That's the first beer I thought of.... Every time I drive to Baltimore to watch the Orioles and Red Sox play a series I make sure to do two things besides attend the games: Stop off and grab some Yuengling and visit the Basilicas.
Great city Baltimore is; too bad such a huge portion of the population is always suffering economically though.
I don't know if they sell Shipyard as far south as New York. But, I'd say Shipyard is hands down the best brewery in America.
I'd say Shipyard's at best the 4th best brewery in Portland, Maine--that's no knock on them, as things like their Longfellow Porter and the winter warmer (Prelude) are really great brews, but Portland is one of the premier brewing cities in the country.
1. Allagash is possibly the best brewery in America, and certainly the top wild ale and one of the top 2-3 Belgian-style brewers around (Russian River, Stone, and Bell's are near the top of my list, too, and Cigar City may be eking its way onto that list).
2. Maine Beer Company is equally awesome; they don't have very large production, but almost every beer they make is carefully crafted and very interesting. Their Peeper Ale is a truly fantastic American Pale, Zoe's a great Imperial Amber, and the Mean Old Tom (if you can find it) hangs with the best American Stouts. Novare Res in Portland is the place to look for them.
3. D.L. Geary's is the company that Shipyard tries to emulate, but Geary's is the original and does it just a bit better. Both have an All-fuggles pale ale as their flagship brew, but Geary's were the ones who traveled to England to study brewing back in the day and cultivated the fuggles crops in Maine, and they're still a little ahead of the game on how their beer tastes to this day.
Geary's, incidentally, is the oldest microbrewery in America east of the Rockies, so it's also got that historical interest going for it!
Shipyard and Casco Bay would round out the top 5, I'm not sure in what order (and talk about 2 breweries that have great winter warmers!)
Bar Harbor, Sheepscot, and Maine Coast Brewing would all be right up there with Shipyard if we extended discussion to the rest of the state.
And, of course, anyone going to Portland must visit the Great Lost Bear and Novare Res if they care at all about beer. The Bear, in particular, is a fantastic beer-lover's dream--60-70 taps with a really great selection that's heavy on local New England brews but always has a selection of great beers from around the world too, and good food to accompany them in a great beer environment.
