(NewsNation) — The city with the most breweries per capita in the U.S. is also the top city for beer enthusiasts this year, according to the food and drink website Tasting Table and its list of “Top U.S. Cities for Beer Enthusiasts in 2024.”
“The heart and soul of Asheville (N.C.) is its craft beer scene,” wrote the survey authors, who also point out places beyond “top-tier taprooms” to appreciate the region’s craft brews.
“Don’t miss out on great craft beer bars like The Whale, known for its unique, harder-to-find selections, or Foggy Mountain Brewpub, a mainstay for locally made pours,” the survey adds.
While Asheville has the most breweries per capital, Pensacola, Fla. has the most bars per capital. And that earns it the no. 2 spot on the list.
“Locals and visitors alike can enjoy curated beer selections at hangouts like Goat Lips Chew and Brewhouse and The Craft Bar, which boast dozens of rotating beers on tap,” the survey said.
Las Vegas comes in third thanks to a “surprisingly robust” craft beer scene, which is centered in the city’s Arts District, just south of downtown and about two miles north of The Strip.
Portland, Maine might have topped the list, but the city is less affordable than Asheville. As for quality: “Every brewery in the city would sweep the competition if they weren’t all competing against each other.”
The fifth-best beer city is just an hour’s drive from #1. Greenville, South Carolina doesn’t have the numbers of Asheville, but Tasting Table said, “the nearly two dozen contenders each pack a punch, giving Greenville a rightful place on our radar.”
Rounding out the site’s top 15 beer cities for 2024:
- Lancaster, Penn.
- Pittsburgh
- Cincinnati
- New Orleans
- Portland, Ore.
- Denver
- Harrisburg, Penn.
- Rochester, N.Y.
- St. Louis
- Austin, Texas
The Tasting Table rankings compare the “availability and affordability of beer-related experiences as revealed by an aggregation of several metrics:
- Sites ranking U.S. cities
- The number of bars
- The number of breweries
- The average cost of a domestic beer
- The number of beer-tasting tours