucking into rare suds to make craft beer account for 33% of all sales and guarantee a fifth place spot.

The lower half of the list contains some surprising additions. Where else might craft beer be popular in the US? New York? Boston? New Orleans? Chicago? Milwaukee?

Apparently not. The nations’ capital, Washington DC, ranked sixth with a little under 30% of all beer sold there coming from local breweries like DC Brau and 3 Star or craft beers from Maryland-based Flying Dog or Heavy Seas served in a growing number of craft pubs.

Cleveland, Ohio came in a strong seventh. It might be lacking a successful sporting franchise at the moment but 29.2% of all beers sold in the city are craft thanks to Ohio’s growing craft brewing scene that has seen the number of independent breweries grow from 45 to 110 between 2011 and 2014.

Columbus, Ohio – another university town – came in ninth place for similar reasons. Just over 25% of all beer sold there is craft.

Craft beer boasts a 26.4% of the market in Grand Rapids, Michigan which came in eighth place, while Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut took tenth place with locals drawing on local suds and nearby New York and Massachusetts breweries to ensure over a quarter of beers sold in the towns are craft.