State by state representation in the Top 250 Rated Beers

Well knowing there is not a beer from Idaho in the BA top 250 your post made me curious so I checked out my states top beers. Top beer is Double Vision Dopplebock by Grand Teton Brewing. It checks in at a 4.17 rating and listed at #2,297..... I enjoy my local beers. Mind blowing? No. As bad as BA ratings would make it seem? Nope.

 

I don't even have to check to tell you that South Dakota does not have one in the top 250, and probably not the top 5,000. We have very little beer available outside the state, and not enough population to get one with any kind of ranking. We do have some great breweries and great beers, they just don't get any visibility outside the state.

 

...I was too optimistic...nothing in the top 22,000

 

Ya my guess would be that the top 250 are dominated by a few big states (CA, OR, WA, MA, PA, MI, VT, NY, CO) that have big populations, big name breweries, heavy media presence. And the rest of the states are probably poorly represented including a handful of smaller states with smaller beer cultures are left off.

 

Kansas isn't represented. Our top brew is old backus barleywine(a very good beer btw) at 4.21 and #1,503 overall. It's also top 25 for its style but that's as good as it gets here.

 

The top 250 is heavily skewed by member geographic density / states. It's a glorified popularity contest that is heavily North America centric.

I can almost guarantee that no matter where you live, there is a locally available beer that is better than something in the "top 250"

 

The number one beer is from Iowa. Missouri is also in the top ten, as is Florida. Sure Florida's a larger state, but they're hardly known as a craft beer hot spot.

If your state isn't represented I would guess it has more to do with the number of New England style IPAs that are produced (and to a lesser degree, barrel aged stouts).

Yes MA has a solid media presence, but for a number of years no one cared about craft beers in MA in terms of the top 100/250. It was all about CA because of the West Coast IPA among others, and then VT for the emergence of the New England style IPA.

Treehouse is the number one rated brewery overall, but they're in the middle of nowhere, and they don't even distribute kegs that I know of, nevermind cans. And before that it was Hill Farmstead, also in the middle of nowhere with very little distribution.

People rate certain styles higher than others, and if your state has more of those, that can go a long way. And then other breweries in that same area might copy those styles and so on and so forth.

 

Treehouse may be "in the middle of nowhere" as far as the east coast goes but the middle of nowhere out west is a much different thing. Treehouse and TG are well represented in the top 250 hell the top 50. I have traded for a few of their beers and they are pretty tasty but really I think it comes down to more than just the beer on this site to some extent. There is a bit of hype and location factor as well and those two breweries for the mold of hype.

The closest brewery I live to is Melvin Brewing about a hour away in Alpine Wyoming (nearby out in these parts) They make great beer that is nationally recognized. Their success I would attribute to their beer definitely not location.

A brewery I really enjoy is 2row Brewing from SLC Utah. They are turning great east coast IPAs to me like Taste Like Citra, Feeling Hazy and 2 Parts East 1 Part West. I think they are on par with a lot of east coast stuff I've had but they bottle instead of putting it in 16oz tall boys and its brewed in the wrong zip code so they hype isn't there.

In the end there is a lot of hype surrounding many breweries and the top beers BUT I have no doubt great beer rises to the top and all the beers in that top 250 deserve it. Double Vision Dopplebock book from Grand Teton (Idahos top beer) is a good beer. It's place at #2000 something is probably more related to its lack of reviews/ratings which is probably related to its availability and location.

Oh and ISO: Treehouse and TG FT: Grand Teton and Melvin

 

Oklahoma has Prairie Bomb!, but that's the only beer from the state. And I think that Apple Brandy Noir is better than Bomb!.
I know KS, NM, AR don't have any beers in the top 200. But the low population, low brewery states generally don't have highly rated beer on sites like these.

 

Bomb is the Bomb! Cheers

 

When I look at the top 250, I don't see a beer from Wyoming.

 

I like some of the newer breweries that have popped up in Sioux Falls, and downtown specifically. Maybe not 'world class' but I would say they are descent quality. And when you look at the Sioux Falls/South Dakota beer scene from where it was 5 years ago and where it is today, it's 10 fold better. It's just a matter of time before one opens up that people will look to trade for.

 

Sioux Falls has a beer district that now has three brewery/taprooms, and four non-brewery taprooms, all within a few blocks. Remedy Brewing just opened in July, and is already the best in Sioux Falls.

 

OP, it doesn't seem like it would be too much work to get your answer by looking to see how many beers from each state (in the rankings for each state) have a rating that is higher that 4.43 which is the score for Edward, a beer from Hill Farmstead that is in the 200th position of the Top 250 list. Or to get at the answer to your inquiry, look to see which states don't have a beer that ranks higher than that.

 

Buffalo Sweat doesn't get enough love.

 

I have a Crowler of BA Bomb just waiting on my next bottle share.

 

Melvin is the best beer available in Idaho, i feel like 2x4 should be up there pretty high.

 

Not enough reviews/rates or it would be.

 

Well it looks like NJ has no top 200 beers, at least we lead the notion in people who drive Volvos!