What are your top 5 beer cities?

A number of other BAs made mention of Prague in their posts. I wrote a beer travelogue article about my two week visit to the Czech Republic (Prague) in 2019:

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Czech_Beers

Na Zdravi

@Sigmund @Jacobier10 @monkist

 

So, not just 1 large city, but the whole next county (which a poster above mentioned has a city that should be considered a separate city) is your definition of a city?

 

Sure. If you can get all 6 state governors and legislatures to agree on it in a vote.

 

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts here.

I have a differing opinion. I have visited Asheville a number of times over multiple years and I have enjoyed visiting new (to me) breweries on each visit. My most recent visit was in February 2022. My wife and I visited a number of different breweries (some old favorites like Burial and some new like Catawba) and I posted our visit to the White Labs brewery:

"While driving into town from our hotel (on the Biltmore estate) my wife pointed out White Labs and I remarked “maybe we should visit that place” which we did on our return leg. Have you ever visited the White Labs taproom?

During our visit I obtained four tasters: two of a Brown Ale and two of a Schwarzbier brewed using differing yeasts.

Brown Ales

• WLP001 California Ale Yeast®
Caramelized Brown Sugar | Nutty
Winter Fruit
ABV: 5.4%
• WLP037 Yorkshire Square Ale Yeast
Bruised Apple | Bready | Toffee
ABV: 5.1%

I much preferred the Brown Ale brewed with WLP037

Schwarzbiers
• WLP925 High Pressure Lager Yeast
Toast | Cacao Powder | Clean
• WLP838 Southern German Lager Yeast

I preferred the Schwarbier fermented with WLP838.

I enjoyed my visit to the White Labs taproom."

If I ever get an opportunity I will visit Charlotte and then I will be in a position to provide a comparison.

Cheers to good North Carolina beers!

 

Pint your lucky stars that they distribute widely and you never have to step foot in that sad little town.

Paranthetically, my first year away at college I lived next door to the brewery that become Unibroue before they moved the equipment to Chambly.

 

I need to visit more places on the east coast. I'm super-confident that Boston, Portland Maine and Asheville, NC are all amazing beer cities, but I haven't visited them. I also need to visit St. Louis, which I think is likely to be awesome given that cities long-standing identity with "beer" (and the fact that Perennial is located there doesn't hurt).

Of the cities that I have visited, here's my rankings (US cities only--I'm unfortunately not well-travelled internationally):

1. Denver--This place has become Craft Beer Mecca. I don't think there's another city in this country that is more shaped by, and more into, craft beer culture. There are many excellent breweries in and around Denver (and/or that distribute into Denver). Also, GABF and all the events around GABF.

2. San Diego--Possibly the original Craft Beer Mecca in the US and still an outstanding craft beer scene and craft-beer centric culture.

3. San Francisco--The birthplace of craft beer and the closest major city to Russian River Brewing. Can't not be on the list. San Francisco Beer Week really showcases the outstanding depth of quality available in the Bay Area.

4. Portland, OR--So many incredible breweries are located in this awesome city.

5. Washington, DC--Incredibly lax labeling laws means that DC gets some of the best country-wide craft beer distribution of any city. And it has one of the best beer bars in the country in Churchkey.

Honorable mentions.

1. Los Angeles--Beachwood, Monkish, Highland Park, etc.

2. Anaheim, CA--Green Cheek, Bottle Logic, Bruery, etc.

3. Seattle, WA--Gets a bit overshadowed by Portland to its south, but so many excellent beers come out of Seattle, including Fremont of course.

4. Chicago--Really fun beer scene. Great city to visit in the summer.

5. Austin--Jester King makes the scene, which is otherwise solid but I would put any other city on my list above them for depth and breadth of quality. That view might be tainted by the fact that I get to Austin frequently and so it's less new and exciting to me as compared to other cities I rarely have the chance to visit.

 

Make ya a deal:

You get to call all of NE a city.

We get to call Cascadia (roughly defined as US 97 from the Cali to Canadian border N-S, and 97 to coast E-W) a city.

Deal?

 

Dude, put down the pipe. Sandy Ego was not a craft beer mecca before PDX. You're creating some fake history there buddy.

 

Where I've visited:

1) Copenhagen, Denmark
2) Brussels, Belgium
3) Anaheim, CA
4) NYC, NY
5) Amsterdam, Netherlands

With honorable mentions to London, Barcelona, Seattle, Chicago, Tokyo

Where I want to visit in the future:

1) Munich, Germany
2) Antwerp, Belgium
3) Montreal, Canada
4) Denver, CO
5) Stockholm, Sweden

 

It's definitely a fun city with some amazing beer. I just think it's been somewhat trading on hype for a little while now. I do owe White Labs a visit.

 

But if the accolades are deserved is it truly hype?

Cheers!

P.S. No need to respond to this post; your views on Asheville are duly noted.

 

I....respect your opinion, but in my opinion craft beer exploded out of the West Coast IPA craze, and that craze exploded out of San Diego (and originated in San Francisco). Portland is a great craft beer city, but in my obviously personal opinion it was never "Mecca".

I never picked up the pipe, but I will raise a glass. Cheers.

 

Yes, of course, I was just stating my favorite out of all the places I have been. I have been meaning to watch that, actually started it the other day before getting interrupted. I plan to finish it today when I have some uninterrupted down time.

 

How quickly can you slam down a Milktube?

Cheers!

 

So, SD was a beer mecca in the late 80's?

 

Honestly just trying to squeeze a few extra breweries in there. Push comes to shove I'd just go Orange County and drop LA.

 

These are personal favorites from my travels:
1.Portland, ME
2. Boston, MA
3. Denver, CO
4. Omaha, NB
5. Burlington (area) VT

 

Believe me, I don't want to get in the middle of it either! In the mid to late 90s and early 2000s when West Coast IPAs were just blowing up is when I think of San Diego as craft beer Mecca. I didn't attend GABF back in those days, so maybe Denver was already king but I just remember thinking that all the cool and exciting beers were coming out of San Diego at the time. Crazy what's transpired since to those pioneering breweries, but there was a time when Stone, Green Flash, Ballast Point, Alpine and their progeny were just the bees knees of craft beer.... San Diego still has an awesome craft beer scene and I stand by my list!