What is the best micro-brewery

In your opinion, what is the best micro-brewery in America and why, using the beers as the sole determining factor.

My pick: Southern Tier, b/c of the 7 different brews i've had from them, they're all either top of class and/or very innovative and distinct

no such thing

theres soooo much to choose from, breweries that produce great Hoppy beers, crazy recipes (dogfish head) and breweries that make great malty beers...
If I had to choose...it would be lagunitas, oskar blues, bells, dogfish.

Great Divide. Beer is really good, and the people that work there are awesome!

SHORTS BREWINGS

www.shortsbrewing.com they have so many good and intavating beers

That's way too subjective and way too hard to decide.

All of them.

Coors

That is like asking who the most beautiful woman in the world is..........

No one answer for that question. Lot's of good choices.

beergolf said:

That is like asking who the most beautiful woman in the world is..........

No one answer for that question. Lot's of good choices.

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That's easy. The most beautiful girl in the world is the one you're looking after 4 pints.

We should do a march madness style bracket. Each week you get to vote on a round of breweries. This will surely determine a winner (and start a ton of arguments).

Haven't tried them all yet. Can't really answer. As I'm sure nobody else in the country could either.

maxam said:

We should do a march madness style bracket. Each week you get to vote on a round of breweries. This will surely determine a winner (and start a ton of arguments).

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too many microbrews. I think we'd have to have the BCS decide.

omg, ok then, what is your favorite microbrewery and why?

Best is definitely impossible, but for favorite I'd have to go for Heavy Seas (formerly Clipper City). Their beers are darn good, and it's abou 20 minutes from my house

tonyzahn said:

Best is definitely impossible, but for favorite I'd have to go for Heavy Seas (formerly Clipper City). Their beers are darn good, and it's abou 20 minutes from my house

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it's 20 mins from my house too. I like their imperials, but their normal line up I find a little bland. the brewery tour is good. you pretty much see the brewery and then just hammer as many beers as they will let you b4 the next tour starts.

If I want something out-there, I'd have to pick DFH or Stone. Switchback and Long Trail are my favorite "everyday" breweries.

Lately, I've been thinking Southern Tier. They're so outrageously tasty... their 'typical' beers like their pale and ipa are just so delicious, not to mention their 22oz bottle series.

Victory - Phila.

Bear Republic in Healdsburg, CA followed very closely by Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa. Both have outstanding brews, excellent people, and good food.

Those are my top choices locally but I am willing to go on a cross-country pub crawl to do an "official" test!

Ithaca has been steadily climbing on my list. Their new release, Thirteen, is possibly my favorite beer of all time.

troegs

Melnyk said:

troegs

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Went to a smallish ski slope near harrisburg over christmas. Only "craft" on tap was a troegs IPA, and I was very pleased. Had 2. Thanks PA.

I'd put dogfish head at the top, but there's a lot of other ones I love. Lagunitas, Russian River, Bells all top my lists. Is sierra nevada a micro? They do some fine work there, even if they're a bit big.

Happily, I've lived in central MI and Delaware and was able to catch both Bells and DFH on their upswing.

Rogue!

Consistently great beer, and their spirits aren't bad either, especially their Pink Spruce Gin and their Single Malt whisky.

I am surprised that no one has said the one in their garage.

Pizza Port, San Clemente, CA

The adventure brew hostel,La Paz, Bolivia. It's located at 14,000 feet. It is amazing. It's the highest micro brewery in the world.

The adventure brew house, La Paz, Bolivia. It's located at 14,000 feet. It is amazing. It's the highest micro brewery in the world.

davejr said:

I am surprised that no one has said the one in their garage.

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I thought that was a given ...

passedpawn said:

Victory - Phila.

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+1
(but it's in Downingtown, local for me)

I would have to go with Lagunitas as one of my favorites, plus I grew up right next to it. But coming up close is Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Russian River Brewing Company.

Always tryin new ones and getting new favorites.

Sothern tier and Great Lakes are my go to taps if the rest are schetchy.

Currently I'd agree with Southern Tier as my favorite, but not far behind are; Dark Horse Brewery, Troeg's, and Shipyard.

Hex said:

Pizza Port, San Clemente, CA

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I was just there on Sunday. I try to go about once a month to get my Fisticuffs fix....so good...

Free State in Lawrence KS. Their Oatmeal Stout and Copperhead are quality and they are doing a lot more experiemental stuff as well. And Josiah Miller might be the best IPA I've ever had.

It is interesting that we are at the point in our beer culture where there is a pretty continuous spectrum from micro to macro breweries...

(Some one asked if sierra nevada is micro, is stone? is sam adams? what's the line..?)

coypoo said:

Great Divide. Beer is really good, and the people that work there are awesome!

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I'm also a huge fan of Great Divide, even though I silently curse them almost every morning after a visit to their tap room. They love their big beers!

Hex said:

Pizza Port, San Clemente, CA

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I love Carlsbad and wasn't impressed with Solana Beach but I think I need to make the trip to San Clemente soon.

Personally if I had to pick a favorite brewery? Well, hrm. I mean what do we rate it on?

For overall range of quality products, I would say Ballast Point and Lagunitas are pretty well awesome. They both make some of my favorite beers and a good example of most every style.

But Alpine is also pretty cool...and.....ok I should stop here

I have a question for the big Lagunitas fans here... I've had Maximus a couple times and it's been pretty terrible every time. I love love love Sumpin Sumpin and their IPA is good too... have I likely just gotten bad bottles every time I've tried Maximus or is it just really so far out there that it's not for everyone? I mean... I'm a big fan of hop bombs and have put 12oz in a 5gal batch before and loved it, but maximus was borderline undrinkable for me.

been done....this was on beer advocate

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=380652