Inside Hook recently tallied the best beer cities in America. I consider this ranking, where Seattle doesn’t make the top 10, a good indication of which cities will be “hot” in terms of attracting tech workers and other footloose young workers. It may also be an indication that too-expensive, too-congested, politically-symied cities like Seattle have passed their moment in the Suds.
My sense of emergent mid-size hot towns who will overtake techopolises and the Sunbelt Boombelt: Boise, Nashville, Providence, Cincinnati, Tucson, Boulder.
So who wins the beer sweepstakes? In order they are: Asheville, N.C., Denver, Portland, ME, Portland, Oregon, San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Richmond, VA.
Missing along with Seattle are the German-rich cities that brewed German beers, such as Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Missoula.Â
Seattle still does well as a coffee town, another magnet for footloose workers, though there are some surprises in these rankings, such as Santa Cruz, CA, and Olympia, which outrank mainstays like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, and Denver. The urbanist Richard Florida used to rank growth cities by their appeal to young tech workers. Among the once-favored Florida barometers: thriving music scene, outdoor attractions, bookstores, cuisine, pubs, major universities, and coffee shops.Â
All these indicators, random as they are, suggest that Seattle has passed its “hot” moment and needs to discover a compelling new economic strategy — tech having gone into eclipse, along with timber, Boeing, the arts, and affordable urban neighborhoods.
Discover more from Post Alley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Well, that’s one set of criteria!
One of my uncles was a brewmaster, working for a number of old-school companies after WWII. He was always interested in what people were making here, watching a shift from light beers to more complex and varied beers.
Another factor in all this may be that Seattle’s Gen Z workforce is drinking far less alcohol than their Millennial and Gen X predecessors. Much has been written about this trend and as the co-host of a local dive bar podcast, I am seeing virtually all Seattle area bars now offering a smorgasbord of non-alcoholic offerings. CBD seltzers, mocktails, and alcohol-free IPA’s abound!
For decades, we were trending 20-30 years behind San Francisco and LA, and now we seem to have caught up, even passing in some areas: Coffee, beer, chocolate, dining, e-scooters, waterfront embarcadero, progressive politics, tourism, music, tech, drag brunch, hard drugs, homeless problems, cost of living.
But now, we are behind the hot new rust belt heartland? Give us 20-30 years, I know we can do it.
Go east young man…..
… The underlying premise that it matters whether a city is attractive to employment prospects. That was part of an unusual balance of power between employee and employer, that we will look back on like we remember the young men with big beards and fancy haircuts, nice shoes and undersized pants.