North Carolina named among best states for beer lovers

Charlotte Business Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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The variety of craft breweries across North Carolina making high-quality product puts the state at No. 8 among the best in the nation for beer lovers. That’s according to BetCarolina.com, which posted an analysis ahead of National Beer Day on April 7 that focused on three main data points: quality, quantity and affordability.

BetCarolina, a property of Gambling.com Group that has a growing office in Charlotte, used BeerAdvocate.com to pull average ratings of beers brewed in each state, on a scale of one to five. It drew from BrewersAssociation.org for the number of breweries per capita and turned to MakeBeerEasy.com for the average price of a 24-pack per state. The rankings in those categories were averaged to find the overall placements.

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North Carolina tied with Rhode Island at No. 8 overall, with each getting an average score of 16. Michigan led the way with an average of 10, followed by Iowa at No. 2 with a score of 12, Illinois at No. 3 (13.3), Colorado at No. 4 (14) and Missouri at No. 5 (14.6).

Jamie Bartholomaus, owner of Foothills Brewing Co. in Winston-Salem, wasn’t surprised by North Carolina’s showing. He said it reflects the N.C. Craft Brewers Guild’s mantra of “The State of Southern Beer.”

“We’re by far the biggest in the South in terms of the number of breweries,” said Bartholomaus, whose Foothills was the state’s 19th brewery to open back in 2004. “And we have among the most flexible laws. It shows that we were early and a front runner in the industry.”

He credits the state with being business-friendly early on in terms of rules and regulations, allowing breweries to self-distribute and have retail operations with restaurants and tap rooms.

Still, though, there is room for improvement.

Read the full story here.

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