St. Patrick’s Day is the time to hoist a pint or two with friends and family. And the pint they very well may be hoisting is Samuel Adams, ranked as the best perceived beer in the United States by adults 21+.
In the major markets examined for their beer preferences – New York City, Boston and Chicago – Samuel Adams also came out on top, scoring highest in its hometown market of Boston. This also marks an improvement for Samuel Adams in Chicago, who trailed Heineken last year. Heineken now sits in the #3 spot.
Samuel Adams, Guinness and Dos Equis are the only brands to appear on the national and all three local rankings. This is most notable for Dos Equis, which only appeared on the Boston ranking last year.
Guinness, which came in at #6 nationally, did much better locally, reaching number two in the tracked cities. Guinness took its biggest perception jump in Chicago.
All major beer brands were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?” For this research, all respondents were screened to be adults 21+.
YouGov BrandIndex measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
