Who makes the best beer in the world?

Yakima 728
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Oddly enough,we've become the craft beer mecca of the world. Even some of the folks I knew on the Cooper's forums came here fron AU to see what it's really like,& came to the same conclusion that I related from time to time. IOW,the differences between our beers & the old styles they're used to drinking/brewing. They're atitudes are def changing towards modern brewing.
As for the best...
US
Germany
England
AU
Belgium
Not necessarilly in that order 100% of the time...:mug:
 
I hadnt really thought about this since i was younger and all i had to drink ever was what was on tap at TGI Fridays. Since exploring so much into the beer world i really this that the US craft beer scene makes the best beer. Period. My taste for delicious Belgian beer makes them a distant second.
 
USA, now. Any beer that you can find anywhere else in the world can be found here. Other than nostalgia, there's no difference between the examples being produced here, and some are even better. I became a beer drinker in Germany and for years opined to go back. Now, I wouldn't even think of it. Why limit myself to German beers only?
 
phenry said:
Uh, wat.

Have you ever tried Boulevard or Schlafly?

If Boulevard makes bad beer then I guess I really have a thing for bad beer.
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Agreed. I really like Boulevard's beer. I get the sense that a lot of people think it's inferior, though.
 
Belgium is my favorite. Aside from some very off-the-wall US beers, I've had all the styles I like...classic Belgian strongs, wit, IPA, stouts...and they taste amazing. They also have amazing chocolate.

Second, I would have to say Germany. If I were to walk into 10 random bars in the US and just ask for a beer, I would end up with 10 Buds. Walking into 10 bars in Germany and doing the same, I end up with various Hefeweizen, Dunkelweizen, and Kristallweizen...and they always taste great. Just because a few breweries in the US make good beers, it doesn't mean they make the best overall...and it doesn't mean I can get them everywhere I go. Plus...Oktoberfest...I mean c'mon...

I'm not going to debate the whole inBev thing...
 
born3z said:
Agreed. I really like Boulevard's beer. I get the sense that a lot of people think it's inferior, though.
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If someone has only had their wheat, then yeah, I might be able to see some dislike of Boulevard. And since it's by far their most available beer, that's not too unlikely of a scenario.

But until you have any chance to try anything from their Smokestack series don't even begin judge their brewing ability.


But to actually answer the OP, I'd say the best available beer is right here in the USA. You can find just about every single style brewed overseas here stateside, and sometimes our micro/craft breweries outdo their foreign counterparts.
 
phenry said:
Uh, wat.

Have you ever tried Boulevard or Schlafly?

If Boulevard makes bad beer then I guess I really have a thing for bad beer.
Click to expand...

It's just a joke from another thread.
 
phenry said:
If someone has only had their wheat, then yeah, I might be able to see some dislike of Boulevard. And since it's by far their most available beer, that's not too unlikely of a scenario.
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I can see that. Boulevard Wheat was my " gateway" beer way back when so, I kind of have a soft spot for it.
 
In terms of creativity, quality and sheer numbers of breweries opening it's the USA hands down.

Even folks in Europe mention that some places, Germany especially, are mired in old ways of thinking, and a lack of adventure. But the USA has it all.

You should check this article from Slate on the state of brewing in Germany.

This is one interesting gem from it.

Further evidence of brauereisterben is depressingly easy to pile on. Berlin, which sustained some 700 breweries in the early 19th century, now counts only about a dozen firms. Amid the ruins, highly trained German brew masters are giving up and heading to the United States—even to sleepy Covington, La., where Henryk Orlik, a graduate of Munich's prestigious Doemens Academy, settled down in 1994. "I came here for the great American craft beer industry," the Heiner Brau founder told me recently over samples of freshly brewed pilsner in his charming little brew house just off the town square. Adding insult to injury, craft brewers in the United States have largely taken over the prestigious international-brewing awards circuit. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., founded 30 years ago by home brewer Ken Grossman in Chico, Calif., took top honors in a hotly contested 2010 World Beer Cup category, besting 68 other brands, many of them German. The bracket? German-style pilsner.
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I thought it was going to get into how American BMC envy had cut into the regional marketplace, like it is in places like Ireland, choking away great traditional beers in favor of being like the Americans.

I was surprised to see how much it's own Reinheitsgebot has choked off much of the innovation and creativity, while we in America are truly becomming the beer mecca of both innovation and honoring an maintaining more traditional german styles.

It seems that if the trend continues in Germany, it will be the American craft and home breweing which may be keeping these styles alive over here, while they dissapear in their home country.

