Micro-brew Mecca

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If you've been surrounded by desert and heat for a while, I would run for northern Michigan as fast as you could. Nothing like being surrounded by tons and tons of trees and hills and rivers and lakes. And tons of good beer, and wine tastings, and nice restaurants, and great people. I've been up in TC the last few weekends and each time it's harder and harder to come home. Although we do have some really great breweries around the metro Detroit region as well.........
 
I'd have to go with Portland. Or a Nor-Cal to Portland trip... (North Coast, Lost Coast, Rogue, etc... plus you get to end in Portland and go nuts at all the local breweries/pubs) but that might be tough in just 3 days with a lot of drinking... or go to Boise, ID
 
carnevoodoo said:
I want to go back to the Midwest now. I want to drink the stuff I can't get here.
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Start Trading. I ship and recieve packages from the west coast all the time. I ship out a lot of Founders, Bells, Shorts, Dark Horse, Arcadia, etc....
 
this is hilarious....

everyone thinks where they live is the micro-brew "mecca"; when there are really only a handful of places in the country who can reasonably make the claim. Dude, you should totally go to Northern Michigan over Portland or San Diego for micro-brew....;)
 
Actually Portland probably has the most stuck up defenders of any city. Most of the breweries there are meh. About 99% of the Oregon beer that anybody outside of Portland likes is not from Portland. I would send someone to the Oregon Coast first and if they want an urban setting I would send them to San Francisco first.

I lived in Portland for years, believe me, I know what it is about. I just haven't intertwined my self esteem with other peoples' impressions of the city.
 
I spent the long fourth of July weekend in Denver and I must say it is a really great city for beer drinkers. I stayed downtown close to the 16th street mall (outdoor strip mall along the entire 1-2 mile stretch) where there is a free bus that goes up and down 16th street. Just jump on the bus and a lot of microbreweries are within walking distance of the cross streets. Our group visited these ones:

1. Great Divide (17th Anniversary DIPA is awesome)
2. Breckenridge (471 IPA and 2220 Red was good)
3. Wynkoop (Pale ale was really good and I had a good cask conditioned IPA off the beer engine)
4. Denver Chophouse and Brewery (Bourbon cask aged stout was great)
5. Rock Bottom (I know its a chain, but this was the first!)

If you can make the trip over to Boulder, its a beautiful drive, and you have to definitely hit Avery. Their Maharaja is one of my absolute favorite beers so being that close we had to go. I had SWMBO rent a car and we made the trip! Definitely worth it, just to see how small the operation still is and that they have been around longer than Stone and DFH! They just brew what they like and they have a heck of a barrel cellar where they do experimentation with sours, its pretty impressive. That was my favorite brewery of the trip. Talk to Phil he was an awesome tour guide and bar tender.

Then of course Ft Collins is beautiful and New Belgium is there. We didn't get a chance to make it up there, but we will plan on it next time.

Anyhow, Denver was a great city and I look forward to going back. Of course our next beer pilgrimage is Oktoberfest in September, but then the next one in the U.S. will have to be in Portland!

I don't think you can go wrong choosing either Portland, Denver, or San Diego.
 
remilard said:
Actually Portland probably has the most stuck up defenders of any city. Most of the breweries there are meh. About 99% of the Oregon beer that anybody outside of Portland likes is not from Portland. I would send someone to the Oregon Coast first and if they want an urban setting I would send them to San Francisco first.

I lived in Portland for years, believe me, I know what it is about. I just haven't intertwined my self esteem with other peoples' impressions of the city.
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ha...now that is quite laughable. I couldn't disagree more. Sounds like you surrounded yourself with a bunch of @ssholes while you were here.
 
