Barring Maps…hic…I mean Mapping Bars

by Ben

A great series of maps using Google data has popped up in the past day or so looking at the occurrence of bars across the United States (hat tip to City Block and Floating Sheep).

I’ve reproduced some of the maps below from Floating Sheep (click for larger):

First up, total bar mentions on Google Maps by city.  Hard to see, but Chicago is the winner!

Chicago wins!

Does your area have more bars than groceries? You’re probably doing alright…I mean, how many different grocery stores do you want to go to in one evening?

Balogna or Beer?

There are some more fun breakdowns over at Floating Sheep, go check them out!

Over at City Block, the author wonders this:

Unsurprisingly, we see all sorts of concentrations of bars that correlate with population density – namely, cities.  Wisconsin, however, is punching well above its weight.   That well-worn drinking culture shines through.  Southern cities, conversely, seem a little thing based on their populations – perhaps a holdover from dry counties and other temperance movements?

I think there is certainly something to this, but I’d add another variable.  Some of the biggest bar towns also have access to something other areas of the U.S. don’t – copious amounts of fresh water.  Many of the best microbreweries (and big breweries, for that matter) have started around the Great Lakes.  Good water sure goes a long way towards making good beer.

To celebrate this wealth of data I suggest going to your nearest watering hole and raising a toast to Google data and all the folks who can crunch it!