Is your town a beer town?

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Portland, OR.

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

South Carolina is pretty weak brewery wise. I really really miss Oregon .

 

[joshpooh]

My area is definantly not a beer town. I live in North Central West Virginia, and we only have one micro brewery within an hour drive. Grant it the place makes really good beer, but one brewery does not make a beer town. Many bars, even some of the larger ones only have BMC or maybe BMC plus Corona and Newcastle. The funny thing is the few bars that have good beer selections sell alot of good stuff b/c they are getting all of the people that drink the better beers.

 

[Ryan_PA]

You're talkin' 'bout my hometown now! I was just there two weeks ago and tried some of Stoudt's newer offerings. Wish I'd have known about UBW!

16) Yuengling - a little further away, but VERY established
17) Iron City - wrong side of the state, but their Light kicks BMC's ass

Also:

18) Iron Hill Breweries (several of them now)
19) McKenzies (2 locations in Philly area - decent beer bad food and service)
20) Yards Brew Co
21) Flying Fish (across the river in NJ, but still a good local)


And, for anyone doing a google search, Sligh Fox, should be spelled Sly Fox. That is good stuff...

 

[Ryanh1801]

I think I have like 5 micro brewery's within 20 min.

 

[crown_cres]

most people drink molson/bud here i like freddy's brew pub in kelowna myself

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

The Barley mill brewpub in Penticton is good and Salmon Arm has a new brewpub that I hear is good.

And Jack brews decent beer at Freddy's, though his selection is a bity lacking. To many people ordering Bud at a brewpub can do that. Did you know Jack is a retired Labbatt's brewmaster? 35 years as one.

 

[Bosh]

All of the microbreweries/brew pubs I've seen in Seoul only serve:
-Mediocre dunkel
-Mediocre helles
-Mediocre weizen

And they all taste almost exactly the same

Except for one place that has a 8 beers, 7 of which are watery and mediocre and one of which is an awesome but very inconsistent Belgian gold ale (8.5% alcohol).

 

[robbase9]

I like to think of a beer town as a town that has easily accessible decent-to-good beer. I think Tucson, AZ fits the bill. Every restaraunt I go to, even Applebee's and Chili's, has at least one microbrew or seasonal Sam Adams on tap. Plus there are 4 or so MicroBrew restaraunt/pub places in town. It isn't anything big here, but it's much more enjoyable than Florida where i used to live.

I'm visiting Florida now for a month and everywhere I go places seem to have about 5-7 beers on tap. But they're all the same, everywhere. Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, Mich Ultra and Amber Bock. The places that do get adventurous throw in a Yuengling, Heineken, or maybe a Sam Adams. You have to go to Old Chicago or one of two bars that I know that carry more than 1 craft/import beer. And there's 3 million people in this area.

 

[CBBaron]

I think the beer scene in cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland have really improved in recent years. They are still mostly BMC cities but there are a number of jewels to be found if you know where to go.
Cleveland has a great microbrewery in Great Lakes which has a really good brewpub attached. Right around the corner is Biermart which is a nice bar specializing in Belgian imports.
In the suburbs is a couple great brew pubs in Rocky River Brewing and Willoughby Brewing. One of the local resturant/bar chains carries 100 different beers. And my LHBS has more varietys of beer than I can count.
Definitely not a west coast or Colorado type environment but near as bad as it was just a few years ago.

Craig

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Also:

18) Iron Hill Breweries (several of them now)
19) McKenzies (2 locations in Philly area - decent beer bad food and service)
20) Yards Brew Co
21) Flying Fish (across the river in NJ, but still a good local)


And, for anyone doing a google search, Sligh Fox, should be spelled Sly Fox. That is good stuff...

22) Nodding Head - Samson St. in Philadelphia. Discovered this place this past weekend when down for my SWMBO's birthday event. Didn't have time to check it out, but we'll get back sometime.

 

[sphericalcamel]

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.

 

[david_the_greek]

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.

 

[Tenchiro]

Portland, OR.

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

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.

 

[RadicalEd]

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.

 

[Toblerone]

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!

 

[Kevin Dean]

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

 

[BrianP]

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.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Victoria:

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

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.

 

[ZWood15]

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

AMEN! Love being in Boulder

 

[ohiobrewtus]

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.

 

[strohs]

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.

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

 

[CDGoin]

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.

 

[Arrheinous]

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.

 

[pohldogg]

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?

 

[kingogames]

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)!

 

[andybeijing]

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

 

[Chuu]

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.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

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.

 

[HoppyDaze]

Kind of

 

[45_70sharps]

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.