

More than a quarter of dollars spent on beer in Columbus goes to the “craft” category, according to data recently released by Nielsen.

The study, which looks at a year of sales data ending in late June, ranks Columbus in the top ten nationwide for craft beer consumption by dollar amount, coming in ninth, four points behind Cleveland. Portland of course tops the list – the state’s sales are creeping up on 50% craft beer dollars, 20% of which is brewed locally in the state.

Favoring local is a trend reaching beyond the Oregon borders — the Nielsen study reveals that locally-made is a priority for 22% of beer drinkers, compared with 14% of wine drinkers and only 5% of spirit drinkers.

Nielsen also shows craft beer accounting for 11.9% of the total dollar volume of the beer category as of last month, a slight increase from the 11% figure most recently issued by the Brewers’ Association for 2014.

You can read the rest of the study on the Nielsen website.