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But that's the problem with beer advocate - for whatever reason, Beer Advocate skews against certain regions (including the Pacific Northwest). Not sure if it's because of where it's based, or who the primary reviewers are, but that's the case.
Oregon and Washington absolutely demolished at the North American Beer Awards (one of the - if not the - premiere beer competition in North America), and I think that's a more valid way to judge. Washington beers won 30 awards and Oregon won 25.
Also, just from common sense, the PNW is known as one of the top microbrew regions in the country - it's where the most hops are grown, it's where the first North American microbrewery was, it's where the culture is perhaps most mainstream etc. I can't explain what's going on with Beer Advocate, but it seems skewed.
It may be true that Beer Advocate does skew heavily against the Pacific Northwest and that PNW beers win a lot of awards, but you seem to be unaware of other great award-winning beers that are being brewed elsewhere in the country. I love PNW beers but Great Lakes microbrews offer more of a different, less hoppy style which are high quality in their own right and which some people may prefer.
Last edited by erikgreen32; 05-14-2014 at 11:49 PM..
Surprised to see the Greak Lakes (I'm loyal to the original text) winning so handily (small sample size, I realize, but), esp given that Southern Tier, clearly one of the best breweries in the Greak Lakes or otherwise, is here categorized as Mid-Atlantic.
(drinking a Southern Tier IPA as we type)
Bell's and Founders really that popular? I hear great things about Three Floyds, and that's one I've never tried. Is that the basis for the margin? I'll have to check back and read the comments, now, won't I
Given Southern Tier, Ommegang, Victory, Dogfishhead all being grouped together, I'm actually going to be a homer and go Mid-Atlantic. Had NY been classified with the Greak Lakes then I would've gone with CA. I haven't had enough PNW beers yet; I suspect there's nothing better than an IPA in that part of the country at this time of year.
For the 5 people who voted for the states listed as "Midwest" (or anyone else who cares to answer): I've literally never seen a microbrew that hails from these states. What are the best ones from there?
Has to be the Northwest... more interesting brews coming from there than anywhere else. Though CA has a historical claim because Fritz Maytag founded the first actual "microbrewery" when he revived Anchor Brewing in 1965 in San Francisco.
But that's the problem with beer advocate - for whatever reason, Beer Advocate skews against certain regions (including the Pacific Northwest). Not sure if it's because of where it's based, or who the primary reviewers are, but that's the case.
Oregon and Washington absolutely demolished at the North American Beer Awards (one of the - if not the - premiere beer competition in North America), and I think that's a more valid way to judge. Washington beers won 30 awards and Oregon won 25.
Also, just from common sense, the PNW is known as one of the top microbrew regions in the country - it's where the most hops are grown, it's where the first North American microbrewery was, it's where the culture is perhaps most mainstream etc. I can't explain what's going on with Beer Advocate, but it seems skewed.
Well that certainly may be true, I can't really tell what's going on either. At first I thought that maybe it was because the Pac NW (and the Intermountain West for that matter) isn't as heavily populated as the other bigger areas (Midwest, NE, CA) so maybe just not enough people rating the beers. But then you have breweries in relatively podunk places such as in Bible Belt Oklahoma getting a lot of ratings and having numerous beers making the list.
The link wouldn't work for the 2014 winners list and there was no 2013 list, but looking at 2012 winners for the WBC, it doesn't seem like the Pac NW "dominates". In fact if anywhere is, it is the Intermountain West, especially Colorado.
Same thing for the Great American Beer Festival. I see a lot from Oregon, but a lot more winners from CO. Though I'm taking both lists with a grain of salt because the GABF gave Miller High Life a silver medal in best American style lager, and the WBC gave Coors Light a gold in best American style lager and Michelob Ultra a silver. Steel Reserve got a gold in best American-style premium lager. Call me a beer snob but no, just no
Surprised to see the Greak Lakes (I'm loyal to the original text) winning so handily (small sample size, I realize, but), esp given that Southern Tier, clearly one of the best breweries in the Greak Lakes or otherwise, is here categorized as Mid-Atlantic.
(drinking a Southern Tier IPA as we type)
Bell's and Founders really that popular? I hear great things about Three Floyds, and that's one I've never tried. Is that the basis for the margin? I'll have to check back and read the comments, now, won't I
Yeah, I just went off of the OP's criteria for regions and he wanted NY to be Mid-Atlantic. I've never tried Southern Tier but I've heard good things about it.
I know Bell's and Founder's are pretty popular in the Midwest but going back to what I was saying before, probably not well-known outside of their primary distribution areas. Though I want to say I've seen it offered in a few restaurants in Southern California when I lived there.. it might have just been other breweries.
The problem is that a lot of microbreweries only have a regional distribution so someone in say San Diego may not know about or have had the opportunity to try Three Floyd's, Bell's, Founders, and New Glarus (all highly rated Great Lakes breweries) while someone in Chicago OTOH may not know about Green Flash, Ballast Point, or Bruery (all highly rated SoCal breweries).
Part of me sort of likes it. In a world of globalization and cultural dilution, it's nice to have something that distinguishes different areas of the country. I think it'd be a little boring if all the good beers were all distributed nationally.
Love Bells, Founders, and Ballast Point - so many great bears so little time
Best thing today is there really are some pretty stellar beers being produced all over the country
Excited for beer week coming up in these parts - Philly has really become a great craft beer town in the last 10-15 years - Victory kind of started the whole thing in these parts and just keeps getting better
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E, MD, NJ, NY, PA, D.C.
