Many Birmingham residents would argue today that locally produced beer is what’s rescuing the city. Credit is due in part to the city’s four production breweries—Avondale, Good People, Cahaba, and Trim Tab.
Fort Collins, Colo., is more than just a Front Range college town—it’s also often referred to as the “Napa Valley of Beer.” And this city of just over 150,000 is part of the “Denver Beer Triangle.”
Named after a rock formation in the Arkansas River that flows through its downtown, Little Rock is a charming Southern town with a renowned foodie scene, and now, a growing beer culture.
A casual visitor to Tallinn’s spectacular medieval Old Town might think there are only two breweries in Estonia, Saku and A. Le Coq. Luckily, you don’t have to go far to discover a brewpub or a local producer from the burgeoning beer scene.
In the decades following Prohibition, breweries came and went in California’s capital. More recently, the recession closed a few mainstays. But when the economy recovered, the beer scene exploded, reacquainting the city of saloons with its beer-soaked heritage.
Singapore has a handful of young microbreweries, but it’s the tidal wave of high-quality imports—and the pioneering craft-focused bars serving them—that’s most responsible for the area’s recent drinking metamorphosis.
From the beach bodies on the boardwalk to the Art Deco architecture on Ocean Drive and the busy cafés in Little Havana, Miami is a colorful city. Until recently though, beer has been a wallflower at the culinary celebration.
Though it is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, Charlotte can’t rival Asheville when it comes to breweries per capita. But what it lacks in numbers, it makes up for with perhaps the most diverse group of breweries in the state.
Currently, over half of the malted grain used by Montana breweries is grown in state and Montana now ranks second in the US in breweries per capita. Missoula, a university town of 69,000, offers a healthy sampling.
Boston has long been an old city with a newness problem. This adherence to tradition also applies to beer. But veer off the path—into Somerville, Charlestown, or Everett—and you’ll find a vibrant subculture of drinkers, brewers, and restaurateurs doing their own thing.
Palmetto Brewing, South Carolina’s first modern brewery, started in Charleston in 1993, but seven other production breweries have opened since 2007. Beyond that, a bevy of retail shops, bars, and tour companies have filled most corners of the city with at least one solid craft option.
Locally brewed beer returned to Syracuse in 1991 with the Syracuse Suds Factory. The arrival of Empire Brewing and Middle Ages Brewing helped to revitalize the industry and put Syracuse back on the map.
In The Big Easy, drinking is often paired with the debauchery of Bourbon Street, where cheap Hurricanes and “Big Ass Beers” have long been sold and spilled up and down the thoroughfare. But times change even if the party never stops, and New Orleans now has much more to offer the discerning beer drinker.
In 2005, when John Neal opened the Keg and Barrel bar in Hattiesburg, Miss., restrictive laws forbade homebrewing and capped the ABV of every beer brewed and sold in the state at 6.25 percent.
Italy, one of the world’s top wine producers, is experiencing a beer explosion. And after nearly 3,000 years, Rome has finally become a town for beer drinkers, too as enotecas reluctantly yield room to beer bars and bottle shops.
Three years ago, there wasn’t much of a beer scene in Hong Kong. Now it is one of the most exciting cities for craft beer in Asia, with a growing community of brewers, bar owners and independent importers doing their part to give local taste buds an alternative to fizzy light lagers.
The Netherlands is now home to upwards of 225 breweries; in 2013 alone some 60 new microbreweries launched, many of which are contract brewers. Amsterdam is certainly at the forefront of this Dutch renaissance.
As a beer destination, Las Vegas is still in its adolescence, but despite some growing pains, there’s genuine enthusiasm across the city that is worth straying from the world-famous Strip to sample.
It wasn’t long ago that the beer scene in Columbus was dominated by the local Anheuser-Busch brewery on the north side of the city. But while only two craft breweries in the city date back more than 20 years, Columbus is at the heart of the state’s current craft beer boom.
Boise’s growing beer scene seems like a natural lifestyle progression in a place teeming with outdoor recreation. Boiseans love rafting, hiking, mountain biking and camping, so canned beer is ubiquitous. Just remember, it’s pronounced “boy-see,” not “boy-zee.”
The beer scene is bolstered by Richmonders’ support of the strong creative culture, including a booming independent culinary scene, diverse arts events and museums, and tattoo studios.
Revel in a craft beer scene that is by far the most advanced in Latin America. Today, you’ll find Black IPAs, Saisons, Imperial Stouts, and plenty of Brazilian-themed beers like açai Stouts and cassava Pilsners. Until recently though, finding craft beer in São Paulo was like looking for the source of the Amazon.