How much is your group looking at doing outside of the brewery visits? This time of year I would hit up San Diego. Great beer and lots of pretty things to look at on the beach. :) If you want to do back 2 back brew pub tours go to Portland and take the brew bus for a ride.
 
uwjester said:
I might suggest Fort Collins. You can hit up New Belgium, Odells, Avery (Boulder), Left Hand (Longmont), and Oskar Blues (Lyons) all in 3 days easy. There is also a Budweiser brewery for your BMC friend to tour. Lots of green this time of year and it is still pretty cool.
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Isn't there also a Fort Collins Brewery :confused:
 
Beernip said:
How much is your group looking at doing outside of the brewery visits? This time of year I would hit up San Diego. Great beer and lots of pretty things to look at on the beach. :) If you want to do back 2 back brew pub tours go to Portland and take the brew bus for a ride.
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jjtouchdown.jpg
 
HoppyDaze said:
ha...now that is quite laughable. I couldn't disagree more. Sounds like you surrounded yourself with a bunch of @ssholes while you were here.
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That's an easy thing to do.

Srsly, you guys are way more annoying than the San Diego people (note that the San Francisco people who actually live in the best beer city are least annoying).

It goes like this.

San Diego Guy: Hey we have the best beer.
Neutral Observer: Really?
San Diego Guy: Yeah, Stone, Ballast Point, Alesmith, Lost Abbey
Neutral Observer: Okay

Portland Guy: Hey this is beervana
Neutral Observer: Really?
Portland Guy: Yeah we have Hopworks and Roots and Alameda...
Neutral Observer: Never heard of them
Portland Guy: Well have you heard of Widmer and Bridgeport
Neutral Observer: Yeah, they kinda suck
Portland Guy: Well what about Rogue
Neutral Observer: Aren't they in Newport?
Portland Guy: But they have brewed like 4 gallons of beer at Green Dragon!
Neutral Observer: Wow, that's something.
Portland Guy: But we won an internet poll with no restrictions on multiple votes from the same IP address!
Neutral Observer: Yeah but Ashville won that this year which kinda proves how stupid it is
Portland Guy: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
 
+1 for Colorado. I've been to a bunch of breweries from Denver to far West by Glenwood Canyon. Avery is amazing. They have 20+ brews on tap always. They have everything from the Maharaja on tap to their Mephistopheles. The people are nice, I talked to them about homebrewing for a while and they actually listened and gave some advice! Haha. You can get 5 oz samples for like a $1 a piece too. You'll walk outta there hammered, I did..
 
remilard said:
That's an easy thing to do.

Srsly, you guys are way more annoying than the San Diego people (note that the San Francisco people who actually live in the best beer city are least annoying).

It goes like this.

San Diego Guy: Hey we have the best beer.
Neutral Observer: Really?
San Diego Guy: Yeah, Stone, Ballast Point, Alesmith, Lost Abbey
Neutral Observer: Okay

Portland Guy: Hey this is beervana
Neutral Observer: Really?
Portland Guy: Yeah we have Hopworks and Roots and Alameda...
Neutral Observer: Never heard of them
Portland Guy: Well have you heard of Widmer and Bridgeport
Neutral Observer: Yeah, they kinda suck
Portland Guy: Well what about Rogue
Neutral Observer: Aren't they in Newport?
Portland Guy: But they have brewed like 4 gallons of beer at Green Dragon!
Neutral Observer: Wow, that's something.
Portland Guy: But we won an internet poll with no restrictions on multiple votes from the same IP address!
Neutral Observer: Yeah but Ashville won that this year which kinda proves how stupid it is
Portland Guy: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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That is one broad brush you are painting with there...

You sound like a total prick; go away would you?
 
Yeah, and you weren't speaking in broad strokes when you said Portland's beer and scenery blow the rest of the country away.

