Guess Where New Hampshire and Maine Beer Drinking Ranks in the Country?
Editor's note: This article was written by a Townsquare Media Northern New England contributor and may contain the individual's views, opinions or personal experiences.
So exactly how much beer do we drink in this country, and how much of the guzzling or sipping comes out of New Hampshire and Maine?
First of all, here's the average amount of beer we drink each year in America broken down for you, according to BeerInfo.com. By the way, this is for folks 21 years and older, so yes, you know where I'm going with this. The actual number is probably more considering underage drinking with fake IDs, private parties, etc.. But I digress.
You and I drink around 28 gallons annually. I mean, that is cracking me up. It sounds insane. I personally rarely drink beer, while I'm sure there are others who drink more than 28.2 gallons a year. Taking this a bit further, that's about 10 ounces of beer each day and roughly one six pack each week that each American drinks.
That breakdown actually makes me breath a bit easier, because it doesn't sound that enormous at all, but rather quite normal, like grabbing a beer after work or having a couple at a barbecue or ball game.
So where do New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts rank in knocking back cold ones?
New Hampshire is #2.
That's right, after North Dakota, which feels like such a random state to take the number one slot, Granite Staters drink more beer each year than any other state.
New Hampshire has around 110 breweries according to the non-profit website New Hampshire Beer. Granite Staters, according to Beer Info, drink nearly 44 gallons of beer each year per capita, coming in at 43.9. All right, who kept New Hampshire from rounding out that number?
Maine rounds out the top 10.
With more than 135 breweries across the state according to the Maine Brewers Guild, Beer Info says Mainers drink an average of 34 gallons of beer per capita, giving them that #10 spot.
Massachusetts is tied for 40 with Tennessee, while Vermont is the only other New England state that made the top 10, coming in at number seven.
BeerInfo.com has your full list coast to coast if you want to check it out right here.