I admit, West Michigan has totally made me a beer snob. I never learned to appreciate a good beer until moving to the west side almost a decade ago, and then living in Beer City USA you get exposed to so many different types and flavors of beers. The craft beer industry continues to boom throughout the U.S. and it makes me wonder how I spent my college years drinking Natty Light and thinking Bud Light was the premiere beer of all beers.
Not everyone's palette is as snobby as mine however, because there are tons of people out there who still like to drink a cheap beer or as some might call it... a "trashy" beer.
The website, Workshopedia, decided to analyze Google searches and trends of 36 different (but common) beers over the last 12 months in each state. They found the most popular beer overall and in what states, and the most popular brand in each state.
Just like my trashy college days, Natural Light was the beer that most Americans prefer, being the chosen one in 10 states. Michiganders, though, showed their state pride as Stroh's was found to be the favorite.
Stroh's is a Detroit classic. It started in the Motor City in 1850 by German immigrant, Bernard Stroh. The company's website says he created the light lager using a family recipe and used to take the beer around in a wheelbarrow selling it to the hard-working people in the city.
The Detroit Free Press says that Stroh's stayed in the family until 1999 when Pabst Brewing Company bought it. The beer is once again brewed in Downtown Detroit as of 2016 via a contract brewer in Corktown.
Stroh's is most famously known for their Bohemian-Style Pilsner, the O.G. Their website states that the 5.5% ABV beer is only brewed in Detroit and only sold in Michigan; the same goes for their Detroit Lager.
Shockingly, Ohio did one of the few things right and chose Stroh's as their favorite too. Michigan pride bleeding into Ohio? Sounds about right.
The top beers in each state are:
- Natural Light - 10 states
- Michelob Ultra - 7 states
- Bud Light AND Coors Light - 4 states each
The graphic below shows a breakdown state by state.