My brewery index piece cross-checked
758 US breweries against Google, Yelp and Foursquare to see which ones are actually still open. While building that
dataset, I also pulled every brewery’s Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook activity, on the assumption that a
bigger social media following would line up with the breweries doing best. It does not, not the way most people
would guess.
The real finding: follower counts track closely with how much online buzz a brewery generates, not with whether
it survives, and not with how good the beer actually is.
What I Actually Measured
Using the same 758-brewery list from the brewery index study,
I matched each one to its Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook accounts, then pulled public follower,
following and post counts. A high-confidence Twitter/X match was found for 429 of 758 breweries (57 percent), a
TikTok account for about 73 percent, and a YouTube channel for about 36 percent. Instagram could not be reliably
matched through this method for any brewery, which is a real gap I am flagging rather than papering over.
- 477 breweries had both a matched Twitter/X account with a follower count and enough Untappd data to compare against.
- Median follower count among matched breweries was just under 3,900, with a long tail up past a million.
- The same operational status flags used in the brewery index (still open, possibly closed, likely closed) were reused here to test whether social presence predicts survival.
The Real Signal: Followers Track With Buzz, Not Quality
The strongest relationship in the entire dataset is between Twitter/X followers and Untappd total check-ins.
Plotted on a log scale, the two move together closely (r = 0.68, n = 477, a statistically strong relationship).
Breweries with bigger followings simply have more people logging drinks at them.
That part is not surprising on its own, more followers usually means more brand awareness. What is more interesting
is what a bigger following does not predict.
Social Media Doesn’t Predict Whether a Brewery Survives
57 percent of still-operating breweries in the dataset had a high-confidence Twitter/X account, versus 53 percent
of breweries flagged closed or possibly closed by at least one of Google, Yelp or Foursquare. That is not a
statistically meaningful gap (p = 0.60 on a chi-square test). Having an active social presence did not separate the
breweries still pouring beer from the ones that shut down.
That is worth sitting with. A lot of brewery marketing advice treats a strong Twitter or Instagram following as a
survival strategy. In this dataset, it is not one, at least not on its own. The breweries that closed were, on
average, just as likely to have had an active account as the ones still open.
A Bigger Following Doesn’t Buy a Better Beer
Follower count and Untappd average rating actually moved in slightly opposite directions (r = -0.14, p = 0.002,
n = 477). It is a weak relationship, not a strong one, but it is real and it points the opposite way from what
brand-building logic would predict. Some of the most-followed breweries in the dataset, like Miller Brewing Company
at 211,034 followers, sit well below the site average on Untappd score (2.59 out of 5), while smaller, less-followed
craft breweries often out-score them by a full point or more.
The honest read: a big following is a distribution and awareness signal, not a quality signal. Popularity and
palate are different things, and this dataset backs that up at scale rather than as a hunch.
The Ten Most-Followed Breweries in the Dataset
| Brewery | State | Twitter/X followers | Untappd check-ins | Untappd avg rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deschutes Brewery | Oregon | 1,178,247 | 5.11M | 3.80 |
| Dogfish Head Craft Brewery | Delaware | 240,481 | 8.94M | 3.84 |
| Stone Brewing | California | 220,671 | 11.80M | 3.87 |
| Miller Brewing Company | Wisconsin | 211,034 | 3.67M | 2.59 |
| New Belgium Brewing Company | Colorado | 186,172 | 10.03M | 3.64 |
| Founders Brewing Co. | Michigan | 162,239 | 12.06M | 3.95 |
| Boulevard Brewing Co. | Missouri | 160,635 | 4.80M | 3.78 |
| Victory Brewing Company | Pennsylvania | 103,982 | 4.48M | 3.67 |
| Left Hand Brewing Company | Colorado | 100,300 | 2.85M | 3.71 |
| Oskar Blues Brewery | Colorado | 99,777 | 4.22M | 3.78 |
Most of the top 10 by follower count are large, decades-old, multi-state breweries like the ones absorbing the brunt of 2026s cost pressures covered in my
production-cost piece, not the small independents actually driving most of the closures the industry has seen since
2024. Scale, not social media savvy, looks like the real driver of a big following.
Download the dataset
The full breakdown, brewery name, state, operational status, Untappd/Google/Yelp ratings, and matched
Twitter, TikTok and YouTube handles with follower counts, for all 758 breweries in this study, is available as a
CSV for anyone who wants to check the numbers or dig into a specific state or brewery.
