Academics, artists, bureaucrats, techies and unreconstructed hippies: You throw them in the pot, they simmer for a while, and wind up congealing into a mass that’s thirsting for a quality beverage. And nowhere in the upper Midwest does it all come together like it does in Madison, Wis.
This place is a steaming melting pot of Spanish, French, African and Caribbean influences, a magnet for artists, musicians, misfits and criminals, a charmingly seedy town united by its distaste for authority and its mighty thirst.
Move beyond the strip clubs and the discos and you’ll find a warm, cultured town that’s immensely proud of its heritage and its future. And, increasingly, that pride is centering on the region’s burgeoning brewing scene.
The city is home to well over two dozen breweries and brewpubs, and scores of good beer bars. It’s got more breweries than any one city in the world, and its citizens drink more, per capita, than anybody.
As Belgium’s capital region, the Brussels area is awash in the nation’s unique beer styles, from the Oud Bruins of Flanders to the bounties of Belgium’s far-flung abbeys.
With its large French-speaking populace, this Canadian province has a distinctly European mindset for all things gustatory. Whether it is great food, great wine, or most importantly, great beer, they are passionate about all!
Put in a little work and a bit of forethought, and scratch beneath the surface. If you do, you’ll find a beer scene that’s quietly burgeoning. It’s been an organic growth, and it’s about to take the rest of the country by surprise.
San Francisco wasn’t much of anything until 160 years ago, but in that relatively short time, the city has left an indelible impact on the nation’s culture. And the same goes for its brewing palate.
In many ways, the Denver/Boulder region is the capital of the modern craft brewing renaissance. Whether in their kitchens or their brewhouses, the brewers of the area have been pushing craft beer forward for more than three decades.
While lagers and German Pilsners reign supreme in most areas of the country, Altbier accounts for almost half the beer consumed in Düsseldorf, and local Altbier breweries and quaint brewpubs churn out surprising volumes of the antique style.
OK, so, yes, St. Louis is home to that really big scary beermaking corporation that shall not be named. But wait! St. Louis has much to redeem itself with, you judgmental beer snob. Give the city a shot. Here’s how.
If you find yourself trapped in a beer wasteland, do not despair, for there is hope. Like Virgil leading Dante through the pits of Hell, let this guide lead you safely to survival in an otherwise uninhabitable clime.
Austin is home to the state university, some legendary BBQ, musicians, artists and other assorted weirdos. Which is to say, it’s a city that’s perpetually overrun by professional drinkers of every sort.
A crop of serious young brewers and a mammoth lineup of bars boasting huge craft beer selections, modest prices and liberal liquor laws that let bars serve bottles and mini-kegs to go, and you’ve got, perhaps surprisingly, one of the country’s best beer towns.
The core of a great beer city revolves around a handful of passionate breweries and brewpubs. Add to that a few superior beer bars that focus on diverse craft taps and fair prices, and offer events promoting better beers.
Antwerp boasts one of the world’s highest number of pubs per capita. There’s no legal closing time. And the breweries of Belgium’s countryside know something about rewarding thirst.
Whether you spend hours checking out every beer hall listed on the web or you just wander into a place that catches your attention, always try to make time for beer-related travels, big or small.
Gorgeous scenery. Friendly people afflicted by a near-compulsive need to mainline hops. Tons of boats. Is there a reason to not start drinking your way from one end of Seattle to the other? Yeah, we didn’t think so.
