How's your local beer culture?

I think you're given a brewing kit upon entering my state.

Needless to say, it's great.

 

There are some spots that shine a little brighter-unfortunately they're not in the Eastern Panhandle, luckily Virginia & Maryland are only some 20 miles away in either direction.

 

San Diego - I guess we are doing alright.

 

Greater Los Angeles - quite solid nowadays, but it used to be bleak. Nowhere near San Diego levels.

 

Kane and Carton great. Brickwall OK.

 

Whetstone gets Hill Farmstead.

 

Metro Detroit is getting a bit crazy with the beer scene. It seems like we have a new "craft beer" bar opening every week. It is so hyped up that you cant even get into a lot of these places, even on weeknights because they are so packed. Limited releases are pretty much non existent and never even see the shelf around here.

We do have lots of OK local breweries with decent food, and obviously Founders, Bells, Shorts, Oddside, and many more.

 

We are fortunate in WMass, long standing and really good brew pubs, cafes with 4-8 taps,
Breweries accessible by bike trail, then of course the big taplist bars. Great diversity in the regional offerings make it here, casks, dry hopped, one off to test, etc.
There are a lot of home brewers who share tips as well.
All in all it's great place at a great time.

Cheers all

 

I left Maryland (border of Pa and De) 15 plus years ago, and Charleston has not caught up to what I left yet. People here generally confuse beer culture with local breweries throwing out a bunch of barrel aged beers. I was close to State Line liquors and there monthly tastings attracted a good crowd back then. They had bus trips and mini festivals quite often. We have nothing like that here, and on top of that, the local breweries overcharge for their beer.

 

It is ironic that one of businesses that help the northern DE beer scene immensely is in MD.

 

Mine is pretty awesome! Within 5 minutes of my house is....
- Pizza Port
- Green Flash
- Ballast Point
- Alesmith
- Mike Hess
- Rough Draft
- Karl Strauss
- New English
- Culture Brewing Co.
- Saint Archer

Yes, I pretty much live in Nirvana!

#americasfinestcity

 

Yeah Robert pretty much started the beer scene in that area.

I remember getting samples at his place from Victory before they were even in Maryland

 

Not saying brewery wise. Becasue I'm a huge fan and regular at both, but as far as craft beer bars and stores there are better regions imo

 

Lancaster PA love here! Lancaster county has 20! craft breweries in it. Good taps and awesome bottle distro. Downtown craft festivals and Stoudts fest and Bonifest all add to the culture. Very good for not being metropolitan. Also a Craft Beer Share company, the first in the nation.

 

Things are better than they've ever been, although there is one major area that needs improvement. There is no real beer bar culture to speak of within reasonable striking distance. That's not such a big deal, I suppose, considering my family's lifestyle, but you never know what minor changes would be doable if there was a great pub the next town over.

But, since I do most of my beer drinking at home, the selection is fantastic; I even get to live vicariously with my hot-shot brewery neighbors to the south (NYC) and north (Hudson Valley) by having fairly easy access to growlers and bottles. Plus, NY and NJ get some really good distribution, so it's pretty amazing to have all of those bases covered.

Whenever I would want a day out I would probably claim NYC as my home turf- it's just a $5 bus ride away. Rockland County, just north of the border, has some very cool places too, but I'd need a dd to hang there.

 

I think the reasoning behind it is to create more businesses, so instead of just having a liquor store that sells liquor, beer, and wine, it creates an opening for beverage centers too.

Regarding the wine in grocery stores, I believe the law allows that nys wine be sold in grocery stores but nothing else. Unless you use the loophole of allowing wine sales when you purchase prepared foods (acting as a restaurant) like my wegmans does.

Back to OP's question: I'm in a small college town by Rochester which has 4 bars which have pretty good tap selections, especially considering their clientele. There is no dedicated beer retailer, however Wegmans is pretty damn awesome for a grocery store. They get stuff like nugget nectar, have a walk in beer cooler, constantly stock stuff which would not normally be found in a grocery store.

When I'm home from school by Albany Oliver's Beverage has a phenomenal beer selection. Don't know much about the bars though

 

Orange County,CA. Not SD level, but we're trying! Lots of options for brewery direct, great bottle shops and pubs. We could always use more though

 

Behind a lot of places but Blowing Up this year. 3 operating breweries in town right now and 5-6 more opening over the next calendar year. Some good tap rooms here though.

 

Ours in Columbia, SC, comprises a few "craft" beer bars, one established and very popular brewpub, three new production breweries with small tasting rooms in their warehouse district facilities, a couple of "craft"-focused bottle shops, and a pretty active beer geek/tasting scene. New developments include a couple of "craft beer week" events and the World Beer Festival. Otherwise, we are a BMC city (and State) with a lot of football, sports bars, and military. Many people here travel to Asheville or Charleston for more active "craft" cultures.

 

Here in Northern California it's pretty darn good.