OT: Top Breweries in America
Slow day and thought others would appreciate checking this out.
2018 Zymurgy’s Best Beers in America Results:
Top Beer:
Bell's Two Hearted Ale - Top Beer Two Years in a Row
Top Breweries:
#1: Bells
#2: Founders
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/best-beers-in-america/
What's your favorite beer on the list?
What's a beer you love that didn't make the list?
I wish I could try them all, but my favorite on that list is Cigar City's Jai Alai IPA which came in tied for 12th.
Since expanding their operations, that beer has been wildly inconsistent. Damn it used to be consistently good though
I love both Bells and Founders but that list is abysmally bad. BeerAdvocate user-generated beer rankings are much more accurate (from my experience) and methodologically rigorous.
Looks like a list of the bigger, more well known micros. I have numerous small breweries in my area that I like better than anything on that list.
Do share. Always looking for some local suggestions (wherever that happens to be).
I'm not sure if you guys in the Midwest have access to Hop Valley beers, but if you can find them, I'd recommend almost anything they make. They're out of Eugene, Or. Citrus Mistress is one of my favs and they currently have a seasonal selection called Bubble Stash that's awesome.
I live in Washington state and, in general, the craft beer scene here is amazing. My favorite local brewery in town is called NoLi, they make great stuff, but I'm sure they're not shipping their beers across the country.
Cheers MGO Brethren!
I had Bubble Stash a few years ago when we were visiting Portland, and it was definitely awesome.
I live an hour north of Eugene, and Hop Valley, while decent, is probably only the 5th or 6th best brewery in Eugene alone (I'd put it behind at least Oakshire, Ninkasi, Elk Horn, and Falling Sky), not to mention what's available elsewhere in Oregon.
I'd highly recommend anyone who loves beer that hasn't made it to the PNW to do so immediately. I've traveled many places and tried a lot of different breweries, and the density of fantastic places here is nuts, especially if you find yourself in Portland or Seattle.
I've got a road trip planned starting a week from today that will take my wife and I through Montana, south into Denver for 5 days, and then back to Oregon via SLC and Boise. Once we're done with this trip, we'll have been to 13 of the top 25 breweries on this list, and I've already had ~40 of the top 58 beers they list. This list is missing a lot of great places - off the top of my head, I'd throw Modern Times (I went to their San Diego location, but there's a taphouse in Portland too), pFriem (45 minutes east of Portland), Fremont (Seattle), and Crux (Bend) on this list easily.
If you ever find yourself in the Iowa City corridor, Granite City in Cedar Rapids has some pretty decent offerings.
And if you find yourself in Anchorage, AK, Glacier City Brewhouse is a good place to stop too.
+1
However, more interesting to me is that this list tells us what we've known for a while in this state: there is some DAMN GOOD beer brewed here, and it's among the best in the country.
I agree that 3 Floyds Zombie Dust is good stuff. I've also liked Fresh Squeeze IPA, but...
Small local brewers like Solemn Oath here in Naperville aren't going to make it on a list like this. Solemn Oath has their version of a Belgian Wit out for the summer, White Van, and it's good stuff. Half Acre brews some great stuff too.
Solemn Oath is one of my favorites. I work in the area and we go there frequently. Have you had a chance to check out Scorched Earth in Algonquin? They have some excellent beers and are always doing new and unique things with IPAs and sours.
http://scorchedearthbrewing.com
Love Solemn Oath and Half Acre, never been to Scorched Earth. May need to try that.
We went to Half Acre for the first time last week. Great beer and food. Not my favorite atmosphere.
We hit Revolution on the same trip. It was awesome.
Someone mentioned Scorched Earth to me several months ago. Guess I need to go check the place out. So many microbrewers, so little time here in the Chicago area. Naperville Ale Fest is next month. I wonder if Scorched Earth will be there.
Two Hearted is great, so I cannot argue with that. Mostly I drink what I brew - I currently have American Wheat, Belgian Blond, Double-Rye Double-IPA, Oatmeal Stout and Koyt on tap.
I'm a fan of Billy's Good Time Jamboree. It's a close second to Trout Creek's Hemlock Avenue.
Kona is my favorite brewery. That’s a glaring omission, IMO.
Good place to drink a beer. Been too long.
The list is kind of meh since it's mainly just the biggest of the big craft breweries that are being represented. Does not equate to the best beers at all.
