Is your town a beer town?

I live in Santa Barbara, CA so every grocery store is pretty stocked with Firestone of all types. Even better, a brewpub just opened within walking distance of my house this month, but I've only gotten to go there once.

like has been said once, Michigan isn't too bad. I'm SE Michigan (Detroit) and I've got Dragon Mead (beat the belgians with final absolution), Kuhnhenn's which makes alot of unique stuff including the always amazing raspberry eisbock. a few other local places are the detroit, royal oak and rochester mills brewing co's, Motor city brewing, traffic jam and snug, black lotus, and Atwater berwing. there are one or two other little ones but I need to go to laboratory before I decided going to get a beer is a better idea :cross: Now if you're willing to travel there are alot more scattered around the state, like bells and dark horse and such.

crisis said:

Portland, OR.

Don't think there is a bigger beer town than Portland. Last I heard we had maybe 50-60 breweries total.

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I miss Portland, sooooo many options for good suds. Seattle has a few but not like Portland, but most of the good stuff we can get in bottles.

Also SE MI, in Ann Arbor. Definitely a beer town, with a very active Brewer's guild (I need to join that shizzle), a lot of specialty beers available in restaurants, stores, and bars (Ashley's and Connor O'Neil's come to mind), and 3 local micros: Grizzly Peak, Ann Arbor Brewing Co, and Leopold Bros.

Just need to avoid the college oriented establishments.

Victoria:

Home to the Great Canadian Beer Festival which starts today (I'm sooo stoked!)

Has its own chapter of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale).

Is home to many brewpubs...

• Spinnakers
• Hugo's
• Canoe
• Swans

And is home to a few good breweries...

• Phillip's Brewing
• Lighthouse Brewing
• Vancouver Island Brewery

If you are interested in home brewing in Victoria, just go talk to Ken over at Askim's Beer & Wine Emporium. He runs classes on all-grain brewing and can teach you a thing or two! They sell hops, White Labs yeast vials, grain (which you can grind on the spot), wort kits, kegerator kits...

A few other places for equipment and supplies I have used are:

• Hobby Beers and Wines
• Hamilton Hops and Grapes

If you want to brew some wicked all-grain beers at a local U-Brew establishment, the place you need to visit is Bedford Brewing. They have been in business for 10 years, and have developed the BEST recipes for brew-on-premises beers that I have ever tasted! Their Double-Chocolate Porter is one of my favorites...

Victoria is the beer-lover's capital of Canada!

Frederick's got a few breweries and a few microbrews... Beer town, perhaps. The city of Frederick was put on the map by Hempen Ale, which no longer exists in it's original form...

I went to Uni in Kalamazoo Michigan, while a few places have already been tossed out by erictlupus, there's a few restaurants that brew their own that don't distribute...

1.) Kraftbrau
2.) Ol' Penninsula
3.) Bilbos

Would echo that Ann Arbor and SE Michigan in general is good for beer. West Michigan is good too (Bell's, several microbrewries in Grand Rapids and Holland).

Sprecher's out of Milwaukee is great and they distribute in the Midwest and beyond. Great brewery tours if you're in the area.

Toblerone said:

Victoria:

Home to the Great Canadian Beer Festival which starts today (I'm sooo stoked!)

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Yeah, I was going to go to that. Actually I was supposed to be living in Vic by now, but instead I'm in Coquitlam taking medic courses. Have fun.

ColoradoXJ13 said:

Boulder is a beer town, Colorado is a beer state....LOVE IT!

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AMEN! Love being in Boulder

Oh ya, I have a HUGE selection here in Podunk, OH. Let's see... Applebee's, Red Lobster, Ralphie's (Applebee's clone), a steak joint, and 2 mexican restaurants.

So what will it be - Bud, Bud light, Bud Select, Miller Lite or Mich Ultra?

Thank goodness I know how to brew. In a pinch there's always the state store, and a World Market down in Columbus that both have decent selections of bottled brews.

