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I agree with those saying the Colorado Front Range, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, and Boston... From my experience all of those areas have a good number of quality brews. I don't have a lot of experience with the local beers of the Midwest outside of the mass-produced macrobrews(Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City is a good one though) or the South, although I like Abita Brewing north of New Orleans and I've had some good beers out of Texas.
For Portland, I don't know if it's the absolute tops in the nation, but it's up there--and it's one of the things that shines about this town. Although some of the best larger microbreweries are located in other parts of Oregon--though they have brewpubs in Portland. Though there's so many quality smaller brews that are good in Portland and the surrounding area that aren't really available as much outside the area.
Widmer, Bridgeport, MacTarnahan's are the big ones in Portland, and Deschutes in Bend, Full Sail in Hood River, Rogue in Newport, and Ninkasi in Eugene are the other big Oregon ones. Hair of the Dog makes some great craft beers, and Laurelwood, Lompoc, Amnesia, and Hopworks are great notable local breweries. Fort George in Astoria and Caldera in Ashland are two of the best other regional brews--I'm seeing them more on tap in Portland these days and you can find them at local stores as well although I'm not sure if they're selling them outside the state right now.
San Diego has a really good craft beer scene, just too bad much of it revolves around IPA because I can't stand IPA's generally. But good beer scene overall.
Top 5 Best Beer Cities by Men's Journal:
1. San Diego
2. NYC
3. Portland
4. Philly
5. Chicago
My top beer cities
1. Denver Metro
2. Portland
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3. San Diego
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4. St. Louis
5. Chicago
6. Philadelphia
7. San Francisco
8. New York
Quote:
Originally Posted by SBCA
Ick! St Louis and Milwaukee are ground zero for terrible big-brewery watery american-style pilsner grossness. And, unfortunately, as a result, craft breweries have had difficulty making inroads in either of these places.
You have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to craft beer in St. Louis, but you are correct about the ground-zero of crap beer though.
19 micro breweries since 1991 with 1 more just being approved.
At least 3-7 craft beer events a month
AB-IBEV sales down; craft beer sales up in the STL Metro
Bars, Restuarants are having more craft beer available
Craft Beer specific bars are popping up throughout the city and metro
While St. Louis may not be the epicenter of craft beer in America we are certainly not a Budweiser city anymore either, and St. Louisans have fully embraced the craft beer movement and are not going looking back.
Ick! St Louis and Milwaukee are ground zero for terrible big-brewery watery american-style pilsner grossness. And, unfortunately, as a result, craft breweries have had difficulty making inroads in either of these places.
I wasn't saying the beers both produce are the best beers, just that those are the two most well known since they are the home of 2 of the biggest beers in this country.
I am partial to my home area of Boston.
Between Sam Adams (I know the beer is not all brewed here), Harpoon and to a wider area Allagash (Maine), Red Hook (based in Seattle but brews in NH as well), Smuttynose (NH) and Shipyard (Maine) are all solid breweries.
While St. Louis does produce some abominable mass produced swill, there are actually quite a few craft brewers in area that make remarkably good product. Schflay is very good. I really liked what Crown Valley Brewery (not actually in St. Louis). O'Fallon Brewery makes OK beers.
My favorite local brewery is the Huntington Beach Beer Company.
That being said, I think San Diego has some of the best craft brewed beer around.
Portland, Denver, Philly, NY, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and San Diego are all great. I think any beer lover would be happy in these metros as not only do they produce some great beer, but they have a beer-loving population to go with it.
Philly, Chicago, and NY are personally my favorite cities to drink beer in because along with the local brews, bars in these cities have a better, more varied selection of domestic and imported craft beers than any other cities in the US.
Portland, Denver, Philly, NY, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and San Diego are all great. I think any beer lover would be happy in these metros as not only do they produce some great beer, but they have a beer-loving population to go with it.
Philly, Chicago, and NY are personally my favorite cities to drink beer in because along with the local brews, bars in these cities have a better, more varied selection of domestic and imported craft beers than any other cities in the US.
Don't be a brat -- Budweiser and Miller are NOT crap beers! Bud Light is STILL my go-to beer no matter the situation, and they are well loved outside of this country. Just because they are cheap or "lite" does not make them "crappy"!!
He was right. They are crap beers. Compared to microbrews they are swill.
KC (as usual) it getting totally overlooked here. They have some great local beer and KC's Boulevard Beer has a huge footprint in the midwest. I wish it was available in the mid atlantic.
Quote:
Boulevard Brewing Company, based in Kansas City, Missouri was Founded in 1989 by John McDonald, Boulevard has grown to become the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest and due to the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev, Boulevard is the largest independent American brewery in the state of Missouri. Boulevard's beers are available in 20 Midwest and Great Plains states. Their flagship brew, The Unfiltered Wheat Beer won the Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008, and is the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest. All of their beers are bottle conditioned, meaning that a secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. With eight year-round brews, five seasonals and their Smokestack Series, a special collection of bigger, bolder, more complex beers that generally possess a higher content than their core brands, they are the 8th largest craft brewery and the 16th largest active brewery in the US. The brewery offers free tours from Wednesday to Sunday.
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