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Chicago has vastly overrated breweries, including Goose Island. Stick with OH, MI and WI. And now, I'm done derailing...
IMO, you are way too definitive in your posts and don't seem to have an open mind.
First of all, West Coast IPAs have set and continue to set the standard for this variety of beer. You're really pushing it to say that the Midwest beats the West Coast for breweries. Between Portland and San Diego, then add in San Francisco and Seattle, well, they probably have the Midwest beat. That said, the Midwest (and specifically Great Lakes are probably pretty easily the second best brewing region).
Second, your comment above re: Chicago being overrated, is beyond ridiculous and makes me question your knowledge of brew culture. I don't even know where to start. Chicago is by nearly all accounts the best brew city in the Midwest based both on number and quality of breweries (if you're talking "qualitative" alone, Grand Rapids wins). Have you heard of Revolution, Half Acre, Pipeworks or Solemn Oath (not to mention Goose Island, Two Brothers, Three Floyds, Metropolitan, Lagunitas, etc.)? These former four are recognized as incredibly innovative, each creating fantastic varieties of craft beer. You seem like an IPA head so I don't know what to tell you if you do not recognize Revolution.
I will give you Michigan. Pound for pound it's nearly the equal of California, Colorado and Oregon. Wisconsin actually punches below its weight and Ohio is almost an afterthought when compared to Michigan and Illinois.
The best brew states in the Midwest are probably in some order of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, then Ohio. However, as much as I wish this were not the case, California beats them all and I certainly appreciate the hoppy West Coast IPAs they produce.
This actually proves without question that you didn't read a word I wrote.
Johnny-come-lately in terms of brewing - inarguably true. In terms of micros, there were many state-only breweries that were smaller in scale than many of today's "micros" that have been going for more than 100 years. For one example, Point Brewing was founded in 1857, and never sold outside the state until the 1990s. Won national taste competitions, is on the M*A*S*H opening credits, was a known quantity, etc., but they only brewed small batches for in-state (mostly central WI) distribution.
In terms of "modern microbrew culture," West Coast jumped on brewing and pretended it was a new thing, certainly. But across the country, especially in the NE and Midwest, most commonly in German-influenced areas, there have been small-batch breweries for most of the country's modern history. Just because it wasn't a thing out west, doesn't mean it never existed until they "invented" (re-invented?) it. Hell, it's all a Euro-copy anyway, when you think of it.
And Chicago, one of the biggest metros in the country, lags behind in terms of quality. Who cares about quantity? Isn't that the whole $^&*@# point when it comes to microbrews? You even admitted so much in saying that Michigan is qualitatively better. That's exactly what I was saying.
At this point, I doubt I'll have another IPA again unless someone offers it to me, or it's the only real option.
Regardless, in terms of a comparison, both OR and WI are top 10 in nearly every list I've ever seen, though I personally find OR overrated and WI underrated.
This actually proves without question that you didn't read a word I wrote.
Johnny-come-lately in terms of brewing - inarguably true. In terms of micros, there were many state-only breweries that were smaller in scale than many of today's "micros" that have been going for more than 100 years. For one example, Point Brewing was founded in 1857, and never sold outside the state until the 1990s. Won national taste competitions, is on the M*A*S*H opening credits, was a known quantity, etc., but they only brewed small batches for in-state (mostly central WI) distribution.
In terms of "modern microbrew culture," West Coast jumped on brewing and pretended it was a new thing, certainly. But across the country, especially in the NE and Midwest, most commonly in German-influenced areas, there have been small-batch breweries for most of the country's modern history. Just because it wasn't a thing out west, doesn't mean it never existed until they "invented" (re-invented?) it. Hell, it's all a Euro-copy anyway, when you think of it.
And Chicago, one of the biggest metros in the country, lags behind in terms of quality. Who cares about quantity? Isn't that the whole $^&*@# point when it comes to microbrews? You even admitted so much in saying that Michigan is qualitatively better. That's exactly what I was saying.
At this point, I doubt I'll have another IPA again unless someone offers it to me, or it's the only real option.
Regardless, in terms of a comparison, both OR and WI are top 10 in nearly every list I've ever seen, though I personally find OR overrated and WI underrated.
There's lots of good beers in the NW that aren't IPAs, though I agree that the overly Cascade hopped hoppy IPAs have become a bit too ubiquitous. Though at the same time, everyone knows that here, and there's been a backlash lately. But there's so much good beer here and so much interesting beer that there's plenty of variety--I see brewers using German and English hops for traditional styles, and then there's places doing Belgian styles or barrel-aged sour beers, or even different stuff like smoked alts or kolschs or chocolate stouts. And there's a ton of great beer bars/bottle shops for huge domestic/international selections.
Honestly though there's so many good new breweries opening up these days(both in the US and other countries), it's hard to really talk about the extent of local beers unless you spend a good amount of time somewhere. The beers like Widmer, Deschutes, and Ninkasi might make it out of the state in large numbers but there's so many smaller beers that are better. And I've found a lot of good beer from Michigan and Wisconsin lately--and at beer festivals out here(and the big beer bars) there is often good representation from that region, though I'd have to travel more extensively to get a sense of every brewery there.
Arguing about who has the best beer these days gets kind of silly, since there's a lot of places that have a ton of good local beer--and it's not like arguing about wine where certain regions can only grow certain grapes and even the same grapes can end up with different tasting wines when growing in a different area. Beer isn't restricted by location in the same way, so there's nothing to stop a dedicated brewer from making good beer almost anywhere. There's great beer on the West Coast, anyone who argues otherwise is confused.
Last edited by CanuckInPortland; 07-31-2015 at 11:13 AM..
I will give you Michigan. Pound for pound it's nearly the equal of California, Colorado and Oregon. Wisconsin actually punches below its weight and Ohio is almost an afterthought when compared to Michigan and Illinois.
Good post, but I would put Washington on that list too. It has the second most breweries of any state after California (despite having a much smaller population) and led the nation in new brewery openings this year: Washington leads the nation in new brewery openings - Beer News
Of course, not all of the new breweries are good, but there is a lot of really top notch stuff being produced in Washington. And it is definitely one of the frontrunners of the recent craft beer explosion (the first brewpub post prohibition was in Yakima, WA in 1982).
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