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Three Washington cities, including Spokane, rank as top U.S. places for beer drinkers

Beer has proven to be a welcome libation during the pandemic, and through the first half of 2020, beer sales in the U.S. increased about 16% compared to the same period in 2019, according to SmartAsset.

However, some cities are better than others when it comes to availability, prices and variety of beer. To determine the top U.S. cities for beer drinkers, SmartAsset analyzed data on metrics such as the number of breweries, concentration of bars and price of a domestic pint.

Of the 384 cities considered by SmartAsset, three cities in Washington made the top 50. Seattle leads at No. 14, followed by Bellingham at No. 22 and our own Lilac City at No. 48. The three cities are listed in the better half of the study for three of the five metrics: total number of breweries, density of breweries and density of bars.

Spokane breweries such as Perry Street Brewing and No-Li Brewhouse have recently won national and international awards for their adult beverages, including Perry Street’s gold medal in the American IPA category for Perry Street’s flagship IPA at the Great American Beer Festival.

The top five cities for beer imbibers are Cincinatti, Asheville, N.C., St. Louis, Portland and Pittsburgh. The full SmartAsset beer report, which includes the methodology and rankings, is at smartasset.com.