This Friday is National Beer Day and a MinnesotaBets.com survey showed that Minnesota is the No. 10 state in the country for beer.
How big is beer in the Gopher State? It has its own state Beer Day on Feb. 16 as proclaimed by Gov. Tim Walz.
“Minnesota is home to over 200 craft breweries across the state,” declared Walz, “supplying jobs, and economic growth to the state; The consumers of beer in Minnesota have more options at their local breweries, bars, restaurants, and liquor stores than ever before; and The brewers of Minnesota have developed some of the most creative and respected brands in the United States.”
National Beer Day, commemorates April 7, 1933, and the end of Prohibition. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act into law that March, he even remarked, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” On April 6, 1933, now known as New Beer’s Eve, people began to gather outside breweries eagerly anticipating their first sip, and the next day Americans drank 1.5 million barrels of beer.
Although National Beer Day isn't directly related to Minnesota sports betting, you better believe fans enjoy a beverage or two when watching sports. Below you'll find the top-15 states for beer lovers.
In Minnesota, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the largest breweries in the state pre-pandemic were August Schell Brewing in New Ulm, Summit Brewing in St. Paul, Surly Brewing in Minneapolis, Fulton Brewery in Minneapolis, and Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors. August Schell Brewing, founded in 1860, is also the oldest brewery in the state – Minnesota had just become a state two years earlier – and the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the U.S. (The oldest is Yuengling, founded in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. The oldest continuously operating brewery in the world is supposedly Brauerei Weihenstephan in Germany, founded in 1040.)
In a survey by stacker.com, Roets Jordan Brewery in St. Jordan was named the state’s highest-rated brewery (relatively small sample size), followed by Schell, Badger Hill in Shakopee, Bald Man in Eagan, and Lift Bridge in Stillwater. A list from hopculture.com highlighted Urban Growler in St. Paul, the state’s first women-owned brewery. Other lists will have different Minnesota breweries as there are over 200 to choose from, 15th in the U.S., a lot of breweries for a state population under 6 million.
As for the Minnesota beer “experts” ranked best, in the Coffee Beer category at the 2022 Beer World Cup, Double Cream Coffee Dream, from Dangerous Man Brewing in Minneapolis, took home a bronze medal.
Minnesota’s sales tax on beer is 6.875% and the state also imposes a 2.5% gross receipts tax on the foamy stuff. Minnesota has a relatively big state beer excise tax of 46 cents per gallon, the 11th highest in the country. Pre-pandemic Minnesota’s craft brewers generated $1 billion in activity in the state according to the University of Minnesota – where, we’re just guessing, a lot of that beer is consumed. The industry employed more than 8,000 people. After a few rough years, the state’s craft brew industry is bouncing back now.
On National Beer Day, there will be events and tastings across Minnesota. If you want to celebrate Minnesota beer on days other than April 7, there are numerous craft beer tours through the Twin Cities and the state.
Methodology: With National Beer Day arriving on April 7th, we decided to look at the best states to celebrate in if you are a big fan of beer. When it comes to determining the best, we looked at quality, quantity, and affordability.
Minnesotabets.com utilized 3 combined data points to develop the ranking of the 50 US States from best to worst states for beer lovers. We utilized BeerAdvocate.com to get the average rating of beers brewed in the state (ratings given out of 5), BrewersAssociation.org to get the amount of breweries per capita (per 100,000 residents), and MakeBeerEasy.com for the average price of a 24-pack per state. Once acquiring that information, we averaged out the ranking of the states to get our final rankings.
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Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist covering the Minnesota sports betting market for MinnesotaBets.com. Before his focus on U.S. sports betting, Howard worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard is also a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
