Brewery Bucket List/Your Best Brewery Experience

For all of those suggesting New Glarus, I would suggest a trip north to Portage County.
You get Central Waters for a rural brewery, O'So and their 40 tap handle Wisconsin experience, and a tour through Point.
While Point may not meet the snob level, it is one of the oldest continuously operating breweries in the US.

As for beer destination I would have to throw out The Fitz in the UP of Michigan. A cozy little hotel on the shores of Lake Superior and a second to none bottle/draft list in the Northern Midwest.



For my bucket list stop I would have to say a trip through the Portland area with a hired car.

 

@herrburgess please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Schlenkerla's brewery is separate from their famous tavern. Or do you have plans to tour the brewery also? Either way you should have a great day. And don't forget, Klösterbräu, Mahr's, Spezial, Fässla, Keesman...all walking distance from Schlenkerla...please let us in the Germany Forum know about your day if you don't mind! One time while I was visiting, the locals told me that the Christmas Market season is the best time to be there, so I'm very jealous!

 

I'll let you know how it is! But now that I think of it, you're right. They are separate places, and the taproom is in Bamberg. If they are close I wouldn't mind doing both the brewery and taproom. I can't wait though – Weihnachtsmarkt in Bremen, then Schlenkerla after Christmas. I have been to Bremen before during Christmas and it is glorious. Lots and lots of gluhwein, and beer, of course.

 

Anyone who is in the Massachusetts area needs to experience Tree House. Out in the middle of nowhere, in a beautiful small barn, woodstove going in the winter to keep you warm. And while you are waiting for your growler fills, you can sit and chat with others, snack on peanuts and chips that they have, play one of the guitars that are hanging on the wall, take advantage of some free samples. It's the most relaxing place you can go and get some of the best beer in the country.

Personally, my bucket list includes most of the west coast places that have been mentioned. Russian River and Firestone Barrelworks at the top.

 

Best experience is New Belgium by far. You will get free beer and you will have fun.

 

Yea, the brewery is housed in the top-most buildings you see on the left side of the street, here:



If you want a tour, you'll need to organize it privately, as they don't hold them like U.S. breweries do. Might not be very easy to get a time, as (I believe) they are still in the process of renovating and expanding.

Tavern is the place you want to be, anyway:



Not to mention Klosterbrau, Mahr's Brau, Keesmann, Spezial, Faessla, Greifenklau, etc., etc.

BTW, I will be there from the 26th until the 30th. Maybe we can grab a beer (or three).

 

@herrburgess thanks for all the info! Although I won't necessarily be able to cross the brewery off my list, the taproom will most definitely be the place to go. Don't know what day we'll be there yet, but we're thinking the 28th.

 

Best Experience :

Westvleteren. It involved a two hour train ride from Brussels, missing any chance to rent bikes due to a late, drunken night out at Delirium Café the previous evening, a scenic hour walk through the hop fields of Poperinge, sitting down and enjoying many chalices of some of the finest beer in the world with Belgians that only spoke Flemish, missing the scheduled bus transfer back into town, missing the last train back to Brussels, wandering Poperinge looking for a place to sleep, finally finding a barkeeper that graciously allowed us to stay at her apartment, and waking up at 6am the next morning to catch a flight back to where I was living in Germany. Highly recommend making the pilgrimage out to Belgium.

Honorable mention: Holy City Brewery in Charleston. Fantastic beer in a renovated garage accompanied by pool tables, corn hole, a basketball hoop, and a friendly dog. Great atmosphere going on there.

Wish list: Hill Farmstead, Russian River, Wicked Weed, Dogfish, among others...

 

I've had some great experiences in both greater Munich (Andechs, Forschungs, Aying, Weihenstephan, etc.) as well as Bamberg. At this point I could probably lead a hell of a summer beer crawl through both areas but it took a little bit of trial and error to figure out which places really stand out vs. the ones you can skip. Surprisingly, the atmosphere is the biggest key.

Here in the US, Ft. Collins has become a pretty daunting beer destination considering you can walk to a dozen different breweries within 2 miles and you can tack on another dozen within 1/2 hour of driving.

My wish list at this point is mostly Belgian. Cantillon, 3F, Orval, St. Sixtus, Westmalle, De Dolle, etc.

 

Just did a trip to Hill Farmstead and loved it. Would definitely go back.

My other favorites are Carton and Tired Hands. (Tired Hands also has some amazing food)

My list would be:
Russian River
Jester King
Cantillon- and while in Belgium try everything.
The Rare Barrel
... If it isn't obvious, I love sours.

 

We stopped briefly in Ft. Collins on our honeymoon. It was late April and near white out conditions. It was about 230PM MST on a Monday. Odells was closed so we found our way to Ft. Collins brewing...which wasn't the best. I wanted to stay and experience New Belgium and Colorado...but we pushed on and found ourselves far away in Rock Spring WY for the evening. Anyway...I would love to get back to Ft. Collins.

 

Although the wait was not great, the beer was well worth it. Hill Farmstead!