3 favorite brewery taprooms

My friend, I couldnt agree more. I spent one whole perfect day at Kloister Andechs several months ago when they had an open house and festival on German Unity Day in October. The best. Period.

 

My worst German biergarten experience is better than most U.S. taprooms. Can you say Munich and Bamberg in the Fall?

 

Side Project - St. Louis, Missouri
Toppling Goliath - Decorah, Iowa
Boiler Brewing - Lincoln, Nebraska
Crooked Stave - Denver, Colorado
Casey Brewing - Glenwood, Colorado

Some of the BEST beer in the world is served at these taprooms...

 

Wicked Weed is nice, but the bogus Henry VIII quote about hops spoils it for me.

 

In no particular order:

Augustiner in Salzburg
Neder In Forchheim
Zum Uerige in Düsseldorf
The Beacon Hotel
Het Anker in Mechelen
Schlenkerla, obviously
Mahrs
The Bull and Bladder
Stone Liberty Station
F.X. Matt
Any Zoigl Stube
Storm in Toronto

Sure I've forgotten loads of dead good ones.

 

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Nightshift
3. O.E.C
(I'm sure the new Trillium facility in Canton is amazing)

 

Three Vermont places:

Harpoon
Prohibition Pig
Magic Hat

Still need to hit up Hill Farmstead

 

I'll second all of these (with the exception of Pelican which I have not been to), and it's awesome to see a fellow Tustin lover out there! My other personal 3 favorites are:

1. Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) (bike bar)- Awesome beer, staff, food, and great place for the kiddos too! I go here every time I am in Portland.

2. Thunder Island- Cascade Locks, OR. Can't beat the view. Not to mention how great everything else is.

3. Lost Abbey- Something about it just has me coming back for more. The beer maybe?

(Honorable mention to Anchor. The history, influence, nostalgia, great beer, and awesome tasting room.)

Cheers!

 

The Chico brewery is in town, but they do have the hop field. Size, the Chico brewery is much bigger and has close to 3 times the capacity. The NC brewery has more property in a very pretty setting, and you can see what can be done with a clean slate, attention detail, vision, and a healthy budget. Enjoyed Chico 4 times, NC twice.

SN calls it Mills River, you say Fletcher, which is it really?

 

I call it Mills River, Asheville, Fletcher...I think technically its Mills River but people get the point. I guess if you talk capacity then yeah Chico is "bigger." I cant really tell from the Chico pics but the Mills River areas where people actually mingle (restaurant, taproom/bar, grounds) looks bigger, like a lot bigger, than the Chico common areas.

The comparison I was making was in those areas not in brewhouse capacity.

 

It's amazing the creative ways people come up with to include more than three on a thread that specified "three"!

 

Some of these folks drink.

 

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having been to both, from memory.
NC has a bigger gift shop and more seats at the bar.
The dining area, I don't know. I think NC is bigger on the inside, Chico has an outside dining area that seats quite a few, and probably doesn't show on the pictures. NC has nice outside grounds. Chico has enough room for a huge tent in the hop garden, once the hops are harvested, and puts on a great Oktoberfest. If there is an Oktoberfest in NC, we will go.

I would gladly spend most of a day at either one, and most likely will.