Misc

The United States of Beer

Published

4 years ago

May 12, 2018

Nick Routley

Across the board, beer consumption in the United States has been slowly and steadily dropping since the early ’80s.

However, that fact doesn’t tell the whole story. Trends around beer consumption are anything but uniform, and the industry is evolving rapidly thanks to the craft beer boom in cities throughout the country.

Beer Consumption by State

Today’s infographic looks at regional beer consumption, as well as trends over the past half-decade.

United States of Beer

Pints of Interest

Beer is still the most popular alcoholic beverage in America, though that demand is not spread equally. Here are states and regions that stand out:

Utah
The Beehive State has unusually low levels of beer consumption for a couple of reasons. First, the state has a high population of Mormons (~60%), who mostly abstain from drinking alcohol. Secondly, Salt Lake City has unusual liquor laws that restrict the percentage of alcohol in beer to 4.0% ABV.

Despite these barriers, Utah’s beer consumption grew by 2.8% between 2012 and 2017 – the sixth highest growth rate in the country.

New Hampshire
Another outlier, though in the opposite direction, is New Hampshire. The state has no sales tax, a fact that beer drinkers in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine are well aware of. It’s estimated that over 50% of the states alcohol sales are to out-of-state visitors. NH’s tax-free booze is such a big draw, that bootlegging has become a problem for states like New York.

Pacific Northwest
America’s West Coast – Oregon in particular – has been at the forefront of the craft beer revolution sweeping the country. Portland alone has over 100 craft brewers, and nearly double-digit growth in the past five years. In states like Oregon and Washington, demand shows no sign of slowing down.

The Full List

Here’s a complete table, that sums up beer consumption across the country, as per data from Wall St 24/7.

(Note: It’s currently sorted by % change over the last half-decade)

State	Per Capita Consumption (Gallons)	Total Consumption (Millions of Gallons)	Change ('12–'17)
Washington	24.7	135.6	9.1%
Oregon	30.0	95.4	9.0%
Colorado	28.3	117.6	4.5%
Florida	26.3	423.1	4.5%
California	25.1	724.9	3.4%
Idaho	25.9	31.5	2.8%
South Dakota	38.2	23.7	2.8%
Utah	18.7	38.1	2.8%
Nevada	32.9	72.9	2.2%
South Carolina	30.9	115.0	2.2%
Montana	39.4	30.8	1.4%
Texas	31.8	626.3	1.3%
Maine	33.8	34.9	0.2%
Georgia	24.0	179.6	0.1%
Minnesota	28.4	115.4	0.1%
Kentucky	23.6	77.1	-0.8%
North Carolina	25.0	188.0	-1.1%
Arizona	26.6	135.6	-1.4%
Tennessee	24.4	120.8	-1.6%
Nebraska	33.3	45.3	-1.7%
Alabama	28.9	103.7	-2.3%
Wisconsin	34.3	147.1	-2.4%
Hawaii	28.5	30.6	-2.9%
New York	21.9	327.5	-2.9%
New Hampshire	40.6	41.8	-3.5%
New Jersey	20.6	138.0	-3.5%
Virginia	24.4	152.7	-3.6%
Michigan	25.3	186.7	-3.8%
Illinois	27.4	259.4	-3.9%
Iowa	31.7	72.0	-4.0%
Alaska	26.0	14.0	-5.1%
Massachusetts	23.6	121.9	-5.7%
Vermont	32.8	15.6	-5.8%
Indiana	23.4	112.7	-6.0%
Pennsylvania	26.4	254.1	-6.5%
Mississippi	30.9	66.6	-6.7%
Arkansas	23.7	52.0	-6.8%
Ohio	27.3	234.7	-6.9%
Missouri	27.7	125.6	-7.2%
Kansas	25.7	53.2	-7.9%
Connecticut	20.2	54.2	-8.1%
Oklahoma	25.1	70.7	-8.1%
Delaware	28.7	20.7	-8.4%
New Mexico	28.8	43.8	-9.1%
Maryland	20.2	90.1	-9.6%
Rhode Island	23.0	18.4	-10.0%
North Dakota	38.3	20.9	-10.3%
Wyoming	29.5	12.3	-10.4%
Louisiana	29.6	99.4	-10.9%
West Virginia	27.4	37.8	-10.9%

Related Topics:America consumption states beer craft beer alcohol

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Misc

Animated Map: Visualizing Earth’s Seasons

This map visualizes Earth’s seasons, showing how our planet’s Arctic sea ice and vegetation changes throughout the year.

Creator Program

Published

19 hours ago

January 22, 2022

Carmen Ang

Animated Map: Visualizing Earth’s Seasons

Why does Earth have seasons?

Many people think the seasons are dictated by Earth’s proximity to the Sun, but this isn’t the case. It’s the Earth’s tilt, not its closeness to the Sun, that influences our seasons.

This animated map by Eleanor Lutz visualizes Earth’s seasons, showing how the temperature changes impact ice levels in the Arctic as well as vegetation more broadly. It also highlights the cloud cover and sunlight each hemisphere receives throughout the year, with each frame in the animation representing a month of time.

