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A statewide comparison doesn't seem all that helpful because a city with a good craft brewing scene in a state with several other cities without one would be concealed by the average.
Two Brothers, Three Floyds, Front Street, Arcadia, New Holland, Lakefront, Bells, Capital, Dark Horse, Metropolitan, Revolution....well that's all I can think of but the Midwest has more than a few good companies plus Goose Island is good, not amazing but it's good.
Best beers by area:
Northeast-
Dogfish Head Brooklyn
South-
Thomas Creek
Good People
Midwest-
Founders
Great Lakes
Northwest-
Rogue
Big Sky
West-
Great Divide
Left Hand
I can think of few better than BK to be honest
Victory and Sly Fox to me are both better just to start with
Neshaminy Creek is another to be on the look for IMHO
Everyone is just going to vote for their region or the one next to it - most of these beers are extremely difficult to try from across the country, and let's face it...there are too many beers to try, period. I find it funny that people are saying the Great Lakes couldn't have good beer because of a tradition of mass-produced suds. Except Colorado/Coors, for some reason. I find it to be the opposite - there's a deeper-rooted brewing culture here in the Upper Midwest compared to everywhere else in the country. Old breweries are rehabbed, recipes are passed down from earlier generations, etc. I can't stand those ultra-hoppy IPAs they brew out West. They taste like rotten soda. Hops are grown in pretty much every state, get over it. No one touches the stouts brewed in this region (see: Founders, Central Waters), so obviously my personal taste will not be universal. I'd go with Michigan as the top state, at least on a per-brewery scale in my experience. Colorado is certainly up there, as is California (though it is more because of the top breweries, not on the per-brewery scale).
As for Europeans, an expat Londoner pal of mine went on a tirade one night when I asked him what kind of beer he wanted and listed some choices - "Just a %&$*@# ale! You Americans put 80 *@?#! flavours per pint! Honeysuckle and ham and double $^&*@# hops and malted barley and $&@#* pancake batter. Every single product! I just want a $^#&*)@! ale!!!!"
He later apologized for the outburst, but I thought it was hilarious, and gave me a bit of a peek back at our culture. We do stack powerful flavors on top of each other, often unecessarily. I tried to explain that after 100 years of Bud & Miller & Coors our collective taste buds were simply reawakening to excessive levels, but he wasn't having it!
Everyone is just going to vote for their region or the one next to it - most of these beers are extremely difficult to try from across the country, and let's face it...there are too many beers to try, period. I find it funny that people are saying the Great Lakes couldn't have good beer because of a tradition of mass-produced suds. Except Colorado/Coors, for some reason. I find it to be the opposite - there's a deeper-rooted brewing culture here in the Upper Midwest compared to everywhere else in the country. Old breweries are rehabbed, recipes are passed down from earlier generations, etc. I can't stand those ultra-hoppy IPAs they brew out West. They taste like rotten soda. Hops are grown in pretty much every state, get over it. No one touches the stouts brewed in this region (see: Founders, Central Waters), so obviously my personal taste will not be universal. I'd go with Michigan as the top state, at least on a per-brewery scale in my experience. Colorado is certainly up there, as is California (though it is more because of the top breweries, not on the per-brewery scale).
As for Europeans, an expat Londoner pal of mine went on a tirade one night when I asked him what kind of beer he wanted and listed some choices - "Just a %&$*@# ale! You Americans put 80 *@?#! flavours per pint! Honeysuckle and ham and double $^&*@# hops and malted barley and $&@#* pancake batter. Every single product! I just want a $^#&*)@! ale!!!!"
He later apologized for the outburst, but I thought it was hilarious, and gave me a bit of a peek back at our culture. We do stack powerful flavors on top of each other, often unecessarily. I tried to explain that after 100 years of Bud & Miller & Coors our collective taste buds were simply reawakening to excessive levels, but he wasn't having it!
Well at least there was always Yuengling
Also this past year in London I found many pubs that were publicizing their American Craft offerings as a selling point. American Beer has come a long way and there are truly some great beers all over the country today. To me a very good thing - albeit some concoctions are a bit overzelous
Also this past year in London I found many pubs that were publicizing their American Craft offerings as a selling point. American Beer has come a long way and there are truly some great beers all over the country today. To me a very good thing - albeit some concoctions are a bit overzelous
Can't get Yuengling here, but it's a decent cheapie where you can. Totally agree with you, I think we're pretty much the ones truly creating right now, but I still think his diatribe was funny and definitely hit some targets.
Location: Pittsburgh (via Chicago, via Pittsburgh)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CowsAndBeer
Everyone is just going to vote for their region or the one next to it - most of these beers are extremely difficult to try from across the country, and let's face it...there are too many beers to try, period. I find it funny that people are saying the Great Lakes couldn't have good beer because of a tradition of mass-produced suds. Except Colorado/Coors, for some reason. I find it to be the opposite - there's a deeper-rooted brewing culture here in the Upper Midwest compared to everywhere else in the country. Old breweries are rehabbed, recipes are passed down from earlier generations, etc. I can't stand those ultra-hoppy IPAs they brew out West. They taste like rotten soda. Hops are grown in pretty much every state, get over it. No one touches the stouts brewed in this region (see: Founders, Central Waters), so obviously my personal taste will not be universal. I'd go with Michigan as the top state, at least on a per-brewery scale in my experience. Colorado is certainly up there, as is California (though it is more because of the top breweries, not on the per-brewery scale).
As for Europeans, an expat Londoner pal of mine went on a tirade one night when I asked him what kind of beer he wanted and listed some choices - "Just a %&$*@# ale! You Americans put 80 *@?#! flavours per pint! Honeysuckle and ham and double $^&*@# hops and malted barley and $&@#* pancake batter. Every single product! I just want a $^#&*)@! ale!!!!"
He later apologized for the outburst, but I thought it was hilarious, and gave me a bit of a peek back at our culture. We do stack powerful flavors on top of each other, often unecessarily. I tried to explain that after 100 years of Bud & Miller & Coors our collective taste buds were simply reawakening to excessive levels, but he wasn't having it!
The Great Lakes region has some great hoppy IPA's too from many breweries. I love a good hoppy beer, in fact a good double IPA is one of my favorite kinds of beer, but I also like variety in styles. I find the upper midwest/great lakes region to have the best variety of quality craft brews, from IPA's to stouts and everything in between.
Why so many more votes for the Great Lakes than New England? Outside of the Pacific Northwest / Mountain West, New England has a lot:
I'm guessing that more people live in the Great Lakes area, and are just voting homerish. But then, most people aren't experts on the subject on a nation-wide level, and more just know what's in their backyard.
My vote went to New England: Sam Adams, Harpoon, Shipyard, Allagash, Smuttynose, Magic Hat, Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist (their Heady Topper beer is tops at Beer Advocate), Trillium, Maine Beer Company, Tree House, Longtrail, Cisco, Redhook and several others.
For being such small states, both Vermont and Maine offer an amazing array of local breweries.
A bit of provincialism demonstrated by the west coast in this thread. Perhaps you should get out more and explore the rest of the country.
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E, MD, NJ, NY, PA, D.C.
