The best drinking city

[jrm59]

the lack of Philly in this thread is ridiculous. Great beer bars. Great breweries. its in the top 5 of US cities at least.

San Diego
Philly
Portland
NYC
Chicago

My feelings exactly! Philly is ridiculously awesome. No matter what area of the city you are in, good beer is bound to be close. It has been called "Brussels on the Schuylkill"

 

[realjd]

For beer? That's an easy one. San Diego. A few years ago I would have said Denver, but San Diego has quickly surpassed it and is quickly becoming the Napa Valley of beer. Stone, Green Flash, Port Brewing/Lost Abbey, Pizza Port, AleSmith, Ballast Point, Alpine, and 50-some others that aren't as big, all in San Diego County alone.

As for drinking cities, I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Key West yet. New Orleans and Savannah are both excellent places to get drunk, but they don't quite have the same awesome anything-goes atmosphere that Key West has.

 

[Jayhem]

For beer? That's an easy one. San Diego. A few years ago I would have said Denver, but San Diego has quickly surpassed it and is quickly becoming the Napa Valley of beer. Stone, Green Flash, Port Brewing/Lost Abbey, Pizza Port, AleSmith, Ballast Point, Alpine, and 50-some others that aren't as big, all in San Diego County alone.

As for drinking cities, I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Key West yet. New Orleans and Savannah are both excellent places to get drunk, but they don't quite have the same awesome anything-goes atmosphere that Key West has.

Miami south beach as well. I've never seen a Florida city with less law enforcement presence. Underage drinking abounds, people try to sell you crack in the middle of a busy street. I'm sure Key West is even more stupid crazy.

 

[realjd]

Miami south beach as well. I've never seen a Florida city with less law enforcement presence. Underage drinking abounds, people try to sell you crack in the middle of a busy street. I'm sure Key West is even more stupid crazy.

The difference between Miami and Key West is that KW does have a very high law enforcement presence, they're just extraordinarily tolerant. Don't openly do drugs, don't drive drunk, and don't be an aggressive panhandler and the cops leave you alone. Want to walk drunk and mostly naked down the street with a giant cup of beer? That's OK. It probably helps that Florida has no drunk-in-public law.

 

[Trophy_Brew21]

DC, at the top of the Washington "W" hotel, over looking the White House and the Washington Monument. Wrigley Field, Chicago!!! Next to Coors Field in Denver. And of course, anywhere in Montana!

 

[gstrawn]

Well I am a college student, and I probably don't have the same standards as many older people, but I've gotta say Athens, GA. The best downtown environment I've ever seen. 80 something bars in 4 square miles and a craft beer scene that's booming. Hell we've even won awards for partying!

 

[boswell]

Philly for the win. Pliny the Younger, numerous 120minute kegs aroung, beer engines, rare Belgians and the birth of Beer Week all within walking distance in a small(ish) town? I've never met such an educated and discerning group of beer nerds in my life.

 

[dkmitg]

I have to vote for Philly but I did love new Orleans French quarter. Baltimore has my honorable mention but it can be kind of intimidating to people who have never been because of the crime

 

[NateLTB]

Portland, Oregon all the way although San Diego is a close second. How can you go wrong with Rogue, Widmer, Deschutes, Full Sail, McMennamins, Lucky Lab, Bridgeport, Hair of the Dog, New School and many, many others. Plus there are a ton of people homebrewing and the public transportation is top notch. Throw in four, major seasonal beer festivals and I can't think of a better city for beer lovers. This weekend is the big Barleywine festival at Lucky Lab, anybody going to this?

I have not yet been to Colorado but I would imagine that it's beer culture is a lot like Portland's. I visited the Twin Cities in MN a few years ago and the only brewery that impressed me was Surly.

 

[spearko520]

Philly for the win. Pliny the Younger, numerous 120minute kegs aroung, beer engines, rare Belgians and the birth of Beer Week all within walking distance in a small(ish) town? I've never met such an educated and discerning group of beer nerds in my life.

tom peters has been turning this country on to belgian beer since he was at copa too- he's been knighted in belgium! micheal jackson is rolling
in his grave with the lack of philly boosters in this thread!

 

[cobbler]

Philly has been the top beer city in the past and it is definitely on the rise again. Here's a bit on Philadelphia taken from the Oxford Companion to Beer.

"Home to nearly 100 commercial breweries by the 1880s, Philadelphia was the reputed to be the greatest brewing city in the Western Hemisphere with a section of the city actually referred to as Brewerytown. But Prohibition effectively shut the industry down entirely, and subsequent economic woes worsened the damage.

 

[bmick]

I'm obviously going to say New York, but only because it's DRINKING city, and not beer city. It's an excellent beer city, with a HUGE homebrewing scene, but also it's an amazing cocktail/liquor and wine city. There are probably other, better, BEER cities out there (I mean, Denver, come on), but for all thing ethyl alcohol, NYC is as good as it gets. Also, just in terms of culture, drinking is like breathing in NYC.

 

[Jaysus]

Philadelphia, Baltimore, Portland Or, Portland ME, and Seattle are all fun drinking cities!

 

[Airplanedoc]

Munich, and Dublin

Actually Belfast is pretty good too

 

[Bobby_M]

A lot of this has to do with what kind of drinking you want to do. There's a big difference between alcohol culture and craft beer culture. Yeah, South Beach, NOLA and Cancun are great drunk towns but another "big ass beer" isn't my idea of a good drink.

My short list:
San Diego
San Fran
Denver
Philly
NYC
Minneapolis

 

[Headley_Lamarr]

A couple votes echoing sentiment already stated:

New Orleans - constant party in the Quarter (I'm not a fan). But, they have an incredible cocktail culture. I've been a lot of places, but New Orleans takes the cake for having dive bars accustomed and not put off by a patron ordering a proper cocktail (Sazerac, Ramos gin fizz, etc.).

Portland - just incredible beer scene. You pretty much can't be a good restaurant there without an incredible selection of top notch local brews. Great breweries and great craft beer bars abound.

Chicago - I'm biased as I live here now. But, Chicago blends a lot of New Orleans and Portland. Breweries, craft brew @ bars/restaurants, and beer festivals are booming here. That, coupled with a big population has made the beer scene here crazy. There are no shortage of good cocktail bars either...though they tend to be higher class than my point about New Orleans.

 

[david_42]

Portland has its pluses. When I moved to Oregon, I was going to hit every brewery and brewpub in the area. Can't keep up with the openings. On the minus side, OLCC and the three-tier distribution system really bite.