America has never been of one mind when it comes to beer, and a look at what people are searching for across the country makes that abundantly clear.

Using Google Trends data covering April 2, 2025 through April 1, 2026, Innerbody looked at beer brand search interest in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The results offer an uber-interesting snapshot of which beers generated the strongest relative search interest in each state during that 12-month period.

One important distinction before we get to the beer. Google Trends measures search interest, not actual beer sales or consumption. So when we call a beer a state’s “most popular,” we’re talking about the brand that generated the strongest Google search interest among the beers analyzed, not necessarily the beer residents bought or drank the most.

And with that out of the way, things get way more interesting.

Stella Artois was the undeniable star of our state-by-state survey, taking the top spot in Arizona, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

That’s 13 markets for the Belgian lager, an impressive showing for an imported brand competing against some of the biggest names in American beer.

Bud Light remains a force to be reckoned with. It generated the most search interest in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and West Virginia. And despite all the turmoil the Anheuser-Busch brand has experienced in recent years, its strong showing suggests that Bud Light has rebounded in America’s beer consciousness.

But the real fun begins when you move beyond the national heavyweights.

Colorado went with New Belgium Brewing’s Fat Tire, a beer with deep roots in the state’s craft brewing history. Massachusetts favored Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams, while Minnesota searched most for the regional classic Hamm’s. Washington State stayed close to home with Rainier Beer, and Pennsylvania and Oregon both showed surprising interest in Rolling Rock.

Wisconsin, a state where beer is practically a food group, stayed close to home with Milwaukee-born Miller Lite. Vermont was interested in Labatt Blue (who knew?), Montana went Italian with Peroni (a head-scratcher), Wyoming chose Carlsberg and Maine opted for Pacifico (another head-scratcher).

Then there are the brands that fit their states almost too perfectly.

California’s most searched beer was Corona, while Texas went with Dos Equis. Missouri, home to Anheuser-Busch’s historic St. Louis brewery, favored Budweiser. New Mexico chose Coors, while North Dakota went with Coors Light, two brands with deep Colorado brewing roots.

Guinness also had a surprisingly strong showing, finishing first in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Michelob Ultra topped Alabama, Nevada and Oklahoma, while Keystone Light claimed Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Blue Moon took Alaska and Utah, and even though D.G. Yuengling & Son, America’s oldest operating brewery, is most closely associated with Pennsylvania, Yuengling landed Michigan, yet another reminder that Google search behavior doesn’t always produce the geographic loyalties you might expect.

That’s also what makes this kind of data both fun and unpredictable.

National beer rankings tend to tell us which brands dominate America as a whole. State-by-state search data reveals something considerably messier and maybe more interesting. While regional loyalties still prevail, imports show up in unexpected places, and a beer doesn’t have to have a huge national sales profile to command attention locally.

It also underscores how different “popular” can look depending on how you measure it. Sales data tells us what Americans are buying. Google Trends tells us what they’re curious enough to search for.

And sometimes what Americans are searching for says just as much about the country’s beer culture as what they’re actually drinking.