The Beer Selfie Beer Cap Map Giveaway got me thinking about what the ultimate beer cap map would be. What would be the finest collection of beer caps from across the contiguous US? I turned to Beer Graphs and their BAR rating for some help.
Beers Above Replacement (BAR)
Beers Above Replacement is BeerGraphs’ proprietary measure of a beer’s quality. By indexing a beer to its style, we hope to help lovers of all styles see their favorite beers well-represented. We also try to reward the beers that are most-oft drunk for their popularity.
The beer cap map I’m imagining would start with the best beer, measured by BAR, for each state. Here’s the list:
| Alabama | Good People’s Snake Handler Double IPA (5.44 BAR) |
| Arizona | Four Peaks’ Pumpkin Porter (7.01 BAR) |
| Arkansas | Fossil Cove’s La Brea Brown (2.48 BAR) |
| California | Russian River’s Pliny the Elder (17.08 BAR) |
| Colorado | Avery’s Tweek Extreme Stout Bourbon Barrel Aged (9.39 BAR) |
| Connecticut | New England’s Gandhi-Bot (12.32 BAR) |
| Delaware | Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA (9.81 BAR) |
| Florida | Cigar City’s Double Barrel Hunahpu (11.22 BAR) |
| Georgia | Terrapin’s Cinnamon Roll’d Wake-n-Bake (6.16 BAR) |
| Idaho | Sockeye’s Dagger Falls IPA (3.79 BAR) |
| Illinois | Goose Island’s Bourbon Country Brand Stout (13.91 BAR) |
| Indiana | Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust (17.42 BAR) |
| Iowa | Toppling Goliath’s pseudo Sue (13.57 BAR) |
| Kansas | Tallgrass’ Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat (4.81 BAR) |
| Kentucky | Country Boy’s Papaw’s Red (4.48 BAR) |
| Louisiana | Parish’s Ghost in the Machine (7.74 BAR) |
| Maine | Maine Beer Company’s Dinner (11.77 BAR) |
| Maryland | Stillwater’s Gose Gone Wild (6.95 BAR) |
| Massachusetts | Tree House’s Julius (13.36 BAR) |
| Michigan | Bell’s Hopslam (14.19 BAR) |
| Minnesota | Surly’s Abrasive (12.11 BAR) |
| Mississippi | Crooken Letter’s Mystery Romp (6.23 BAR) |
| Missouri | Perennial’s Barel Aged Abraxas (11.0 BAR) |
| Montana | Kettlehouse’s Cold Smoke (6.38 BAR) |
| Nebraska | Infusion’s Vanilla Bean Blonde (4.46 BAR) |
| Nevada | Banger’s Morning Joe (5.41 BAR) |
| New Hampshire | Portsmouth’s Kate the Great (6.26 BAR) |
| New Jersey | Carton’s Regular Coffee (9.74 BAR) |
| New Mexico | La Cumbre’s Eelvated IPA (8.58 BAR) |
| New York | Southern Tier’s Pumking (9.77 BAR) |
| North Carolina | NoDa’s Hop, Drop ‘n Roll (8.69 BAR) |
| North Dakota | Laughing Sun’s Feat Like a Sultan IPA (2.5 BAR) |
| Ohio | Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA (9.62 BAR) |
| Oklahoma | COOP Ale Works’ F5 IPA (5.62 BAR) |
| Oregon | Deschutes’ Abyss (9.78 BAR) |
| Pennsylvania | Tröegs’ Nugget Nectar (10.7 BAR) |
| Rhode Island | Grey Sail’s Captain’s Daughter (6.27 BAR) |
| South Carolina | Westbrook’s Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Mexican Cake (9.3 BAR) |
| South Dakota | Crow Peak’s Mjolnir (4.17 BAR) |
| Tennessee | Yazoo’s Deux Rouges (4.36 BAR) |
| Texas | Lone Pint’s Yellow Rose (8.51 BAR) |
| Utah | Epic’s Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout (5.84 BAR) |
| Vermont | The Alchemist’s Heady Topper (19.32 BAR) |
| Virginia | Hardywood Park Craft’s Bourbon Bingerbread Stout (7.97 BAR) |
| Washington | Fremont’s Cinnamon Coffee Bourbon Abominable (8.87 BAR) |
| West Virginia | Bridge Brew Works’ Longpoint Lager (2.88 BAR) |
| Wisconsin | New Glarus’ Wisconsin Belgian Red (10.51 BAR) |
| Wyoming | Thai Me Up’s Melvin IPA (4.77 BAR) |
A few things that struck me making this list:
- There’s a large difference between some of these state’s best beer. I didn’t intend for this to be a competition between states, but wow, some of these states suck. Vermont came out on top with a 19.32 BAR score for Heady Topper. Arkansas was at the bottom with a 2.48 BAR for Fossil Cove’s La Brea Brown. I’m sure Fossil Cove makes some good beer, but I’m tripping over 2.48 beers here in California. Literally, they’re just all over the ground everywhere I go. I’m not going to move to Arkansas.
- I was surprised by how many of these beers, and even breweries, I’ve never heard of. Even highly rated ones. Time to start travelling more.
- A handful of states dominate the leaderboard. The top 25 beers come from 8 states (and Belgium).
- I realized after I made this list that some of these might not distribute in bottles. I’m not going to look that up. Let me know in a comment if you have a correction.
You should take this list, get in your car, and go on an epic beer cap road trip. Seriously, go now!