Why is Earth Tilted?

Unlike some of the planets that sit completely upright and rotate perpendicularly, Earth rotates on a 23.5-degree axis.

But why? A commonly accepted theory among the scientific community is the giant impact hypothesis. According to this theory, a celestial object called Theia collided with Earth many years ago, when the planet was still forming. This collision not only knocked Earth into its tilted position—some believe that the dust and debris from this impact ended up forming our moon.

Ever since, our planet has been rotating with a slight tilt (which itself is not fixed, as it “wobbles” in cycles), giving us our varying seasons throughout the year.

How Earth’s Tilt Influences our Seasons

As our planet orbits the Sun, it’s always leaning in the same direction. Because of its tilt, the different hemispheres receive varying amounts of sunlight at different times of the year.

In December, Earth is technically closer to the Sun than it is in June or July. However, because the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun during December, that part of the planet experiences winter during that time.

Earth's Seasonal Climates

The graphic above by the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) visualizes Earth’s orbit throughout the year, showing when each hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight (and thus, experiences summer).

The Climate Change Impact

While our seasons have always varied, it’s worth noting that climate change has impacted our seasons, and changed how much Arctic ice we lose each summer.

In the past, millions of miles of ice remained frozen throughout the summer months. In the 1980s, there were 3.8 million square miles of ice in July—that’s roughly the same size as Australia.

Over the years, Arctic ice cover has steadily declined. In July 2020, the ice cover was only 2.8 million square miles—a million less than the amount four decades ago.

Some scientists are predicting that we could lose our summer sea ice entirely by 2035, which would have a devastating impact on the Artic’s wildlife and the indigenous people who live there.

Misc

10 Travel Destinations for Post-Pandemic Life

Excited to get back to travelling the world? This infographic highlights the 10 most popular tourist destinations.

Published

1 week ago

January 14, 2022

Marcus Lu

10 Travel Destinations for Post-Pandemic Life

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization formally classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. The resulting travel bans decimated the tourism industry, and international air travel initially fell by as much as 98%.

Almost two years later, travel is finally back on the table, though there are many restrictions to consider. Regardless, a survey conducted in September 2021 found that, as things revert to normalcy, 82% of Americans are looking forward to international travel more than anything else.

To give inspiration for your next vacation (whenever that may be), this infographic lists the 10 most visited countries in 2019, as well as three of their top attractions according to Google Maps.

Bon Voyage

Here were the 10 most popular travel destinations in 2019, measured by their number of international arrivals.

Country	Number of international arrivals in 2019 (millions)
🇫🇷 France*	90.0
🇪🇸 Spain	83.5
🇺🇸 U.S.	79.3
🇨🇳 China	65.7
🇮🇹 Italy	64.5
🇹🇷 Turkey	51.2
🇲🇽 Mexico	45.0
🇹🇭 Thailand	39.8
🇩🇪 Germany	39.6
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	39.4

*Estimate | Source: World Bank

France was the most popular travel destination by a significant margin, and it’s easy to see why. The country is home to many of the world’s most renowned sights, including the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre Museum.

The Arc de Triomphe was built in the early 1800s, and honors those who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In 1944, Allied soldiers marched through the monument after Paris was liberated from the Nazis.

The Louvre Museum, on the other hand, is often recognized by its giant glass pyramid. The museum houses over 480,000 works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Art isn’t the only thing that France has to offer. The country has a reputation for culinary excellence, and is home to 632 Michelin-starred restaurants, the most out of any country. Japan comes in at second, with 413.

While You’re There…

After seeing the sights in Paris, you may want to consider a visit to Spain. The country is the southern neighbor of France and is known for its beautiful villages and beaches.

One of its most impressive sights is the Sagrada Familia, a massive 440,000 square feet church which began construction in 1882, and is still being worked on today (139 years in the making). The video below shows the structure’s striking evolution.

At a height of 172 meters, the Sagrada Familia is approximately 52 stories tall.

Another popular spot is Ibiza, an island off the coast of Spain that is famous for its robust nightlife scene. The island is frequently mentioned in pop culture—Netflix released an adventure/romance movie titled Ibiza in 2018, and the remix of Mike Posner’s song I Took a Pill in Ibiza has over 1.4 billion views on YouTube.

Beaches Galore

If you’re looking for something outside of Europe, consider Mexico or Thailand, which are the 7th and 8th most popular travel destinations. Both offer hot weather and an abundance of white sand beaches.

If you need even more convincing, check out these links:

Expect Turbulence

Under normal circumstances, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year by international tourists. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTCC), this spending accounted for an impressive 10.4% of global GDP in 2019.

Travel restrictions introduced in 2020 dealt a serious blow to the industry, reducing its share of global GDP to 5.5%, and wiping out an estimated 62 million jobs. While the WTCC believes these jobs could return by 2022, the emerging Omicron variant has already prompted many countries to tighten restrictions once again.

To avoid headaches in the future, make sure you fully understand the rules and restrictions of where you’re heading.