St. Louis finishes No. 2 in USA Today’s best beer city rankings

St. Louis’ beer scene has earned national recognition once again. In the 2026 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards, St. Louis finished No. 2 for “Best Beer City in the United States,” while three local beer destinations each placed No. 7 in their respective national categories.

The annual awards, voted on by readers nationwide following nominations from beer experts and travel writers, recognize standout beer cities, breweries, and beer experiences across the country.

The Winners

Three St. Louis-area beer destinations landed in the final top-10 rankings:

• Perennial on Lockwood finished No. 7 in the “Best Brewpub” category. The Webster Groves brewery and restaurant is known for its small-batch beers and a menu built around seasonal ingredients. Lua Brewing in Des Moines, Iowa, won the top spot in the category.
• Blue Jay Brewing Co., located in Midtown, placed No. 7 for “Best New Brewery,” reflecting the attention the brewery has drawn since opening, with a lineup focused on German-inspired lagers. Hearth Brewing in Harrison, Ohio, won the category.
• And the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Experience ranked No. 7 for “Best Brewery Tour,” recognizing the historic St. Louis campus where visitors can tour the brewing facilities and see the brewery’s famous Clydesdales. Tröegs Independent Brewing in Hershey, Pennsylvania, took top honors in the category.

For the “Best Beer City” category, St. Louis finished second only behind Grand Rapids, Michigan, which has quietly built one of the densest beer scenes in the country. With more than 80 breweries in and around the region, Grand Rapids boasts one of the nation’s highest concentrations of craft breweries per square mile and is home to the popular Founders Brewing Co.

Still, the scale difference between the two cities makes St. Louis’ placement notable. The Gateway City is significantly larger than Grand Rapids in both population and land area, meaning its brewery scene is spread across a much bigger footprint.

What may stand out even more: which cities finished behind St. Louis. Yakima, Washington, sits in the heart of the world’s largest hop-growing region, producing more than 70 percent of the U.S. hop crop. Despite that direct connection to beer’s most essential ingredient, the city ranked behind St. Louis. San Diego, often referred to as the “capital of craft beer,” is home to roughly 150 breweries, including major names such as Stone Brewing Co. and Ballast Point. And Denver finished No. 10 on the list, while other cities known for strong craft beer scenes, including Chicago, Atlanta and Tampa, did not make the rankings at all.