This statistic comes courtesy of Philadelphia Daily News Beer Reporter Joe Sixpack — yep — who today correlates the number of breweries per unit land area with support for President Obama, with stunning results. At the top of his chart is the District, leading the 50 states in both Obama vote percentage and breweries per square mile.
Now, a caveat or seven: There are only three D.C. breweries — DC Brau, Chocolate City and 3 Stars — carrying manufacturer licenses from District liquor regulators, so I’m not sure what this fourth brewery Mr. Sixpack is referring to. (Perhaps the White House kitchen?)
However, even after subtracting the mystery fourth brewery, D.C.’s doing great: We have one brewery per 22.8 square miles; No. 2 Delaware has one brewery per 226.5 square miles.
Note that the usual caveat about comparing the District to larger, less densely populated states also applies. In fact, having only one brewery for the city’s 68.3 square miles would still put us on top.
Also note that if brewery density were calculated some other way — breweries per capita, or barrels of beer produced per capita, or barrels per square mile — the rankings would probably turn out a lot differently.
Regardless, the revival of brewing inside the city limits is something we all can toast.
