Best beer drinking area in the US.

I always wanted to see how the 'other half' lives. Now I will.

Cheers!

 

Chicago / NYC are the definition of concentration.

I can literally walk to Revolution, Maplewood, Hopewell, Pipeworks and Metropolitan from my place. Not to mention the Binnys that has an obscene amount of amazing beer.

Speaking of obscenities, the amount of bars within walking distance is stupid. I wouldn’t even try to count them.

 

For me it's Portland, The "other" Portland. Maine. Big Fan.
Allagash
Oxbow
Bissell Brothers
Bunker
Austin Street
Lone Pine
Battery Steele
Maine Beer Company
Plus Fresh Maine Lobster & Eventide Oyster Company

Also Burlington Vermont is not too bad...

 

Base on the OPs criteria, I’d vote for Waterbury/Stowe VT. Especially for those that don’t like crowds, noise and city jungle settings. 45 min will get you on day drives to Burlington and HF as well. The restrauntants and pubs in that area are great. One of the best bottle shops I’ve ever been to is in Waterbury as well.

 

New Jersey residents have taken 3 super bowls away from you, so watch it Mass And honestly any big city is going to have great bars with great beer selection these days. Philly (city of champions ) New York, Boston, Chicago etc. are all great choices!

 

Delco/Montco area I'm guessing. Moved before I got the chance to really appreciate the beer scene. Silly me being under 21! I feel like PA almost has a leg up in beer quality at the average store in Delco. My reasoning on this is that since beer stores can only sell beer, it makes financial sense to carry limited and rare beers. God I miss PA beer stores! Cheers

 

Another homer thread huh?

Within 45 minutes of me (Asheville) there's Burial, Green Man, Highland, Wedge, Oysterhouse, Asheville Brewing Co, One World, Hi-Wire, Eurisko, Archetype, New Belgium, Pisgah, Sweeten Creek Brewing, Blue Ghost, Sierra Nevada, Zebulon, Zillicoah, Wicked Weed, Hillman Beer Co, Turgua, White Labs, Boojum, Innovation, Frog Level, Homeplace, MadCo, Sanctuary, Triskelion, Brevard Brewing Co, Oskar Blues, Ecusta

And that's just the good ones...

 

Compare that to a far smaller area like Ft. Collins (17 breweries within walking distance), Asheville (similar to FoCo), or medium cities like Portland, Denver, Albuquerque, and San Diego where those numbers are tripled or more.

What's considered "Chicago" is often debated, but there are large chunks of the Chicagoland area with maybe 2 breweries and a bar or two with decent taps. You're clearly in one of the good areas. I have a friend over by Dovetail that is, too. Hence my earlier comment about them being what you make of them. Yet I also have family 15 miles north and it's night and day different. It isn't horrible or anything, but a couple "meh" breweries, some College bars, and a Banger's and Lace isn't exactly awe inspiring. Even somewhat trendy areas are playing catch-up compared to the serious beer-centric cites in the country. That doesn't even count the dozens suburbs with almost nothing. New York City is the largest city in the US by far, but in terms of brewery #'s, it's dwarfed by Portland and Denver in spite of being 10x larger. That isn't concentration. If you have to cover 30 miles to equate to what other cities do in 3, that's not exactly impressive.

Make no mistake, those cities have great beer scenes and especially compared to where they were a decade ago. I'm just thinking that on a short list of "best beer area" I think someone from Asheville or Portland would eye roll them both.

 

That's true, and it's a good point. But the wildcard would have to be if your area also has regular access to draught beer on the same level as Andechs, Heller-Trum, DE Ranke, Dupont, etc. Local only gets you so far.

 

Love our selection, but this post from the kind sir from SC reminds me the stupid liquor laws may exclude us immediately. The remnants of laws from the puritan era and the cronyism of local distributors and package store owners wanting to directly control 99% of the beer industry die hard.

 

If I were to choose the best location in New England, it would HAVE to be Portland, ME. The culture, camaraderie, events, eateries/bars, etc. No one can beat that beer scene on a per capita basis. As a sign of this, when I stay with family just south of Portland I instinctively go north for a loop to Bissell, the western industrial park breweries, Mast Landing and so forth, have lunch in the Old Port, and it is an afterthought to on the way out of town go like 10 minutes south to Barreled Souls who produces some AMAZING beers with very few crowds except for 5-6 releases a year.

 

I have a feeling I know where you got the idea for reigniting this thread...

+1 Boston metro...I’d like to also add clown shoes, Ipswich ales, notch, proclamation (RI - can still be 45 min away)...not to mention some world class beer bars.

 

I don't care how many great breweries you have in a 45 minute radius. If you can't walk to the beach with a beer and not get ticketed, you can't be in a great beer area.

 

I agree but it has gotten a lot better. Just a couple of years ago RI breweries were samples only with 72 ounce take home limits...now it's 72 ounces on-site driniing and a case to take home. Big improvement but there's more work to do!

 

im sorry for the people saying Chicago. Most disappointing beer visit I’ve had. Pipe works, Half Acre, Revolution super meh and not even average. I can’t even recall the other breweries I went to because nothing stood out. Hard to get anywhere because traffic is bad and most breweries spread out in sprawling suburbs.

I would say San Diego, Fort Collins or PDX in my experience. I would lean San Diego.

 

Isn't San Diego the city/area of the U.S. with the most amount of breweries within close proximity of each other?

 

Kettlehead Brewing -Best brewery in the state as far as I'm concerned. Great food too.
From The Barrel- 2 min from my house. Main focus on NEIPA but most are very well executed.
Kelsen- 5 min from my house, great variety of styles, and amazing dark beers. Paradigm Brown ale is a real game changer.
Backyard Brewing- Another newcomer putting out some great stuff.
Litherman's Limited-Beer is quite good, wide variety of styles. The taproom experience is what I like most about them.
Great North Aleworks- Nice tap room, great beer with a focus on WCIPAs but also a decent variety of other options. Northbound Pilsner is a favorite of mine when I'm looking for a Pils that has American influence that doesn't drown out the beer still tasting like a pils.

Not one of the best areas in the country...Maybe I misunderstood the spirit of the thread.

NH, as a whole, is still quite a bit behind the rest of New England. But for my tastes, things are certainly looking up. (at least within a 45 min drive)

 

Greensboro Bend

 

I would suggest that it is San Diego County which is pretty damn big. If you are willing to do lots of driving there are indeed plenty of breweries to visit there (especially if you are a fan of hoppy beers).

Cheers!