5 best american breweries

so...as we know the craft beer segment has grown, what do you think are the five best american breweries. if its something way obscure tell us what you like about them. after a little thought and drinking (a hop rod rye--bear republic might make the list) i'll think of mine.

It is an impossible question for me to answer. There are simply too many, with too many variables, and my tastes change all the time. However, I am interested to hear other's thoughts so I can hear of new things to try.

Yeah thats a real tough one, it would be next to impossible to say who is best, but I'll go ahead and list some of my favorites.

1. Saranac (Upstate NY, love their Pale Ale!)

2. Bells (Michigan)

3. Blue Grass Brewing Co. (BBC, brewed in Kentucky)

4. Goose Island (Chicago, love their Honker's Ale)

5. SLO Brewery (San Luis Obispo, CA)

6. Otter Creek (Vermont)

7. Magic Hat (Vermont)

Of course you have to mention the bigger guys like Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, etc.

Let's hear your favorites.

Sean

thinking still...drinking still.. harder than expected. right now three of the bigger micros come to mind. you could probably guess at least two of them. i'll report back...

Geez, got any more brain busters? Ha...seriously this is a toughy. But if I had to choose, and this topic says i do: (also put a personal favorite beer from each)

1. Bell's
-Third Coast Ale
2. Alesmith
-Speedway Stout
3. Stone
-Imperial Russian Stout
4. Dogfish Head
-90 Minute IPA
5. Brooklyn
-Monster Ale
6. Great Lakes
-Dortmunder

Im sure that once I finish the new brews in my fridge this weekend my list will be out of order.

This one is tough!

Dogfish Head
Smuttynose
Stone
Weyerbacher
Ommegang

How much does one's local effect their choice? Do locals get the nod more then folks out there?

Dogfish
Stone
St Arnolds
Goose Island
Shiner

stone
bear republic
great divide
wynkoops
avery

A couple of these are local brewerys but I like them.

Saranac
Coopers Cave
Flying Dog
Sam Adams
Magic Hat

thought i'd add my favorite bres from each also. in case anyone wants to try them if they haven't already. BTW nice to see lots of locals in here. unfortunately no local breweries made my list, but there are three from within CO.

stone-my favorite IPA, as well as lots of other good brews
bear republic- black stout, hop rod rye
wynkoops- ESB on cask
great divide- yeti oak aged imperial stout, old ruffian barleywine
avery- all around good brewery, ellie's brown is my favorite american brown ale, their specialty beers are all very original and very good. Sam Avery is my brewing idol.

edit- honorable mentions go to ommegang, sprecher (bavarian black lager is amazing), dogfish head...many others

Too hard to say . . . the list evolves over time for me. I would have to say though that no matter what Deschutes and Bridgeport will always be in my top five.

AHU

I just found this site the other day, had to chime in on this one.

Victory
Long Trail
Alaskan Brewing Co.
Magic Hat
Ommegang

Not necessarily in order except for Victory. http://www.victorybeer.com/

Great forum

i only want to add one from ashville, NC: The Highland Brewing Company. (www.highlandbrewing.com)

They make a pretty good IPA and oatmeal porter, but their Gaelic Ale is really really good. In fact, the demand for the gaelic ale is so high, they are currently brewing and bottling that particular beer in Maryland (I think) until they can open up a larger capacity brewery in the mountains here in NC. All of their other flavors are brewed in NC, as well as the kegged Gaelic Ale.

They also have a Black Mocha Stout that I would like to try, but I have not come across in any store yet. I'm sure it's around, but I haven't looked TERRIBLY hard for it yet.

-walker

PS: their website gives ABV, IBU, and hop types used for their beers.

No way I can come up with my favorite 5, but I'm suprised no one has mentioned:

Rogue
New Belgium

And some smaller ones around here that are fantastic:

Lost Coast
Moylans

Keep em coming! It's fun to see what others like. Stone sure has a following here (with good reason!)

Cheers!

Bridgeport
Anchor
New Belgium
Sierra Nevada
Abita

drengel said:

stone
bear republic
great divide
wynkoops
avery

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I think you are too influenced by locality, there. 3 out of the 5 are right in your back yard. Unfortunately you may never try some really great stuff from Ommegang and New Glarus

I agree Great Divide is one of the top5, but not avery and certainly not Wynkoops. (This is coming from a Colorado born person, by the way (me)).

