Cheers, Chicago!
After Chicago was last year named the 3rd best beer city in the country, another survey has recognized our great city as a beer utopia this year crowning it the best destination in the United States for beer lovers.
HomeToGo, the marketplace with the world’s largest selection of vacation rentals, recently ranked the best beer destinations in the U.S. putting together a 2022 Beer Lovers Index featuring seventeen cities from fourteen different states. The shortlist used information from openbrewerydb.org, the brewers association, and state craft beer sales & production statistics to analyze the affordability and availability of top-rated beer in cities across the United States.
Chicago came in first place noting that it is today “widely celebrated for its rapid-growing brewery scene” which offers “a wide array of locally brewed craft beers and signature creations.” Companies like Goose Island Beer Company. Two Brothers, Half Acre Beer Company, and Metropolitan Brewing were all given special mentions recognizing their “tremendous” growth in popularity over the years.
Cities were ranked based on 4 data points; a Bar Score representing “the number of top-rated beer bars in each city”, a Brewery Score representing the number of craft breweries, large breweries & brew pubs, a Beer Price Score which accounted for the affordability of beer in the area, and finally an Accommodation Price Score which assessed the median price per night for a vacation rental awarding the city a higher number the more affordable it is to stay there.
After obtaining raw data on all of the cities they were then given a rating for each point between 5 and 10 with 10 representing the highest data point. Chicago was awarded a total score of 36.07 out of the “perfect score” of 40 narrowly edging out Portland’s 34.63 to take the top spot.
According to HomeToGo’s data Chicago is home to 106 top-rated bars and 50 breweries while the average price of a domestic pint is $5.00 and the average accommodation price is $338
“Chicago ranks first overall this year, largely due to the number of top-rated bars and its relatively affordable prices for pints,” said Caroline Burns, a HomeToGo spokeswoman.
Chicago has 106 top-rated bars, 50 breweries, a $5 average price for a domestic pint and an average accommodation price of $338, according to HomeToGo’s research.
Only New York has more top-rated bars than Chicago with 117 while Texas’ Austin has the most breweries with 55.
The full 2022 Beer Lovers Index can be found here.[Featuered image from Shutterstock]