I've lived in all three areas-- New York, mid-west (Minnesota), and Kooky Kalifornie, and I have family in the Chicago area. I can tell you this much-- the availability of beers is the worst on the west coast. Sure, there is a bunch of over-hopped IPAs and the like, but there is far less variety, in two ways-- lack of variety from the brewers, as well as a shortage of availability of brewers from other areas.
Heck, we can't get a bunch of stuff brewed in Colorado out here in California that is available in Minnesota-- like Breckenridge (my SWMBO loves the vanilla porter). That makes absolutely no sense to me...