Definitely a hard one to answer. Let me try (in no particular order):

1. Sierra Nevada: Celebration and Bigfoot - need I say more?

2. Stone: IPA and Arrogant Bastard.

3. Smuttynose: Possibly my all-time favorite IPA, and the Shoals Pale Ale is mighty tasty too.

4. Victory: Hop Devil and Prima Pils are both delicious.

5. Lagunitas: Maximus is very unique. I like the IPA, too.

If I had to do this again tomorrow, I might include Otter Creek (Stovepipe Porter and Copper Ale), or Avery (very intereting IPA), or Anchor (Liberty and their Barleywine - Old Foghorn I think it's called). Now that I think of it, Rogue and Brooklyn Brewery deserve mention, too. Brooklyn Lager is very good, and their chocolate stout is nice too. So much for top five.

There's alot of good brew out there.

Where is Smuttynose? Seen it mentioned a few times.

And if you like Lagunitas IPA, you have to try Moylans IPA if you get a chance. It's probably my favorite IPA going right now.

There are so many, but here are a few in no particular order.......( I am from WI so most of these are local)

Sprecher

New Glarus

Calumet Brewing Co. (brewpub in Chilton WI)

Brewery Ommegang-Belgians to die for and one of the highlights of my trip to Cooperstown

Capital Brewery

Dog Fish Head 90Min IPA
If you haven't tried this one it's about $10 a four pack!
...and you will go back for more!
Harpoon IPA
Haven't seen that yet, but always been one of my favorites:rockin:
Samuel Adams Old Feziwig
Only available around the holidays, I await the return already!
Shipyard Blue Fin Stout
Haven't seen it in a while, but remember it well

Mindflux said:

I think you are too influenced by locality, there. 3 out of the 5 are right in your back yard. Unfortunately you may never try some really great stuff from Ommegang and New Glarus

I agree Great Divide is one of the top5, but not avery and certainly not Wynkoops. (This is coming from a Colorado born person, by the way (me)).

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yeah wynkoops is not deserving, i was there a couple weeks ago though and had a really enjoyable tasting session with an asst. brewer for wynkoops who used to work at great divide. a few of their beers are excellent, just not widely appreciated because theyre only available at wynkoops, including the ESB from the cask. perhaps ommegang or sprecher should have made my top 5 instead. but what can i say, a lot of the best breweries are in the rocky mountains and west coast. i don't really enjoy new glarus all that much, but its just my tastes, i'm not super into the fruity belgian styles they specialize in. however ommegang's belgians are quite nice, as are avery's IMO. personally i'm fond of the barrier breaking uniquely american microbrew style that has become popular recently (bigger is better) that i think dogfish head and avery had a part in creating. i do wish i could get more east coast brews though, would love to try magic hat and some others. btw dog-head doesn't make the list because sometimes they just take it too far and produce a unbalanced beer, sometimes its just right though. plus theyre beers are sooo expensive.

Smuttynose is in NH. I haven't made the pilgramage yet.

http://www.smuttynose.com/

All the American beer that I have tasted has been pretty much urine

Brewers United said:

All the American beer that I have tasted has been pretty much urine

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You either don't like beer or you haven't tasted much American beer other than BMC.

too many good ones, and too many i haven't been able to sample yet!!!!!

Brewers United said:

All the American beer that I have tasted has been pretty much urine

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i feel very sorry for you. are you in the u.s.? europe? wait til europe is importing tons of beer from american craft brewers and raving about it. (its already starting)

No drengal. I have tasted a lot of American beer and i stick my to myt statement that American beer is urine. I prefer grolsch, guiness, bodingtons or vb.

Also American bourbon whiskey is toilet water

That's some bold opinion, but to each his own. Is there a single beverage output by the US that does not belong in a lavatory?

Brewers United -- I see you prefer vb to all other American beer? I drank a lot of it when I spent a month in Australia/NZ, and in my opinion it was not much better than PBR. It tasted good because it was hot outside, but it sure doesn't hold a candle to any of the American craft brews mentioned in this thread. Plus it cost twice as much!!

Just my opinion

That may be true but VB is better than any other commercial Amercian beer. I will agree that many commercial brewies cant hold a candle to many craft breweries. And also beer from Australian craft breweries taste better than anything America can produce.

This is hard, especially with so many that I havn't tried but here goes...

Stone
North Coast
Bridgeport
Bear Republic
Rogue

Brewers United said:

No drengal. I have tasted a lot of American beer and i stick my to myt statement that American beer is urine. I prefer grolsch, guiness, bodingtons or vb.