There are some brewpubs down in Columbus, but I've only been to Gordon Biersch by Nationwide Arena. There's also Columbus Brewing Company, Barley's I and II, and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment.

ohiobrewtus said:

There are some brewpubs down in Columbus, but I've only been to Gordon Biersch by Nationwide Arena. There's also Columbus Brewing Company, Barley's I and II, and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment.

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Go to Barely's next time you get a chance, they have awesome beers

Richmond and Central Virginia area is becoming that way..

We have a few great "Beer Bars" - Sedona bar and Grille in Midlothian is a favorite.

We had a few restaurants that brewed their own beers. The only one left I think is a BBQ restaurant - Extra Billy's in Midothian. Their beer is pretty good (especially their Red)

We do have a number of Craft brews in the Richmond, VA area:

Legend Brewing - (one of the larger in the area, known for their Brown Ale,Great Octoberfest too.).
They are getting big enough they may start national distribution soon.

St George Brewing Company - (AWESOME PORTER)

Devil's Backbone Brewery

Some new ones I have heard of :

Midnight Brewing

Hardywood Park

Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery

http://www.virginia.org/directory/wineriesandbreweries/?regionid=0&categories=84&view=list

Looks like we have 18 in my area alone.. 42 in the state

Many more are coming as Virginia is experiencing a boom in craft brewers right now..
http://www.richmond.com/business/article_b2a296fb-6963-5491-9e26-ddadf4e78a6a.html

So not as good as some cities, but better than many, and getting better.

NE Ohio has Thirsty Dog, Great Lakes, and a bunch of other small breweries with good offerings. Going to start touring the area when the weather warms up.

Louisville's really coming along. We have a few breweries. A brew pub in our minor league ballpark (that's not owned by coors). Two bars on Draft's top 100. And if it's not a national chain there's never really a problem getting a good beer at a bar or restaurant. More than anything we're becoming a sour town. One spot always has more than one on tap and they get drunk by everyone, not just the geeks. We've had back to back Zwanze days. And in our two homebrew comps, one big one small, a lambic took BOS. Who'd have thunk it in KY?

OK, so I'll throw my hat in the ring for Boise. No where near some of these other places, but for a population of 200k, and fairly isolated, it holds its own. Being in the Portland, Seattle, N. CA "sphere of influence" helps. A lot of people still drink the usual, but every grocery store, and even a lot of gas stations have craft brews. We have 4 brew pubs that I can think of: Table Rock, Sockeye Brewing, Highlands Hollow and The Ram. Lucky 13, The Front Door, Bitter Creek all are great local spots with great beer selections, oh & the Taphouse, and also Fork. We have 2 local breweries, Payette Brewing and Crooked Fencce Brewing with tasting rooms/bars & they supply local businesses too. LHBSs are Brewers Haven and I think Brewforia has supplies, but they might just sell beers. You can walk into pretty much any decent restaurant and ask for a Ninkasi, and while every place may not have it, they at least know what you're talking about!

I think this is a pretty decent city beer-wise (and wine-wise too)!

Grand Rapids MI is definitely a beer town, actually voted as Beer City USA in 2012. Our main brewery is Founders, along with Brewery Vivant, Perrin, Grand Rapids Brewing Company, a 40 tap beer bar, and another 8 smaller breweries. Bells is only a short 45 minute drive away. Definitely a great brew city

I live in Homestead, FL (30 miles south of Miami) and this place is void of craft beers. There are Total Wines that sell a good selection but those are 20 minutes drive. There is Schnebly winery near me that just started to brew a few. No distribution yet, can only go to fill growlers.

I go to the University of Miami and there's a brewpub near them that makes their own called Titanic. Other than that the closest I can think of is Cigar City Brewery up in Tampa.

