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Here's one of those rankings with a couple of good ones as the top 2...
To determine the best cities for beer drinkers, SmartAsset looked at data on microbreweries, brewpubs and bars for 296 of the largest cities in the U.S. We considered the total and per-capita number of microbreweries and brewpubs in each city, as well as the average Yelp star rating for these establishments. Our analysis also considered the number of bars per capita and the average price for a pint of domestic beer in each city.
1. Portland, Maine
The nation’s top beer city is Portland, Maine. The city is home to 17 microbreweries, one for every 4,000 residents – the highest per capita microbrewery rate of any U.S. city. Perhaps the most well-known of Portland’s breweries is Allagash Brewing Company, which reintroduced Belgian style brews to America in the mid-90s.
Other favorites include Peak Brewing Company, which specializes in organic brews, and Sebago Brewing Co., which has several brewpubs throughout town.
2. Asheville, North Carolina
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Asheville combines beautiful scenery with a vibrant music scene and, of course, great beer. The city is home to 19 microbreweries and brewpubs, making it one of just two U.S. cities that have fewer than 100,000 residents but more than 10 breweries. (Top-ranked Portland, Maine is the other.)
Any large city has multiple microbreweries that - in my experience - can be competing with the best of them, quality-wise.
Some of the best IPA beers I've had is being brewed right now in a brewery pub just a mile and a half from my home. They have only 8-10 beers - all produced right there - and I'd say a good half of them are exemplary.
And they are just one of many in the Metro Detroit area.
Location: Pittsburgh (via Chicago, via Pittsburgh)
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The craft beer movement has been so ubiquitous that you can get great beer pretty much anywhere in the US now. As far as "best cities" for beer, I think it is important to consider BOTH locally brewed beer (within the city) and distribution...aka what cities have other nearby towns/cities that brew great beer that is available in your city. Portland, San Diego, and Denver are all obvious craft beer havens, but places like Chicago also have fantastic local breweries (dozens and dozens in Chicago's case) but also have great distribution options (Chicago gets pretty much all of the great beer the Midwest has to offer, plus more selection of West Coast beer that doesn't quite make it to the East Coast). As far as up and coming beer cities, Pittsburgh is doing pretty well, Asheville is underrated, and Vermont is great.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125
1. Portland, Maine
The nation’s top beer city is Portland, Maine. The city is home to 17 microbreweries, one for every 4,000 residents – the highest per capita microbrewery rate of any U.S. city. Perhaps the most well-known of Portland’s breweries is Allagash Brewing Company, which reintroduced Belgian style brews to America in the mid-90s.
Other favorites include Peak Brewing Company, which specializes in organic brews, and Sebago Brewing Co., which has several brewpubs throughout town.
This, and it isn't really that close. Bissell Bros is tops in my book (nothing really beats Swish), Foundation, Oxbow, Rising Tide... on and on and on.
I try to jock Madison WI and Burlington VT whenever I can, and both have great breweries, but within the city nothing like Portland, ME.
Last edited by timberline742; 09-20-2016 at 01:43 PM..
Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Philly, St Louis, Cleveland, Madison, San Fran and Asheville
NC's largest cities do pretty well in terms of quality these days. It's a shame that NC will not be known as a craft brew state outside the state borders until a law prohibiting breweries from selling more than 25,000 barrels without going through a distributor are repealed. This is the main reason people outside the state generally don't know about the beer in it, and why despite having more craft breweries than any other southern state, the economic impact of craft beer in the state is not even the largest in the south.
I would like to add Golden, Colorado to the list. Six micro breweries in a city of less than 19,000.
Plus two great taprooms that provide access to many offerings from Denver, Boulder and the rest of the state.
ETA: Two blocks from downtown is the largest (by volume) single location brewery in the world. Although it is NOT craft beer!
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