Interesting. One point of contention is that they were asking readers to rank their top commercially available beers. While many Michigan breweries have smaller batch really good stuff that either doesn't make the shelve in your large city far away, or might even be first run in brewery for purchase only, none of that is going to get picked up in a national ranking. As such this is simply a popularity contest.
Bell/Founders get out of Michigan to national supply because they make enough of it, whereas the really good small stuff gets used up semi locally. If you don't believe me try getting ahold of more than 6 Michigan breweries beers (maybe 12 total beers) from even a large craft brew store out east.
Most of the list is just round robin people voting for local favorites. Unless you honestly think there are only 2 Michigan breweries in the top 24 (albeit the top 2).
Russian River and Sierra Nevada are okay, but they made the top tier simply because they have a large CA distribution. That sort of also makes sense since many more local beers have a smaller distribution range and the local metro areas vote for their own favorites, hence the round robin.
Not disagreeing because your logic is apt, but curious what breweries in Michigan you think deserve to be in the top 24 nationally?
Agreed - no other MI breweries are top 24. I wish we had more, but we're just not there. Short's and Dark Horse are maybe just outside that, and Kuhnhenn used to be, but they seem committed to shooting themselves in foot.
Transient should be for sure IMO
World class NEIPAs, good stouts, and a wide range of sours/wild fermented/barrel aged funk
They just have a super small footprint. As do a million other amazing breweries in the country that could arguably be on a "best of" list
IPAs are trash and no one should drink them.
We also have domestics in a bottle available sir, is PBR okay?
PBR is never OK, neither for the taste nor the irony..
I too am soooo over the era of ALL IPA ALL THE TIME.
Odell Brewing is amazing. My favorite is their tree shaker peach DIPA (not listed). Fort Collins is an awesome town and Coach McElwain will vouch for me.
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja, Aquamarine Dream, Noel De Calabaza, La Parcela, and Calabaza Blanca should be on the list.
I don't like Jolly Pumpkin at all...
Every beer from Old Nation has been amazing that I have tried, the 2 best beers I have had are from them - M-43 and Boss Tweed.
I'm just happy Spotted Cow was not on the list. I purely dislike the beer due to everybody from Wisconsin acting like it's the bee's knees
So vastly overrated. It is not even the best beer from New Glaurus, IMO.
it's so average
IMO it's the worst beer by New Glarus. Their stuff is so awesome.
Spotted Cow is just Craft Bud Light. Which is why it's so popular. Mass appeal.
My palette is averse to IPA's and overloaded hoppiness, so I'm a Spotted Cow defender. It's my 2nd favorite WI beer. I actually like New Glarus' Totally Naked a ton better - much cleaner taste than Spotted Cow.
Damn it to all hell that I cannot edit "palette" to "palate".
Kind of like Oberon in Michigan.
List seems dated, although I find it humorous that these lists are always so subjective but front as some sort of objective measurements. Seems many of the craft nerds are caught up in the N.E./Hazy IPA craze which neither Bell's or Founders feature to the best of my knowledge.
Avery, Boulevard, Funkwerks
Nothing from state of Washington = ?
I have a hard time with lists such as this, because there are so many small breweries making great beer. There is so much good beer coming from Minnesota right now that I have a hard time drinking anything that isn't local.
That being said, Psuedo Sue from Toppling Goliath would be my favorite from this list.
Short's Brewery is not on this list. That is criminal, if you haven't tried it yet. Get Soft Parade, a fruit beer done correctly. No love for Dirty Blonde by Atwater either. As Meijer expands it's National footprint I'm sure more Michigan beers will end up on these best of list. If any of you end up in Midland, Mi. Check out Whichcraft, a nice little bar that specializes in serving Microbrews.
Short's Brewery has very limited distribution. They're not going to win a voting contest. Soft Parade is a fine summer brew, but Dirty Blonde is very pedestrian and doesn't stand out over any other wheat ales you could find from a hundred breweries.
Spring Aged Balsamic is not on the list. I know it's not a beer, but fuck this list without it.
Ascension Brewing Co in Novi is a great local spot for me. Fantastic sours and IPA's, plus the owner is a Michigan grad.
Those are both great. I love Right Brain in Traverse City and 3 Floyds in Indiana.
Favorite micro-micro brewery is Earnest is Toledo.
IPA = Pumpkin Latte
Dogfish Head FTW
Another hilarious thing about IPAs is that one friend drinking a horrible unknown IPA but plays it off like he has better taste.
IPAs have evolved a lot in recent years. They're not just bitter tongue decimating syrup bombs anymore.