Beer by the numbers

ColoradoBiz, June, 2009

No. 3 - New Belgium's ranking among the top craft beer makers in the country by volume. The Fort Collins maker of Fat Tire was outranked in 2008 only by Boston Beer Co. and Chico, Calif.-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., which were first and second respectively. Other Colorado brewers in the top 50: Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants in Louisville, Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Breckenridge Brewery in Denver and Boulder Beer Co.

No. 8. - New Belgium's rank by volume among all U.S. brewing companies. No. 1 was St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch InBev followed by Chicago's MillerCoors. Rock Bottom (43) and Odell (45) also made the list.

37 - No. of craft brewers among the top 50 U.S. brewing companies, up from 35 in 2007.

32,698 - Vermont has a brewery for every 32,698 people in the state, which gives it the highest per capita ranking in the country. There are 19 breweries and 621,270 people in the state.

No. 6 - Colorado's per capita ranking based on the number of craft breweries. The state is home to 103 of them. Colorado is topped only by Vermont, Montana, Oregon and Maine.

1 - Number of craft brewers in Mississippi, a lower per capita number than every state and Washington, D.C. (which has three).

Source: The Brewers Association