Traverse City, MI Named One of the Best Small Town Beer Scenes

The state of Michigan is no stranger when it comes to a good beer scene. I mean, they don't call Grand Rapids "Beer City U.S.A." without earning that moniker for good reason.

However, Grand Rapids is a big city. In fact, Grand Rapids is one of Michigan's 11 major cities, the second biggest one, with a population of 198,096 people.

Best Small Town Beer Scenes in the U.S.

Instead of looking at big cities, USA Today took a look at small cities across the nation. They looked at towns with a population of 30,000 people or less and were able to whittle down a list of the "10 best small town beer scenes in the US", and what they determined is no shocker to anyone living in the Mitten State... Michigan has a city that made the list!

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Not only does Michigan have a city that made the top ten list, this particular Michigan city cracks the top three in the ranking.

If you're looking for an awesome beer scene in Michigan that has way fewer people than Grand Rapids, then Traverse City is the place to go.

USA Today ranked Traverse City as having the third best small town beer scene in the nation.

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What Makes Traverse City One of the Best Small Town Beer Scenes in the Country

Now, Traverse City has been well known for its cherry and winery scene for quite some time, but the beer scene is really picking up steam.

There are a good amount of breweries, pubs, and more in the area, including Jolly Pumpkin, North Peak Brewing, Right Brain Brewery, and more.

So if you're planning your next Michigan brewery road trip, make sure Traverse City is a stop on your map.

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LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood