Determining America’s favorite beer is quite an undertaking. With more than 7,300 microbreweries, brewpubs, and regional craft breweries turning out everything from Natural Light to Pickleball IPA, there are no shortage of options for Americans looking for cold one. Yet despite the bevy of domestic choices, as it turns out, America’s favorite beer is actually an import.

Yes, Dutch beer Heineken is the beer of choice in America.

To determine the title-holder, YouGov, an online market research company, looked at popularity scores and quality scores gathered from more than 8,000 respondents.

Heineken (47%)  took the title of top brew, narrowly edging out Guinness (47%).

America's favorite beer is an import, research shows

Don’t agree? You’re not alone.

The results were far from a national consensus, because to be “America’s favorite” the study required high scores in both recognition and quality. (The best beer in the country can’t be the favorite if only a handful of people have ever heard of it.) As a result, the major brands have a serious advantage. About 95% of those polled said they heard of Heineken and Guiness, pushing them to the #1 and #2 spots, even though they received 19% and 13% negativity score in quality, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 favorite beers were Corona (45%), Sam Adams (45%), Budweiser (42%), Coors (40%), Blue Moon (40%), Miller High Life (40%), Bud Light (39%), and Corona Light (38%).

YouGov also broke down data by region. It’s no surprise New England prefers Boston-based Sam Adams, but so does the East South Central. The mountain states  push Corona to the top and Budweiser gets most of its support from the Midwest/West North Central.

So next time you’re headed to a party out of town and aren’t sure what the locals drink, this is a start.

America's favorite beer is an import, research shows


Also see, Bottled or canned? One study puts the great beer debate to rest. 

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Meghan is a full-time writer exploring the fun facts behind food. She lives a healthy lifestyle but lives for breakfast, dessert and anything with marinara. She’s thrown away just as many meals as she’s proud of.