New England Tailgating: Each State’s Favorite Beverage

New England tailgating is a time-honored autumn tradition. So what beverages are New England tailgaters crushing pre-game?

I should probably clarify before we move forward. This isn't about New England Patriots fans. This is about tailgating enthusiasts in the New England region. Some are New England Patriots fans, I'm sure. But this isn't about the team and its fans. I've already written plenty about them this fall: things you can do instead of watching them suck, and how now's a great time to quit football altogether.

The Shane Co. recently put together a piece titled Bottoms Up! These Are America’s Favorite Tailgate Beverages. Here's their methodology: "To identify the top searched tailgate beverage in every U.S. state, we started with a list of 36 popular canned alcoholic beverages. From there, we analyzed the search interest for those beverages during football season using Google Trends." Sounds good.

I'm less interested in the entire fifty states and more interested in our New England states, of course. So that's what I'll be digging into below. If you'd like to see how the rest of the country shook out, you can dig into the full study here. There aren't a lot of surprises, to my eye. Dos Equis in Texas and New Mexico, Tecate in Arizona and California. You know, what you'd expect in those states.

The surprises, at least as I see it, come from here in New England. There are, as there usually are in studies like this, some suspect states here in our home region. Keep scrolling to see which state is popping which can pregame and some of my thoughts on their beverages of choice. Oh, and speaking of cans, keep your eye out for Harpoon's Golden Cans this fall. You could win some prizes!

Blue Moon - I'm so old I remember when Blue Moon was still a craft brew you'd get on tap at the bar, served with an orange slice. Wild to think Connecticut tailgaters are crushing it pre-game. Wonder if they're rocking the oranges, too?

Smirnoff Seltzer - No surprise at all that the state that gave us "fat ass in a glass" is rocking the malt beverages before the game. Do better, Maine. Grab a Moosehead next time!

Sam Adams - Thank goodness. If the Commonwealth's tailgating choice wasn't something local, I was going to throw a fit. Instead, I'm going to crash your tailgate and throw back a few Sam Lagers.

White Claw - What's the saying? "Ain't no laws when you're drinking Claws?" Yeah, this beverage choice tracks for the Live Free or Die state.

High Noon - So far, half of New England has pivoted away from beer and toward hard seltzer for their tailgating beverage choices. Not making a judgement here, just making an observation.

Guinness - I'd like to rip on the Green Mountain State for not pregaming with one of their many fine local brews. But how can you criticize a pregame pint of Guinness?