Tell us, where have you been in San Diego, San Francisco, North Bay, Wisconsin and Michigan? I have a feeling that you don't have the experience to compare Portland beer to anything (which is true of most of the Portland beer fanboys, if you get out it doesn't seem that special anymore).
 
remilard said:
Tell us, where have you been in San Diego, San Francisco, North Bay, Wisconsin and Michigan? I have a feeling that you don't have the experience to compare Portland beer to anything (which is true of most of the Portland beer fanboys, if you get out it doesn't seem that special anymore).
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did your Portland sugar daddy break your heart or something? you're pretty damn bitter about such a small topic. get over yourself.
 
I've been to all those places... can you believe it!?! Well, not Michigan...You talking about San Diego, SF and North Bay and implying that Portland is more smug than those places? That's really hard to believe...I think something happened to you here.

Portland is far superior IN MY OPINION when it comes to the combination of beer culture, lanscsape and outdoor activities.

Remilard: What happened to you in Portland? A vixen break your heart? Or a dude? Don't hate the player, sissy...hate the game
 
HoppyDaze said:
I've been to all those places... can you believe it!?! Well, not Michigan...You talking about San Diego, SF and North Bay and implying that Portland is more smug than those places? That's really hard to believe...I think something happened to you here.

Portland is far superior IN MY OPINION when it comes to the combination of beer culture, lanscsape and outdoor activities.

Remilard: What happened to you in Portland? A vixen break your heart? Or a dude? Don't hate the player, sissy...hate the game
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That joke about me being gay was funnier in the prior post when it was made the first time.

Where in those cities have you been? Let's see how qualified your opinion is.
 
not really the high road, just trying to get a rise out of you. ;)

lighten up, buddy. this is the internet, we're all @ssholes here.
 
At least my assholishness is based in reality and not randomly calling people gay when I realize they are right.
 
Uptight, nah.

Self centered, sure, but you would be too if you were me.

Hey guys, Roots closed. I am going to consider that to be an improvement to Portland's beer scene and they have now passed Des Moines to take the 37th spot in remilard's best beer cities in the US.
 
no comments aimed at you have been unsolicited...

takes two to tango

and the fact that you wouldn't know **** if it hit you in the face just makes it that much easier

:mug::off::mug::tank::ban::off:
 
I think when you said unsolicited you meant unreciprocated or perhaps unprovoked.

I don't want to discourage you from using bigger words than rape and hippie though. Good work for a Portlander.
 
HoppyDaze said:
I've been to all those places... can you believe it!?! Well, not Michigan...You talking about San Diego, SF and North Bay and implying that Portland is more smug than those places? That's really hard to believe...I think something happened to you here.

Portland is far superior IN MY OPINION when it comes to the combination of beer culture, lanscsape and outdoor activities.

Remilard: What happened to you in Portland? A vixen break your heart? Or a dude? Don't hate the player, sissy...hate the game
Click to expand...

If you want a bunch of good micro brews go to Portland. If you want some GREAT ones, come to Michigan. :D Seriously, look at ratebeer or beeradvocates top 25 or even 50, who ranks higher? Really beside the point because the OP wants lots of places close together so obviously the winner is Portland, San Fran, or San Diego. All three are worth make individual trips for.
 
Haha, this thread is priceless.

sycotik, let's be honest here. It doesn't matter if you go to Portland, Denver, Ft. Collins, San Fran, San Diego, Asheville or yourville...you have three days for this trip, if you went to just one (micro)brewery/brewpub per day you'll have enough beer. It sounds like you have a great trip with good friends coming up...enjoy!

Thanks for your service.
 
Did I miss it, or has this thread went 8 pages with no one mentioning the Seattle area?

WTF?

No offense to the rest of you all, but the best beer is here!!! :rockin:

J/K, but the area does have a great beer scene as well as a HBT member who opened his own brewery. I'm not one to be snobby toward any particular place, but I have to at least suggest my local area.
 
Stuff in Seattle is fairly spread out.

I still vote for Denver when it comes to stuff close together. The bottle fridge and the taps at Falling Rock are only a few feet apart.

Naked City is sweet though.

Portland has the best water sports and pretty good beer, if that is your thing.
 

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