Beer and railways have a lot of history in London, dating from the 1830s. Today, no less than 14 of the capital’s more than 50 breweries are housed within railway arches of above ground train tracks.
The constellation of bars, gastropubs, taphouses and brewpubs that dot LA’s diverse neighborhoods is dedicated to making LA a premier craft beer city. Los Angeles already has the weather and the landscape, and now it increasingly has the perfect brews to pair with the picturesque environment.
Cincinnati has always been steeped in brewing history thanks to its predominately German heritage. But the craft scene was slow to catch on. A few years ago, this metropolitan area of 2.1 million people could boast only three locally owned breweries. Today, there are upwards of 16 locals.
Baja California might be best known for its beachside fish tacos and off-road racing, but the northwestern Mexican state has seriously upped its craft beer game, defining itself as the country’s largest contingent for “cerveza artesanal.”
Seattle’s love affair with good beer began in 1981 in the city’s Ballard neighborhood, where Redhook converted an old auto repair shop into its original brewery. Other breweries soon sprang up, and by the end of the 1980s, the local craft beer had secured a permanent place in the city’s beverage landscape.
Even though small-batch beer holds only about 1 percent by volume of today’s German beer market, the legacy of handmade beer has endured years of macrobrewery consolidation and is finally coming out on the other side.
Milwaukee owes its brewing heritage to beer barons like Miller, Pabst and Schlitz. And while Miller is still extremely popular, the big beers that were once working-class favorites have given way to a vibrant craft beer scene.
Even with talented brewers like Funky Buddha and J. Wakefield cranking out creative, quality beers, it takes passionate consumers to make an area’s beer scene sing. And South Floridians are fully embracing the craft beer movement.
Although there were a small handful of microbreweries, like the Oaken Barrel, during Indianapolis’ darker days, it wasn’t until Sun King tapped its first kegs in 2009 that craft beer exploded in the city.
In 2010, an Italian law reclassified beer as an agricultural product. Now, any brewery that makes its beer using 51 percent of brewery-grown raw materials can be classified as an agricultural brewery.
A university town where Tibetan prayer flags are draped on the porches of old houses and outdoor recreation is at the heart of the culture, Burlington’s open-minded population has embraced the craft beer movement.
For decades, beaches, not beer, were the reason to visit Thailand. But things are changing, with Singha opening a pair of brewpubs and European and American imports appearing on menus with increasing frequency. And across Bangkok, community malls with trendy beer bars have sprung up like bamboo.
Berliner Kindl Weisse is the only Berliner Weisse brewed in significant volume in Berlin, and while it’s on menus around the city, it’s rare to see anyone drinking it apart from tourists. But two small breweries have started brewing Berliner Weisse, and both use old recipes to resurrect the original taste.
Pittsburgh has always been a brewing town. Not unlike a great many other US cities, much of its original brewing culture came from an influx of immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe, who congregated in tight-knit neighborhoods and adapted their traditional brewing practices to our shores.
In 1513, 74 years before the settlers started brewing beer from corn in Virginia, Spain’s Ponce de León landed on the coast of modern-day Florida. St. Augustine may be steeped in centuries of history, but the nation’s oldest city is starting a new chapter as craft beer takes root there.
Many companies that make beer in offshore US locations want to grow and bring their local products to consumers on the mainland. And for breweries in Hawaii, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, distributing bottled beers stateside sometimes means relying on the oft-debated practice of contract brewing.
When beer enthusiasts hear “North Carolina” these days, they probably think “Asheville.” But just behind the mountain town in its number of breweries, Raleigh plays host to a vast array of quality beer bars, specialty bottle shops and homebrew stores that also belong on any serious beer lover’s itinerary.
Austrian taste buds tend to stick to the classics, such as the light lager (Helles), dark lager (Dunkles) and the Märzen, known elsewhere as Oktoberfest beer. Yet diversity is dawning on the Alpine horizon. Rye beers, American Pale Ales and IPAs, Porters, and Stouts are slowly nudging their way into the market.
Today, the Bay Area is home to over 60 breweries, and the city itself boasts nine beyond Anchor Brewing Co. … and that number is growing. In fact, the SF Brewers Guild recently decided to bring the contract and gypsy breweries into the fold, so now membership stands at 15.
Commonly referred to as the “Paris of South America,” Buenos Aires is a sprawling metropolis that deserves its rank among the world’s greatest cities. The beer market may still be dominated by AB-InBev’s Quilmes, but forgo these ricey lagers and syrupy Stouts, and head off the beaten path to Buenos Aires’ true beer bars.
In Catalonia, the nationality within Spain that comprises the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, we discovered a nascent brewing scene in and around Barcelona, still very much under the radar.
It wasn’t until May 2012 that Connecticut liquor stores could open on Sunday. It’s a no-brainer victory, but also a sign of the changes that have come to the state’s growing palate for good libations.
At the time of ’ founding in 1759, Dublin boasted dozens of breweries; but, as far as we know, by 1949, the Stout brewers at St. James’ Gate were the only brewers in town. In the past few decades (but especially the past few years), the Emerald Isle’s beer lovers have witnessed remarkable growth in
