The best beer cities in the US
This list contains some expected mainstays, like Asheville, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon, as well as less-mentioned enclaves, like Minneapolis and Richmond, Virginia.
Beer is an alcoholic beverage primarily made from water, grains, hops, and yeast. The drink comes in many styles, flavors, and alcohol levels, with over 100 kinds of beer consumed around the world.
Beer can be traced back to ancient societies, with some scholars suggesting that the oldest brewery could be found in modern-day Israel over 13,000 years ago. The drink has a long history in America, too, with the country's first president, George Washington, once inscribing his own recipe for "Small Beer."
Recent trends and changing demographics contributed to declining sales for the beer industry, though the drink remains a cornerstone of celebrations, sporting events, and cultural scenes.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
This list contains some expected mainstays, like Asheville, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon, as well as less-mentioned enclaves, like Minneapolis and Richmond, Virginia.
This statistics-focused resource breaks down the shape of the beer industry in the US, outlining the amount of beer produced by American breweries, the state cranking out the most beer, and the states with the most breweries per capita.

Beer dates back to ancient times, and since then, the fermented drink has taken on many different styles around the globe, depending on the grain and ingredients used. See how pilsners, IPAs, Sours, and other types evolved from the drink's early history.
Svalbard Brewery is located in the Arctic village of Longyearbyen—in a region known for polar bears, reindeer, and miles of uninhabited frozen tundra—and caters to a diverse, international clientele who appreciate the beer's unique ingredient: 2,000-year-old glacier water.
Spectators have long enjoyed alcohol at sporting events, dating back at least to Ancient Rome. This article unpacks how companies leveraged this history to make beer a central part of sporting events and masculine culture.
Pubs are more ingrained in British culture than in other parts of the world. This guide from CNN walks tourists through a taxonomy of the pub's many types, outlines proper etiquette, and sets realistic expectations. (Beware: Your beer might be warm.)
The trend began in 2024, when more craft breweries closed than opened, and has continued since then. Some blame the rise of canned cocktails, hard seltzers, and non-alcoholic beers, while others point to declining drinking rates for Gen Z.
Alcohol doesn't just make you tipsy—it rewires your brain chemistry in real time. It slows your brain with GABA, spikes dopamine to make you feel unstoppable, and blocks glutamate so you can't form memories. That mix explains everything from slurred speech to blackouts … and brutal hangovers.
In 2018, archaeologists discovered traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcoholic beverage near Haifa, in modern-day Israel, and believe it was produced by the Natufian people.
The ancient people drank beer from communal jars with long reed straws that pierced the thick top layer of the still-fermenting drink.
Art, music, sports, entertainment, movies, and many other subjects—these elements define who we are as a society and how we express ourselves as a culture. Take a deep dive into the topics shaping our shared norms, values, institutions, and more.