We are in the heart of beer drinking season. The hotter the summer, the colder the beer. Just thinking about a cold brew makes me feel better on a day like today.
But the temperature isn't the only thing rising. Beer prices are going up, according to a Goldman Sachs report citing Nielsen.
However, not all beer prices are equal. Go Euro has come out with its annual Beer Price Index, and here are the "top best most" expensive cities in America to buy a beer in.
#1 NEW YORK
Well, duh. Everything costs more in New York. According to Go Euro, the price for a beer in The Big Apple is $5.20. That is the average between the price of a beer in a market ($1.44) and in a bar ($8.97--YIKES!). Go Euro says the average American beer drinker consumes 85 liters a year, or around 40 six-packs, meaning New York beer lovers spend more than $1,200 a year on beer.
#2 MIAMI
Miami is Hot Hot Hot! And so are the beer prices. (OK, so Buster Poindexter was singing in New York, but that is TOTALLY a Miami song). Go Euro lists the average price of a beer in Miami at $5.13. In a store, it's $1.29, and in a bar, it's as expensive as New York at $8.97.
Read MoreCraft beer brewers caught on the hop by summer heat
#3 SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco likes to think of itself as New York West, and high beer prices help! The average here is $3.97, a combination of a market beer at $1.46 and a bar beer at $6.48.
Read More Lagunitas Brewing is California dreaming
#4 BOSTON
Beantown is home to Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, and the average price of a beer here is $3.72, averaging a store price of $1.46 with a bar price of $5.98.
#5 CHICAGO
Beer in Chicago much cheaper than New York's, averaging $3.56. The price of a beer in a Chicago market is a mere $1.37, and in a bar? $5.76.
New York may be the most expensive place to buy beer in the U.S. at $5.20, but it ranks only fifth in the world. Ahead of it are Oslo ($5.31), Tel Aviv ($5.79), Hong Kong ($6.16) and first-placed Geneva ($6.32). Expensive beer may be one reason why Genevans don't drink that much of it, only 63 liters a year.
The drunkest city in the world, the place where per capita consumption is highest, is Bucharest, Romania. Vampires know how to party! Your average local consumes 133 liters a year, or well over 60 six-packs.
The teetotaler capital? Cairo, Egypt, a mostly Muslim city where your average beer drinker consumes only 11 bottles of beer ... a year. It's certainly not because beer is expensive. Go Euro claims you can buy a beer in an Egyptian grocery store for less than a buck. The irony is that the ancient Egyptians LOVED beer. They may have invented it, because there's nothing like an icy cold beer after a hot day building pyramids.
