Congratulations, Beer City, er “Beer Town.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, USA Today announced that Grand Rapids had won the newspaper’s “Best Beer Town” poll, hosted as part of the national media outlet’s push to crown America’s best in a host of business categories.
The online vote-driven poll surfaced in September, picking up the slack from the now-defunct Beer City USA poll, started by homebrewer Charlie Papazian, which has caused a fervor in Grand Rapids craft beer circles over the last few years.
The USA Today poll does not include numbers to gauge how well Grand Rapids scored over the other Top 10 cities in contention for the online title. If this screenshot from September is any indication, it was probably by a lot.
The contest rules allowed one vote per person every 12 hours.
“Grand Rapids — a riverfront city just east of Lake Michigan — has at least a dozen breweries and its convention and visitor bureau does a bang-up job of enticing beer drinkers, brewers and connoisseurs to visit,” USA Today wrote. “We lift our glass in congratulations to Grand Rapids.”
Second place went to Tampa, Fla. Third place went to Asheville, N.C., which Grand Rapids shared the Beer City title with after a tie in that poll in 2012.
Click here to see the rest of the Top 10 “Best Beer Towns.”
Source: MEDC