Only One Michigan Regional Brewery Makes National Top-50 List

One of the biggest selling points to me when I was taking this job to move to Michigan was just how much you guys love beer. I saw it firsthand at Oberon Day in Kalamazoo. I couldn't be convinced that anyone within a 15-mile radius was actually at work except the staff at Bell's that day.

But then I saw a study that you guys don't drink much more beer than the national average, and now another statistic seems to weigh against this state's love for beer.

UNTAPPD houses a Top-50 ranking for several types of beers and breweries across the country, and even many other countries. If you sort by United States regional breweries, you'll see just one Michigan brewery on the list of 50.

Old Nation Brewing Co. lands at number 15 on the rankings with 442,430 ratings averaging out to a 4.07 score. The brewery is located in Williamston, Michigan, about 20 miles east of Lansing.

Old Nation has 241 beers to choose from, depending on seasons and availability of course. Click here to see where you can buy Old Nation beer near you. Old Nation has been in operation since 2006 and brews with a mindset of "Hard work, integrity, and consistency" as described on their website.

UNTAPPD calculates its ratings for both beers and breweries with simple formulas, which you can check here. All of these scores change over time as the website's users drink and rate beers and visit breweries and rate them as a whole as well.

Ohio did manage to outshine Michigan on this one with two breweries, though both are ranked just behind Old Nation. Nanodog out of Columbus is ranked 16th with a 4.045 score while Jackie O's Brewery from Athens, Ohio, lands at 19th with a 4.038 score.

Now, Old Nation might be the only regional brewery to make a top-50 list on UNTAPPD, the likely suspects dominate other lists such as macro breweries.  Still, it's a bit surprising that Michigan was held to just one brewery on this particular list.