I live in Beervana. According to the Oregon Brewers Guild, as of 12/12/12 there were 51 breweries operating in Portland, more than any other city in the world, and 68 in the Portland Metro area. There are 133 companies operating 165 brewing facilities in 59 cities in Oregon. Oh, and the Willamette Valley is the second largest producing of hops in the country. Not a bad place for a beer lover.

Kind of

Well I'm in a small town with not a lot going on.
Industry is logging and some fishing.
Beer drinkers here?? Only the ones that don't drink too much whiskey.

No breweries. We've got a few membership bars like American legion, VA, Eagles, I forget what else. One actual bar in town, one right out of town.
The good news is that the one in town was recently bought by some new people. A dad and his kid. I was talking to the kid and his dad is a homebrewer who would like to put some in the bar.
They've upgraded a couple of the taps and are talking about getting rid of coors or coors light to make room for another quality tap. They rotate some of the good beer taps so that they can give some variety.
The kid was even telling me about using the water from a local spring along a gravel road out in the woods for brewing.
There is about a 1" pipe coming out of the hill with good constant flow that many people stop to get water from when they are going by.

Syracuse has really stepped up it's beer game in the last 5 years. A couple great breweries in the area (Ithaca, Middle Ages, etc.) and a couple great 60+ taps bars.

The Nation's capital has a pretty good beer scene, and it's getting even better.

For Brewpubs/Restaurants, we have Capital City, Gorden Biersch, Old Dominion, DC Chophouse, and in nearby Northern VA we have Mad Fox, Rock Bottom, Dog Fish, Hops, and a few others.

We have fewer packaging Breweries; DC Brau, 3 Stars, and I hear a new one is in the works. However, in the area (NoVA and MD) we have Port City, Heavy Seas, and a contract brewer.

In general, the bars here carry good beer. Most have have many intersting options on their beer menus, and I can name a dozen places that have 100+ beers (including bottles). Several Belgian restaurants in the area that have excellent belgians on tap.

So, we've got good beer bars and some brewpubs; and with a few more breweries, I think DC would be a great beer town.

I'm sure when you guys think of Salt Lake City and Utah in general, you say to yourself, "there's no way I can get a good beer anywhere in this state". Well, you would be wrong. Here is a list of what we have in and around Salt Lake and throughout the state. As a matter of fact, Brigham Young, the founder of the big religion here was said to be an avid brewer.

Park City Brewing
Pinnacle Brewing
Roosters Brewery
Six Degrees Brewing
Bohemian Brewery and Grill
Hoppers Brewery
Eddie McStiff's Brewpub
Moab Brewery
Telluride Beer
Roosters 25th Street Brewing
Red Rock Brewing Company — Park City
Shades of Pale Brewery
Wasatch Brewpub
Ruby River Steakhouse and Brewery
Avenues Proper and Publick House
Desert Edge Brewery
Epic Brewing
Four+ Brewing
Jack Mormon Brewing Co.
Red Rock Brewery
Squatters
Uinta Brewing
Utah Brewers Cooperative
Ganter Brewery
Highland Boy Brewing
Zion Canyon Brewing Company
Bonneville Brewery

Fort Collins, CO is an awesome beer town. For a town of only 140,000, we have an amazing assortment of breweries:

Odell
New Belgium
Fort Collins Brewery
Funkwerks
Equinox
Coopersmiths
Pateros Creek
CB & Potts
Black Bottle Brewery
And, yes, Anheuser-Busch is here, too

And there are several bars and restaurants with impressive draft menus:

The Mayor of Old Town (100 taps)
Tap & Handle (70ish taps)
Choice City Butcher (40ish taps, IIRC)
Taps Sports Bar (30-40 taps)
Cafe Vino (20 taps)
The Forge Publick House (10ish taps plus a bottle list of maybe 200?)

I'm sure I'm missing some -- they keep popping up.

Three more breweries are threatening to open in 2013 (Cactus Bend, Hoppy Dog, and BJs Pizza).

