Portland ranks near the top of US cities for beer lovers, and sales remain strong
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Houlton will host the Blackfly Brewfest on Saturday, featuring 14 breweries, two wineries and a distillery.
With a thriving craft beer industry, whose per capita economic impact is ranked No. 4 nationally, Maine has long been home to many beer enthusiasts. Now a new study reveals that Portland is one of the country’s top cities for the fans.
The analysis, released Wednesday by financial website SmartAsset, ranked Portland No. 15 among 384 U.S. cities on the basis of metrics including the number of local breweries per capita, the number of bars per capita and the average price of a pint.
Portland's rank is up from 2019, when the city tied for No. 22 with Duluth, Minn., and Green Bay, Wisc. SmartAsset has been conducting the study for six years.
In this year's analysis, only one Northeastern city, Pittsburgh, No. 5, ranked higher than Portland. And no other New England city even made the ranking’s top 50.
Among those top 50 cities, Portland had the highest number of breweries per capita, according to SmartAsset. The city’s 19 breweries, or 28.7 per 100,000 residents, bested Asheville, N.C., which was reported to have 28 per 100,000 residents.
For the complete analysis, click here.
Though lock-down orders and restrictions on bars and restaurants have changed the way Americans are drinking, they’re still spending money on beer, SmartAsset noted. In fact, through the first half of 2020, beer sales in the U.S. rose about 16% compared to the same period in 2019, according to Chicago-based market research firm IRI.
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