OT: BEER Questions

Dark Horse is home base for me but I love going to Bells and New Holland

Southern CT, here. Craft brew landscape is expanding rapidly. Thimble Island (and especially their American Ale) is the best of it do far.

Nashville

Check out Black Abbey, they are really good and somewhat add to the mystique by only distributing their beer by tap(Supposedly they do some bottling now, but they're impossible to find).  

There's also tailgate brewing company that does a blacktop blonde that's a bit sweet for my taste, but pretty smooth.

Other than that there's a developing breweriy scene here, but they're not  that good.  Yazzo is the most famous, and then there's jackalope, and Blackstone(along with a couple of other minor players)  None are great and given that New Belgium distributes here in the grocery stores I don't find their offerings that compelling.  Harder to find micros can be found in the liquor stores, but you pay for the privilege.

Long story short, I really miss Michigan beer.

I live in Grand Rapids.     Home is walking distance to Harmony Brewing, and very, very short drives to Brewery Vivant, Founders, Elk, the original Hopcat, Grand Rapids Brewing, and some others.  It's wonderful.

My tradition is that I collect the 64 oz growlers from wherever I can.  I have about 30 of them from all over Michigan and Chicago.    They are actually displayed, on top of the kitchen cabinets.   Given that I'm almost 40, I CANNOT BELIEVE my wife lets me get away with this.  Its the only real "dude" thing in the house though.

THE BEST beer going right now is not from Grand Rapids, but Grand Haven.   Odd Side's Citra Pale Ale is the best thing out there.   It's perfection.    Beware, though, that they have another similarly named, but totally different beer that is not nearly as good.   The other one has the word Citra in the title but is a dark beer.   It's decent but not the same as the Citra Pale.

I miss the early years of Bell's during my Kalamazoo time in the 90's, and the old original tap room at Goose Island during my Chicago decade.

I live pretty close to Harrisonburg VA, the self-appointed beer capital of Virginia. Two breweries (Brothers and Pale Fire), another on the way (Wolfe Street), and a satellite taproom room for Three Notch'd. Pale Fire and Brothers both make really good stuff, but I don't think they distribute far. Otherwise, I'm usually drinking Dogfish Head, Ballast Point, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker, Bells, or my own poorly-made stuff. Only tradition I can think of is saving a Hopslam for Michigan's opening kickoff every year.

Lots of good options here in the Philly & south jersey area. Philly is also great for getting beers from anywhere (even get the Plineys once a year)

Victory and Troegs are IMO the best all around breweries. Flying Fish the most established in South Jersey. 

Best beers...too hard. I love beer and brew at home but unlike many I don't often drink IPAs and almost never drink the double or triple IPAs. One of my favorites in Schnieder Aventinus (dark, strong, German wheat beer). I love the strong Belgians as well (St. Bernardus, Chimay, Orval). Cool seasonal stuff is great too-Pumpking now, Mad Elf from Troegs in December.

If you're in MI and really want to try some funky beers unlike any other you'll have hit up Jolly Pumpkin (they don't actually use Pumpkin in the brew). It's in Dexter I believe, but fortunately the distribute here.

St. Arnold's

These guys have been at it for a while and crank out several good beers.

Endeavour Double IPA is great.

Their Divine Reserve and Bishop's Barrel series are always really good, but hard to find.

Searching for stores that still have Pumpkinator every October is a kind of tradition among beer loving folk in Houston...once it hits the shelves, it's gone.

 

Karbach

This is the new'ish craft brewery in town. Lots of good offerings like Hopadillo, Weisse Versa, and Hellfighter among others.

 

Buffalo Bayou and 8th Wonder also have some pretty strong offerings.

to only drink container beer. Never cared for tap beef, no matter what label it was.

Here in Minnesota we have the 3 S's:  Surly, Summit, and (August) Schell. Surly is known for its hoppy beers, Summit has a very well-rounded lineup, and Schell's brews lagers, usually either seeking to duplicate or play off of a particular German style.  Up in Duluth, Bent Paddle is brewing some great stuff, including my favorite ESB and a good IPA.

I do like you when I travel -- always buying something local, preferable on tap.

Boulevard is king in KC. Pretty decent stuff. I don't drink it too much though. Love the darker beers and they don't do too much. The only one I haven't seen mentioned is Sweetwater. I think they are out of Atlanta. Pretty good stuff.

I live in Portland, OR. Pick any of these and enjoy:

http://oregoncraftbeer.org/breweries/portland-area/

Beer trading is a good thing if you travel a lot.

Since I mentioned it I have some Heady Topper I am willing to trade for a bottle of Bookers 2015-1. In person trades, AA area only. Please I am not interested in trading for any beer just want to add to my bourbon collection. Thx

[email protected]

Columbia, SC

River Rat, Swamp Cabbage Conquest are the local breweries and all of them are super mediocre, especially being from GR. However, Westbook and Holy City are readily available and make some great stuff. Asheville is only 2 hours away too.

Jester King in Austin, TX...bomb.com Upland makes some great but damn tart lambics/wild ales (have acquired 6 different ones in the past month). 18th St. out of...wait for it, Gary Indiana. Doing some very nice things there. Toppling Goliath, Decorah, IA. Read up about Mornin' Delight (got 2 bottles in the recent release), KBBS, and Assassin. Their hops are also great, better than Zombie Dust (Pseudo Sue, King Sue, Zeelander, Pompeii, Sosus). Anyone here attending a Zwanze Day festival this Saturday?! Can't wait. Here in Iowa we're lucky enough to have a connection and in Elkader, IA I will be drinking the amazingness of Cantillon in a couple days.

If you come here visit a brewery you can't get out of state, maybe one that doesn't bottle. Go to Apline's brewery in Alpine and get some of the best IPA's in the world. Nelson, Keene Idea, Hoppy Birthday, Bad Boy, and Pure Hoppiness are world class. I would put them up there with alchemist or Lawson's any day of the week.

If you like barrel aged stuff and sours try Lost Abbey, their stuff is amazing. Modern Times and Societe are also breweries that shouldn't be missed. 

Also go visit White Labs. They make the yeast for the majoriety of craft breweries in the United States and they have their own brewery to show you how much yeast can change the taste of beer. Really quite an experience.

beer

One of my favorite things on Earth.

#CraftBeerMovement

1. Chicago and all of them are damn good but I'll say Spiteful Brewing or Pipeworks for my opinion.

2. Drink them all!!!

I've lived in Tampa for about 12+ years and the craft beer scene here has been growing steadily for years now. I know a few people have some animosity towards Cigar City after the whole Hunahpu fiasco a couple years ago, but I still think they have the best craft beers in Tampa. Jai Alai, Invasion, Tocobaga, Maduro, all great beers. They often have collaborations with many of the better known craft breweries (Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, others I can't think of at the moment).

Coppertail from Sarasota also opened a new brewery in Tampa not too long ago and their beers are delicious as well. Their Free Dive IPA is my favorite.

I don't really have any traditions when I drink. I just make sure to have some Cigar City Invasion Pale Ale on hand for Gasparilla every year.