New Brunswick is an OK beer Town, has it's own Brew Pub (which is a big deal in NJ getting a Brewpub isn't easy in the Garden State) and a few nice bars a dozen or so taps.

NivekD said:

I'm sure when you guys think of Salt Lake City and Utah in general, you say to yourself, "there's no way I can get a good beer anywhere in this state". Well, you would be wrong. Here is a list of what we have in and around Salt Lake and throughout the state. As a matter of fact, Brigham Young, the founder of the big religion here was said to be an avid brewer.

Park City Brewing
Pinnacle Brewing
Roosters Brewery
Six Degrees Brewing
Bohemian Brewery and Grill
Hoppers Brewery
Eddie McStiff's Brewpub
Moab Brewery
Telluride Beer
Roosters 25th Street Brewing
Red Rock Brewing Company — Park City
Shades of Pale Brewery
Wasatch Brewpub
Ruby River Steakhouse and Brewery
Avenues Proper and Publick House
Desert Edge Brewery
Epic Brewing
Four+ Brewing
Jack Mormon Brewing Co.
Red Rock Brewery
Squatters
Uinta Brewing
Utah Brewers Cooperative
Ganter Brewery
Highland Boy Brewing
Zion Canyon Brewing Company
Bonneville Brewery

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Do you still have to belong in the club to get the beer in a bar. Sounds weird but I remember years ago the only place you get get beer over 3.2% was at the liquor store or in a bar if you were a member.

Still I love the state and would live there again in a flash if I could

Grand Rapids, MI. Beer City USA! I can't imagine it getting much better than here. There's a reason we are one of the top 10 craft beer vacation spots in the US. http://www.thestreet.com/story/11583476/4/10-best-vacation-cities-for-beer-lovers.html

In Grand Rapids (in no particular order):
1. Founder's
2. Brewery Vivant
3. Perrin
4. Shmohz
5. Hideout
6. B.O.B.'s Brewery
7. Grand Rapids Brewing Co
8. Harmony
9. Jayden James
10. The Mitten

Within 45 min (most 15-30)
1. Michigan Beer Cellar
2. Pike 51
3. White Flame
4. New Holland
5. Our Brewing Company
6. Odd Side Ales
7. Arcadia Ales
8. Rockford Brewing Co
9. 57 Brew Pub
10. Bell's
11. Old Boys Brewhouse
12. Saugatuck Brewing Co
13. Waldorff

I'm probably missing some, and I know of several opening up this year. It keeps getting better and better!

Oh yeah, we also have the 3rd best beer bar in the WORLD (Hopcat)! http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16713

Eugene: Great beer culture, great beer people, and pretty darned good football.

Madison, WI- a qualifier I would say as a beer town. In a beer state. Ale Asylum (not sold out of state but worth trying if you come o WI), Capitol Brewery, not too far from New Glarus, and Tyranena Brewing Co in Lake Mills. All quality.

Varmintman said:

Do you still have to belong in the club to get the beer in a bar. Sounds weird but I remember years ago the only place you get get beer over 3.2% was at the liquor store or in a bar if you were a member.

Still I love the state and would live there again in a flash if I could

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Nope...they changed that and you can go anywhere you want to now. And they are relaxing the gravity requirements as well.

FlyingHorse said:

Pittsburgh's much the same, and what few small brewers we have are so-so...Church Brew Works (just what the name says, a brewery in a big ol' church, with the fermenters right up on the altar), FOundry Ale Works (though I think they may have gone under), Penn Brewing, and the best of the bunch is tiny little East End Brewing. Some good beer bars, particularly if you like Belgians, and a couple of great sixpack shops. If I go to the Beer Cave, it seems like I can find damn near any beer someone mentions on this board (mild exagerration), and they'll let you mix and match to make 6ers.

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Was there about 3 months ago and saw a shirt in the Strip District
"A Drinking Town With A Football Problem"
I think that sums up the whole Pittsburgh experience.