What This Data Can’t Tell You
I want to be upfront about the limits here rather than oversell the finding. This is not proof that social media
marketing does not matter, it is proof that raw follower count, on its own, does not predict survival or quality in
this specific 758-brewery sample. A brewery’s actual engagement rate, posting consistency, or how it uses social
media for real-world sales (event announcements, can release drops, taproom promotions) were not measured here and
could tell a different story. Instagram data does not exist in this dataset at all, which is a meaningful gap given
how visual the craft beer world is. TikTok and YouTube sample sizes (106 and 269 matched breweries respectively)
are smaller than the Twitter/X sample and should be read with that in mind.
None of this contradicts what I found in the cost crisis piece
or the brewery index. Rising input
costs and thinning margins are still the main pressure closing breweries down, per the wider industry contraction
that has hit even well-known names like Berkeley’s Triple Rock Brewery
and Park Brewery in Kingston upon Thames.
A loud Twitter account does not appear to change that math.
Where Breweries Actually Do Get Real Value From Social Media
None of this is an argument against having a social presence, it is an argument against treating follower count
as a proxy for brand health. The clearest, most defensible use case in this data is discovery and buzz, which is
exactly what shows up as the strong correlation with Untappd check-ins. If a brewery wants that kind of visibility,
the format matters more than the platform, my look at what Allagash gets right (and what Bud Light got wrong)
on social media is a useful companion read on the difference between a following that converts and one that
does not. And on the flip side, plenty of small breweries in this dataset are thriving on Untappd and Google
reviews with barely any social following at all, some of the names in my best-kept-secret beers roundup
fit that pattern exactly: great beer, small audience, no viral moment required.
If you are chasing craft beer culture beyond the big names, my Austin brewery guide
and the trend piece on breweries quietly going alcohol-free
are both built from the same instinct as this study: look at what breweries are actually doing, not just what gets
the most likes.
Top 10 on TikTok, and the Full Dataset
Want to check a specific brewery’s own follower and engagement numbers? Open the full searchable dataset, sort or filter all 758 breweries by check-ins, rating, social reach, weekly hours, or status.
Explore the Data Interactively
Hover any dot to see the brewery: Twitter/X followers on the x-axis (log scale), Untappd check-ins on the y-axis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do breweries with more social media followers get better reviews?
No. Across 477 breweries with a matched, high-confidence Twitter/X account, follower count had a weak negative correlation with Untappd average rating (r = -0.14). A bigger following tracks with more visibility, not a better-tasting beer.
Does a brewery’s social media following predict whether it stays open?
Not in this dataset. Comparing 758 US breweries, the share with an active, high-confidence Twitter/X account was statistically identical between breweries still operating and those flagged closed or possibly closed by Google, Yelp or Foursquare (57 percent vs 53 percent, not a statistically significant difference).
What does correlate with a brewery’s social media following?
Untappd total check-ins. Twitter/X follower count and Untappd check-in volume showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.68 on a log scale, n = 477), meaning breweries with a bigger online following also tend to have more real-world check-in activity logged by drinkers.
How was the social media data collected?
Handles were matched per brewery through search, then follower, following and post counts were pulled from each platform’s public profile data. Twitter/X handles were confidently matched for 429 of 758 breweries (57 percent), TikTok for about 73 percent, and Instagram could not be reliably matched for any brewery through this method, which is itself a limitation worth noting.
References
- Brewers Association, “A Year of Correction for Craft Beer, With Early Signals of Recovery” (updated May 29, 2026): https://www.brewersassociation.org/association-news/a-year-of-correction-for-craft-beer-with-early-signals-of-recovery/
- Brewers Association, “2026 Midyear Report: Pressure Persists as Signs of Stability Emerge” (July 22, 2026): https://www.brewersassociation.org/association-news/2026-midyear-report-pressure-persists-as-signs-of-stability-emerge/
