10 Best Beer States of 2011

9. Delaware
Number of breweries: 11
Capita per brewery: 81,630
Production in 2010: 735,442 barrels
Consumed per capita in 2010: 25.4 gallons
Delaware only wishes it could brew as much beer as Montana, but it has one item in its backyard Montana can't match: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

The Milton-based brewer produces roughly 17% of Delaware's beer and has a brewpub in Rehoboth Beach that still faithfully pours out its brews to the summer vacation crowd. Founder Sam Calagione's commitment to experimentation and forensic archeology has produced beers such as Midas Touch, based on residue found in the drinking vessels of King Midas' tomb in Turkey, and helped bring Dogfish Head to national attention through his short-lived Discovery Channel series Brew Masters.

Even Dogfish Head needs some help from other locals, including Old Dominion Brewing, Twin Lakes Brewing and Evolution Craft Brewing in quenching the average Delaware drinker's 25.4-gallons-a-year thirst for beer, which is the eighth-highest consumption rate in the nation. Fortunately for the tiny First State, Delaware's 11 breweries are enough to give it the 10th-best ratio of brewers to population in the U.S.

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