Yakima is One of the Top 30 Cities in the U.S.A. to Start a Brewery

According to the website bid-on-equipment.com, Yakima ranks 27th on the list of the top 30 cities to start up a brewery in America.

I'll drink to that.

Many different ingredients and factors make up a successful brewery. The obvious ones include fermenters, kegs, pumps and brew house gear. But there are plenty of other very important details brewers and brew masters need to be aware of before tapping into the beer business and opening a brewery of their own.

Analyzing the data from hundreds of cities across the U.S.A., plus factoring in license fees and self distribution laws to breweries per capita and median income, the top 30 highlights cities that provide the greatest potential for aspiring brewery types

One-third of the list (10 of 30) are cities in the great Northwest, with Seattle ranking the highest at number three. Somerville, Massachusetts was rated #1.

Rankings were determined with criteria such as cities having at least 50,000 people, the percentage of the population over the age of 21, and the number of breweries per 50,000 people.

Courtesy BOE

It’s interesting to note that only five cities on the list have a population of 500,000 or more.

Taxes are, by far, the biggest hurdle to get over. According to the beer institute, taxes are the single most expensive ingredient in beer, costing more than the labor and raw materials combined. Approximately 40 percent of the retail price of beer is dedicated toward covering all applicable taxes.

Craft beer’s popularity has skyrocketed throughout the past decade according to the Brewers Association, with the number of craft breweries in the U.S. growing from just under 1,500 in 2007 to more than 7,000 as of July 2018.

Cheers!