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GREAT beer town... My issue is quality vs quantity. There was a day when Modern was a world class brewery, but those days are long gone. What are the top breweries these days?
In CA, tough to take on broader LA. Like anything else, there’s a mess load of great breweries and beers.
In my mind Los Angeles surpassed San Diego a number of years ago, at least when it comes to quality. San Diego's once-upon-a-time heavy hitters (Alpine, Green Flash, Ballast Point) are honestly a shadow of what they once were.
San Diego still probably has more of a "craft beer vibe" than LA though, which counts for something I guess.
From the cities I've been to - Portland OR is the best beer city. Some of the bars I've been to in Europe served Portland beers because they thought they were that good.
From the cities I've been to - Portland OR is the best beer city. Some of the bars I've been to in Europe served Portland beers because they thought they were that good.
Amazing beer town.
One thing I notice when going to globally recognized breweries in the States, is that you often hear different languages.
I.e There are always a handful of groups from different parts of Europe that are visiting New England in no small part to try Tree House (and other famous shops like Alchemist, Trillium, Hills Farmstead, Lawson Finest).
I imagine you’d get a lot of that in places like New England, Oregon, Washington, California.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SWEATSHIRT
Yes, Boston does have a number of relatively average breweries these days. So do most cities/states outside of Vermont.
But I'd put the ones I mentioned earlier (Trillium, CBC, Widowmaker, Vitamin Sea) against all but the absolute best breweries in the country. I'd also probably add Jack's Abby to the list if we can count them as Boston.
Yeah, none of these are all that great to me. Vitamin Sea and Trillium are very good, but not at the tops in the country, heck, not even New England. CBC I don't even think are good. I used to go to their sour day thing, but they're just meh.
I'd take Long Live over any of those, honestly. I mean, if we're expanding "Boston" all the way to the South Shore.
Lamplighter is straight bad. Mighty Squirrel, well, I could never get past that sample they pushed on me at Buks of their protein beer. I heard they dumped that schtick.
Well since you asked... Inner Southeast neighborhood from around Division St. to Burnside St. via 9th Ave. is a 30 minute walk (or you can take the streetcar which goes straight down 11th/12th). On or a few blocks off this stretch are the following:
Breweries - Vagabond, Baerlic, Ground Breaker, Alter Ego, Away Dog, Rogue, Chuckanut, Cascade, Modern Times, Hair of the Dog, Ecliptic, Wayfinder, Mt. Tabor, Brewery 26, Mt. Hood, Lucky Labrador
Taprooms - APEX, Beermongers, McMenamins Barley Mill, Loyal Legion, Golden Cat, Beer, Neighbors Taproom, Coopers Hall, Schilling Cider House
I count 26. I'm sure there's more I'm missing. There are similar "brewery districts" like this elsewhere in the city like in the Pearl and Mississippi/Williams area.
Seattle is a great beer town, but Portland is definitely better, imo.
It's kind of splitting hairs here. There's a similar number of breweries in SE PDX, and they are a little more evenly distributed and spread out, but Ballard still has an edge for sheer density of breweries packed into one compact and condensed industrial district. Overall, though, I'd give the edge to Portland as the slightly better beer city. Seattle feels like Portland's cosmopolitan older sister, always aspiring to be a major city, while I prefer PDX's more cozy, pedestrian-friendly scale and setup.
But left off of this discussion are other beer cities in either state that I actually prefer over the big metros. Bend, OR is on par with Asheville for breweries per capita, and Bellingham, where I live, isn't far behind. They're much smaller than Portland or Seattle, of course, but are outdoor adventure destinations filled with tons of tap rooms- and people wanting to escape the big city for a few days....
Yeah, none of these are all that great to me. Vitamin Sea and Trillium are very good, but not at the tops in the country, heck, not even New England. CBC I don't even think are good. I used to go to their sour day thing, but they're just meh.
I'd take Long Live over any of those, honestly. I mean, if we're expanding "Boston" all the way to the South Shore.
Lamplighter is straight bad. Mighty Squirrel, well, I could never get past that sample they pushed on me at Buks of their protein beer. I heard they dumped that schtick.
Maybe I'll try it out the next time I'm driving through Providence.
Not saying it's the best, but it took way too long to mention this one in a thread for beer nuts...
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