Sorry, San Diego. Santa Rosa is America’s microbrew capital

Feel free to disagree, but new research data suggests that San Diego is not the microbrewery capital of America as most of us would like to believe.

That title has gone to another California beer haven: Santa Rosa. San Diego finished third in the survey, behind - wait for it - Anchorage, Alaska. That’s cold, man.

https://twitter.com/ChrisBiderman/status/854849031616344065

It is difficult news to swallow - after all, it wasn’t too long ago that San Diego Magazine declared San Diego “America’s Beer Capital” - but a new study of microbreweries in America liked what it saw in Santa Rosa.

In research laid out in an interactive website called The Pudding, researcher and editor Russell Goldenberg writes that he analyzed more than 1,600 breweries in more than 800 U.S. cities.

San Diego, Santa Rosa, Denver and Portland were among the cities with the most and best microbreweries, but what set Santa Rosa apart from all the other cities, according to Goldenberg’s research, was the high ratio of high quality beers and high number of breweries in close proximity.

To reach his conclusion, Goldenberg said, he used data from RateBeer - a comprehensive database of beers rated by consumers and aficionados. You can read more about his methodology here.

The research results left beer fans with a range of reactions. Naturally, Sonoma County beer fans were left frothing with joy while those from other cities appeared to be processing the news in a different way.

https://twitter.com/SRBiz/status/854902117655470085

https://twitter.com/CarolMorton/status/854414274864619520

https://twitter.com/kristophrdelane/status/854392914461458435

Care to disagree? Check out the website (preview below) and let us know what you think - does Santa Rosa match what San Diego has to offer? And Anchorage, Alaska? Really? Has anyone been there?

https://twitter.com/maartenzam/status/854595566877249536

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @RunGomez