But at the same time, if the Reinheitsgebot starts to loose favor over there, and some of the trad styles fall by the wayside, we could see a whole slew of innovation coming from over there, as those brewers have the creative shackles removed and are allowed to go crazy...hopefully they won't be making just american style over the top IPAs and stuff like that, but will evolve some of their traditional beers with non Reinheitsgebot approved ingredients. You could be getting creative even with standard trad styles like Bocks....you could get fruit bocks or spice bocks, or even I guess hoppy bocks even.

And then after a period of time of going crazy with experimentation there will be a backswing to and an interest in the trad styles again.....then there will be a balance like there is here in the US theses day.

But right now we're mecca....
 
+1 to that.

The USA is undergoing a complete craft beer renaissance due to the pursuit of perfecting styles from all around the world. Homebrewers like us are to thank for that, as most of the commercial brewers in the craft industry started out homebrewing just like we did. Personally, I think it's exciting.

There's a tremendous amount of pride in local and regional beers in Europe. On my last trip to France, it was fine to find all of the Leffe Blanche, Affelgem and Stella in every bar (gotta love InBev), but there was damn little home produced beer around.

I much prefer the selection just up the street. 85 craft beers on tap at any given time and about a thousand more in bottles at a great gastropub in Jacksonville, FL.
 
SittingDuck said:
Worst:

, Midwest
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What do you mean the midwest? According to the latest issue of the Michigan Beer Guide we currently have 97 breweries and/or brewpubs in operation or opening within the next few weeks. The list of Beer Advocate's top 100 beers and Michigan has 6.


We're home to some pretty well known breweries with somewhat natl reputations. Bell's, Founder's, Dragonmead, Short's, Jolly Pumpkin, Kuhnnen's. Those beer's suck to you?

Michigan has more LHBS's per capita than any other state (I can count 10 in a 45 minute circle around me- including 3 places in the tiny town of Port Huron that I used to live in, less than a mile apart.

In the greater Detroit area I can think of at least 6 active homebrew clubs, not to mention the fact that the largest single group of homebrewers on here are from Michigan....

And that's just Michigan.....Now even counting Chicago, Ohio, Missouri's beers, Millwaukee...These Midwestern Cities/States make bad beer to you????
 
That's a tough one...

Civilized US
Germany
England
Belgium
everything else
Deep South (with a few notable exceptions)
 
passedpawn said:
U.S.

In that order. If I was stuck in another country and was limited to only their styles I think I'd get sick of it. The variety here is unmatched anywhere else.
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I wonder why anyone would think anything else.

The sheer number of breweries here is overwhelming, fostering competition, inspiring creativity......

The title looked like it was asking for a specific brewery, who was thinking of a foriegn one?

Not me.
 
Funny thing about Belgium is that you'll spend far more time trying to find good beer than actually drinking the stuff. So much of the beer there is entirely local, unless you drive out to the brewery, don't bother looking for it.
 
Revvy said:
What do you mean the midwest? According to the latest issue of the Michigan Beer Guide we currently have 97 breweries and/or brewpubs in operation or opening within the next few weeks. The list of Beer Advocate's top 100 beers and Michigan has 6.
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Whoa, big fella-- I didn't say "the Midwest," which by the way is a big part of why I put US number 1 on my list (Bells is an amazing brewery), I said " , Midwest" which is a very specific place making a very specific kind of flavored wheat beers at a purported nanobrewery. (See guilty confessions thread). Bad joke from another thread--shouldn't have co-mingled and caused confusion. :eek:


Revvy said:
Bell's, Founder's, Dragonmead, Short's, Jolly Pumpkin, Kuhnnen's. Those beer's suck to you?
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You know, I would have no idea, because I CAN'T GET THEM HERE!!!! I'll tell you what sucks, what sucks is I can't try any of the Founder's beers, and I really want to.

Hey, maybe you could send me a few to show me how good those Michigan breweries are! That'll learn me! :D:D
 
My fault. For the record though, prison toilet wine is also not a country or region. ;)

So I guess no free Founders, then eh? :D
 
, Midwest is the worst beer producing location in the entire universe. They only produce wheat beers, lie about everything, and disparage the blue collar workers who support their economy. If I ever find myself in , Midwest, I'll add a pile of steaming adjunct to their Reinheitsgebot-approved trash.
 
Germany
US
Belgian
England
Ireland

There are some beers from other countries that I like, but for the most part, I prefer the top three the most in my list.
 
Airborneguy said:
Sittingduck is also hitting what I'm throwin' at him.
Click to expand...

Hard to miss for anyone who read the last 6 pages of that thread :)

But I'd go USA, Germany, England for the OP
 

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