Beer throughout the northern states is held in high regard, with a first sip of the golden nectar even being seen as a right of passage, but who drinks the most?

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The United States is home to more than 9,000 breweries, so beer enthusiasts can choose from a wide variety of craft and macro brews.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that out of the three beverage categories—wine, spirits, and beer—beer has the highest annual consumption rate, at nearly 6.4 billion gallons, while wine comes in at 931 million and spirits at 635 million.

Not only is beer part of the culture up here, it is also big business, as it is throughout the rest of the nation. In 2019, Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns Budweiser, Corona, and several other popular beers, spent $1.53 billion on advertising in the U.S.

States Ranked by Beer Consumption Per Capita

New Hampshire has the highest beer consumption per capita, but the absence of a beverage tax in the Granite State helps boost beer sales. Surprisingly, the least populous states—Maine, North Dakota, Vermont, and Montana—make up the rest of the top five.  Minnesota falls all the way down to 22nd, and the state that hangs it's hat on binge drinking, Wisconsin, comes in at 10.

Worth noting: the list is broken down into gallons of ethanol, so for the sake of confusion, let's do a little math.

One 12-ounce beer contains approximately 5% ethanol.

Roughly eleven (10.666) 12-ounce beers equal one gallon.

To get one gallon of ethanol, you would need to consume 200 beers.

Ranking the States: Gallons Per Capita

RankStateGallons of Ethanol Per Capita*
1New Hampshire1.89 (378 beers)
2Montana1.66 (332 beers)
3Vermont1.63 (326 beers)
4North Dakota1.48 (296 beers)
5Maine1.37 (274 beers)
6South Dakota1.34 (268 beers)
7Pennsylvania1.33 (266 beers)
8Nevada1.32 (264 beers)
9Hawaii1.28 (256 beers)
10Wisconsin1.27 (254 beers)
11Iowa1.26 (252 beers)
12Texas1.25 (250 beers)
13Louisiana1.24 (248 beers)
14New Mexico1.20 (240 beers)
15Wyoming1.20 (240 beers)
16Mississippi1.19 (238 beers)
17Nebraska1.19 (238 beers)
18West Virginia1.14 (228 beers)
19Colorado1.13 (226 beers)
20Oregon1.13 (226 beers)
21Delaware1.12 (224 beers)
22Minnesota1.11 (222 beers)
23Ohio1.11 (222 beers)
24Missouri1.09 (218 beers)
25Kansas1.08 (216 beers)
26California1.07 (214 beers)
27Washington D.C.1.07 (214 beers)
28North Carolina1.06 (212 beers)
29South Carolina1.06 (212 beers)
30Arizona1.05 (210 beers)
31Illinois1.05 (210 beers)
32Alabama1.04 (208 beers)
33Florida1.03 (206 beers)
34Alaska1.02 (204 beers)
35Michigan1.00 (200 beers)
36Oklahoma0.98 (196 beers)
37Tennessee0.97 (194 beers)
38Virginia0.96 (192 beers)
39Indiana0.94 (190 beers)
40Georgia0.93 (188 beers)
41Arkansas0.91 (184 beers)
42Kentucky0.91 (184 beers)
43Washington0.88 (184 beers)
44Massachusetts0.85 (176 beers)
45New York0.84 (174 beers)
46Idaho0.83 (172 beers)
47New Jersey0.82 (170 beers)
48Rhode Island0.82 (170 beers)
49Connecticut0.79 (158 beers)
50Maryland0.77 (154 beers)
51Utah0.55 (110 beers)

 

The States That Drink The Most Beer Overall

Naturally, the most populous states in the U.S. consume the most beer by volume. California leads the pack with over 772 million gallons consumed per year. Rounding out the top five states that drink the most beer are Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York, respectively.

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