The first round of survey results are in! We asked you, the bourbon community, to partake in our short survey to rate different factors that affect purchasing bourbon in your state. These factors were timeliness of releases, price, everyday selection, breadth of limited releases, and overall buying experience. You can read about those factors and our preliminary data in the Intro of this series. As for the results, a lot of interesting data and comments were collected.

Some surprises

-Both North Dakota and New Hampshire rated very high overall, coming in first and third respectively. Granted they each had a small number of submissions, but it’s still saying something if the few people that took the survey all rated these state highly. We’ll see if these two states rankings change after the next round of results are collected.

Some lined up with our initial estimates

-As expected, Kentucky rated high (in the top 3 in every category) and had the most submissions.

-Both Texas and Tennessee performed well and confirmed preliminary data that they are some of the best states to buy bourbon in. Although, Texas suffered in the timeliness and breadth of limited release categories. Tennessee certainly benefits by neighboring Kentucky, but still has trouble getting limited releases just like every other state does.

-Living in a “control state” generally has a negative effect on your bourbon buying. Timeliness, everyday selection, breadth of limited releases, and overall buying experience all suffered, rating below average for these states. On the other hand, price rated highly pretty consistently across all control states, coming in between 3-4 in almost every state. Maryland, New Hampshire, and Oregon were the top three “control states.” It’s also worth noting that out of the six states we didn’t receive any submissions from, four were control states.

Some people have it bad

-If you think you have it bad in your state, folks that live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Washington probably have it a whole lot worse. Ohio and Pennsylvania had the second and third most submissions respectively and some of the lowest ratings. The pent-up frustration in those states is evident in the “colorful” comments many people left.

A few other notes

-Illinois rated high in every category except price.

-With California being such a large state, its rating (and comments) were quite diverse, yet still above average.

-Big surprise: Every state has a hard time getting limited releases the survey found. Only three states rated above 3.5 - North Dakota, Kentucky, and Illinois, respectively.

Is it safe yet to declare the best state(s) to buy bourbon in? Not quite. Current survey data does confirm many of our initial hunches as to which states are best, but there are clearly some gaps in the data points. Although the survey had a respectable number of submissions, more input is still needed. Please pass the survey link (http://www.breakingbourbon.com/best-state-to-buy-bourbon-results.html#statesurvey2) along to fellow bourbon enthusiasts and let’s see if in the next update we’ll be able to create an even more detailed picture. We would also like to thank everyone that already took the time to fill out the survey and the large number of comments that came with the submissions. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Below, you’ll find profiles of each state with their individual ratings and comments. Further down the page you can use a filter to see the big picture results and rankings for each survey factor. We hope you enjoy digging through the results.

Written by Eric - 06/2015

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York/NYC

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wash D.C.

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming