The brewing industry continues to evolve and grow as brewers move past early pandemic struggles.
The Brewers Association (BA) recently released the latest installment of its annual report detailing the state of craft brewing in the United States. With 24.3 million barrels of craft beer produced and year-over-year growth at 13.2 percent, this year’s data shows similar production output nationwide to that of 2021.
“2022 presented small brewers with a number of challenges, including rising operating and material costs and increasing competition, particularly in distribution,” BA chief economist Bart Watson says in the report. “In this maturing and competitive market, collective growth for the category is hard to come by.” Brewery closures in the U.S. remained at a modest 3 percent as a whole, while the number of new brewery openings in 2022 decreased for the second year in a row, which the BA says reflects a “mature market.”
Despite those hurdles brewers had to clear, an increasing number of craft beer drinkers are sipping pints at brick-and-mortar locations again. Craft breweries operating in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2022 at a whopping 9,552 locations. Those locations include 2,035 microbreweries, 3,418 brewpubs, 3,838 taproom breweries, and 261 regional craft breweries.
These breweries are spread out across the nation: Vermont tops the list with the highest number of craft breweries per capita, with over 15.5 breweries per 100,000 adults over 21. Maine follows closely behind, with a little more than 14 breweries per capita and 154 locations total. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mississippi has the lowest number of breweries per capita, with just under one location per 100,000 residents.
Keep reading to learn which other states host the most craft breweries in 2022.
Rank
State
Craft Breweries
Craft Breweries Per Capita
1
Vermont
78
15.59
2
Maine
154
14.16
3
Montana
106
12.54
4
Alaska
59
11.21
5
Wyoming
45
10.53
6
Colorado
440
10.04
7
Oregon
318
9.80
8
New Hampshire
101
9.29
9
Washington
448
7.66
10
New Mexico
104
6.66
11
Idaho
90
6.47
12
South Dakota
42
6.46
13
Wisconsin
249
5.66
14
Minnesota
233
5.56
15
Michigan
407
5.41
16
Pennsylvania
531
5.41
17
Iowa
126
5.41
18
Virginia
344
5.34
19
North Carolina
392
4.94
20
Deleware
37
4.80
21
Connecticut
130
4.73
22
Nebraska
65
4.63
23
Ohio
402
4.61
24
Rhode Island
38
4.54
25
North Dakota
23
4.12
26
Indiana
197
3.97
27
Massachusetts
203
3.81
28
Missouri
163
3.57
29
South Carolina
134
3.39
30
New York
504
3.39
31
California
957
3.31
32
Illinois
302
3.23
33
Kansas
67
3.17
34
District of Columbia
16
3.12
35
Tennessee
154
2.93
36
Maryland
134
2.93
37
Kentucky
90
2.71
38
Oklahoma
75
2.59
39
Hawaii
28
2.58
40
West Virginia
33
2.44
41
Arizona
129
2.36
42
Nevada
55
2.31
43
Florida
396
2.31
44
Arkansas
49
2.20
45
New Jersey
152
2.19
46
Georgia
171
2.15
47
Utah
44
1.93
48
Texas
407
1.91
49
Alabama
56
1.49
50
Louisiana
48
1.43
51
Mississippi
20
0.94
*Image retrieved from John Parry via Unsplash.com
The article Mapped & Ranked: The States With the Most Craft Breweries in 2022 appeared first on VinePair.