Also American bourbon whiskey is toilet water

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Sorry, that's just being flat out blind.

American breweries have come a LONG way in recent years. The breweries you mentioned are certainly good ones but you seem pretty narrow-minded. I have faith you'll change.

Hop Rod Rye? Stone IPA? Pretty much anything by Dogfish Head? Come on......

Brewers United said:

That may be true but VB is better than any other commercial Amercian beer. I will agree that many commercial brewies cant hold a candle to many craft breweries. And also beer from Australian craft breweries taste better than anything America can produce.

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I'm trying to figure out how you have tried so many American beers. Your statements are based on some personal agenda and not the facts. I'm not saying we make the best beer in the world but I am saying that the craft beer industry in America has dramatically improved the over all quality of American beer.
I think you need to chill. Great beers are made all over the world including Australia and the United States. Be open minded and see what America has to offer.

RichBrewer. I agree. there is a lot of good beers. And there probably is a few good American beer but the beer from America I have tried such as Budweiser, Boston Beers, Red Hook Ale brewery etc havent been really all that great so I agrre that there may be a few good beers from America I just have been put of American beer by a few bad ones.

Brewers United said:

RichBrewer. I agree. there is a lot of good beers. And there probably is a few good American beer but the beer from America I have tried such as Budweiser, Boston Beers, Red Hook Ale brewery etc havent been really all that great so I agrre that there may be a few good beers from America I just have been put of American beer by a few bad ones.

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Why does Boston Brewing keep winning all those international awards then?

Brewers United said:

RichBrewer. I agree. there is a lot of good beers. And there probably is a few good American beer but the beer from America I have tried such as Budweiser, Boston Beers, Red Hook Ale brewery etc havent been really all that great so I agrre that there may be a few good beers from America I just have been put of American beer by a few bad ones.

Click to expand...

Brewers United said:

I prefer grolsch, guiness, bodingtons

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Good luck! Give me a decent well made micro beer from a US Brewery that cares about quality as opposed to those three mass produced yellow, brown, and black 'urine' products you've mentioned from Europe!....
I've drunk all the US quality beer i've found in the UK. It's all been great! (Yes, it almost hurt saying that )
I'm waiting to try a decent Australian beer, I've haven't tried Victoria Bitter, I've only had crappy mass produced lagers - but i KNOW they are out there! I haven't condemned the whole of Australasia just yet.......

Brewers United said:

... I prefer grolsch, guiness, bodingtons ...

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Okay, now I think you're just trolling here. I like a Guinness, but Grolsch and Boddingtons? Talk about beers that have little taste! The only people I've ever seen ordering Boddingtons are drunk frat boys and even drunker college girls.

On a more serious note, this is a hard pick! My vote is (in no particluar order):

Flossmoor Station (brewpub)
Goose Island
Great Lakes
New Glarus
The Great Dane (brewpub)

If I were relegated to having only five brewery's beers to drink for the rest of my life, these would be my choice. Fortunately, I won't have to.

In no particular order:

Sierra Nevada
Harpoon
New Belgian
Flying Dog
Magic Hat/Long Trail (a VT tie)

I don't love all of Long Trail's beers, but Double Bag is possibly the best winter beer i have ever had--It's billed as a double alt, but it is soooo smooth you would never know it's 7.2%.

I also don't love Magic Hat #9, but their Single Chair ale is great as is Fat Angel--two very drinkable decently hopped ales. They have a couple of good light summer beers as well.

Harpoon has just been a local staple in Boston for over ten years now and their IPA, October, Summer Kolsch and plain old ale are all just consistanly good.

Flying Dog and New Beligan are both solid CO breweries--wish we got Fat Tire back east and I wish you could still get Flying Dog's Imperial Stout.

Sierra is Sierra--they worship hops, so do I...

Honerable mention to Yuengling and Abita...

Anyone who uses the words "good American beers" and Budweiser in the same sentence is displaying ignorance... In a 24 year Navy career I have had the oppourtunity to try local beers from all over the world, and American craft beers (unavailable outside the US, and in many cases unavailable in many parts of the US) rank right up there. You obviously have either never been here or never tried regional brews here. VB is far superior to Budweiser But then again after a glass of Guiness or Flat tire, or Pete's, my piss would taste better than Bud.

Also keep in mind what you grow up on determines your tastes..If you grow up on Coors.. then any medium to full bodied beer is going to become an acquired taste.