Move over Steel City, and make way for Beer City.
Pittsburgh is no stranger to “Top 10” and “Best of” lists, with national press coverage of our city featuring everything from tourism and tech, to outdoor recreation and real estate. A new study by the Seattle-based residential real estate company Redfin is the latest source to spotlight Pittsburgh’s drink scene.
While there are some lists we should take with a grain a salt, who can complain when named Numero Uno in a national ranking of the “15 Best Cities for Beer Lovers?”
According to Redfin—which operates a web-based real estate database and brokerage service—Pittsburgh is a top spot for lovers of the planet’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage.
Redfin writer John Whitely explains that Pittsburgh earned the accolade for statistics such as:
- Number of breweries per 100,000 adults 21+ in the State: 3
- Active Brewery Permits: 256
- State Beer Tax: $.08 per gallon
- Walk Score: 61
- Median Home Sale Price: $150,200
In its profile of Pittsburgh’s beer-centric identity, Pittsburgh-based Redfin real estate agent Keith Jimenez writes:
“Pittsburgh has always been what I’d call ‘a beer and a shot town,’ with our blue collar roots. Back in the day, all the steel workers would meet at the bar for an Iron City beer and a shot of whiskey. Today, those roots are alive and well. You’ll still find Iron City in most bars, but we’re also seeing a boom in craft brewing. There are lots of microbreweries, particularly in the Southside.”
Here at NEXT, we assume he means that there are lots of bars in the South Side—rather than microbreweries, as he states in the article—as our city’s many micro- and craft breweries are spread throughout different city neighborhoods and in surrounding suburbs too, from Larimer and the Northside, to Homestead and Mt. Lebanon.
What’s behind Redfin’s rankings?
When crunching the numbers, the Redfin team analyzed data from 2015 provided by the Beer Institute—and “consumed many beers from all around the country in order to ensure the accuracy of the list” (naturally). Data included active brewery permits per state and breweries per adults aged 21+ per state. The beer tax per state was culled from the 2016 Tax Foundation study. Walk Score and median home sale prices as of May 2016 were taken from Redfin.com.
The final list was determined by ranking 50 cities according to each metric, and then taking the average.
Rounding out the Top 5 on Redfin’s list of the “15 Best Cities for Beer Lovers” are Buffalo, NY, Milwaukee, WI, Grand Rapids, MI and our Keystone neighbor to the east, Philadelphia, PA.
Read the entire article and see the complete list here.
Looking for a few new good brews? Read NEXTpittsburgh‘s guide to 6 Pittsburgh summer beers to drink right now.