Best Transit-Friendly Beer Cities in the World?

In Germany, Munich is pretty good. My vote goes to Bamberg though. Between walking, the buses, and the trains you can go to far more breweries.

 

Great idea @elNopalero ! I've covered these three cities plus where I live via public transportation at least twice (with links to planning threads):

• Chicago, Illinois - Many breweries are in clusters within the city, can hit others via the El or Buses. Several solid suburban breweries can also be reached easily via the Metra train station with all starting in downtown for easy access.
• Las Vegas. Nevada - You can get around the valley via their bus service, with beer hubs in the Arts District and Henderson (Water Street & the Autoplex), plus a few nearby in Summerlin. It's a growing scene and one I recommend you check out if visiting for more than a day or two.
• San Diego, California - You're able to get around downtown easy, plus other areas are reachable including the Miramar breweries (AleSmith, Pure Project, Ballast Point) and the Midway District and Pacific Beach areas. Can cover a lot of ground over 3-4 days.
• Los Angeles/OC, California - Had a fun and successful trip hitting broad swaths of LA plus the western most tip of Orange County (Huntington Beach), all via public transportation. They have trains and rapid / expressway bus service to get you through town relatively quickly. I hit over a dozen spots while there, public transportation better than anticipated after planning it out.

Check out the regional threads to ask questions or see how others planned their trips. Many Beer Advocates give thoughtful recommendations and suggestions.

Philadelphia and Portland, Maine are the next two cities I want to hit up and explore the craft beer scene via public transportation. Hoping the thread gives me other ideas.

 

Good beer and good transit:
Tokyo
Montreal
Pretty much any big city in Germany - Munich is my fav

Good beer and good walking:
Amsterdam
Asheville (hills though!)
Prague
“Worlds longest bar” in Düsseldorf

 

For walking, Asheville and Fort Collins.

 

London

 

Minneapolis and St Paul have a plethora of breweries. Check out this map.
https://usbreweryguide.com/minnesota-breweries

 

Ballard neighborhood in Seattle…you can walk to 15-20 breweries all within a mile or so of each other I’d guess. It was a pretty amazing place to visit, public transportation was not necessary all you needed was your legs.

 

Definitely NOT Houston.

 

In San Diego, hop on the No. 2 bus (from downtown) and visit the North Park neighborhood, with several excellent brewery taprooms.

 

Munich for sure. The central-city locations are mostly walkable, but also reachable via buses, trams, and their city-based U-Bahn subway. Almost every major village/town within 45 minutes of the city is reachable via their suburban S-Bahn. For a major city, I don't know if I've even encountered a close second.

 

Seattle is better than some (San Diego), worse than others (Portland). Bus service has been cut to force more people on to light rail, but light rail currently serves only one north-south corridor (but it’s expanding). That corridor doesn’t really hit the main beer spots. You can get around using transit but it takes time and some degree of planning.

 

Due to the lack of public transportation options and or sidewalks? I was considering a Winter visit staying around the downtown area to hit several breweries and beer focused bars.

Vegas sprouted a bunch of new breweries and beer bars & bottle shops since your last visit. Several are clustered with a walkable area (Arts District) between The Strip & Downtown. That plus a trip to Tenaya Creek about a mile away from Fremont Street is manageable over the course of a day.

https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/brewery-row

Miramar breweries are more ambitious in terms of time to get to / from downtown via public transportation, but there are also some hotel options nearby that can allow one to break up a trip into two stays.

For LA, I stayed in Chinatown and transferred down to near Long Beach to hit the breweries there (Beachwood my favorite) and Huntington Beach. Also visited Santa Anita RC, Stone In Pasadena, The Glendale Tap, and before my flight home Firestone Walker convenient in and out of LAX. All visits either walking or via bus or local LA train/subway service.

How limited / expansive would it be to hit various Trappist breweries via trains / buses? Those and Cantillon and a few other Lambic brewers would be my first priority in terms of a European beer trip. They have tours that offer visits, and perhaps that would be the easiest and possibly most cost effective method, but would prefer the flexibility of coordinating outside of a tour.

 

I've yet to rent a car in any of my trips to Belgium. Hitting up the lambic breweries is pretty easy via transit, as they're all (at most) a short distance from Brussels.

Overall, the Trappist breweries are quite a bit harder to do without a car. Using Westvleteren as an example, the nearest bus stop is 2.1 km from In De Vrede, and that's *after* you've taken a train (or otherwise found your way) to Poperinge. Both times I've visited, I've actually gotten there by bike, but I realize that's not always an option.

 

First post here… please let me know if I’ve violated any etiquette as I’d love to stay involved.

I second Chicago in terms of major cities. You’ll have to find these clusters mentioned above but once you do you’ll explore some great neighborhoods with equally enjoyable beer (Half Acre for IPA’s and Dovetail for dessert).

For smaller cities, Richmond VA should never be overlooked. Scott’s Addition is a neighborhood made for this post. You can check out The Veil, Vasen and Strangeways all within a square mile. Plenty of rooftop gardens and outdoor patios as well.

Cheers!

 

That’s adorable.

Welcome!

 

Richmond Virginia is a great suggestion with many solid breweries. I'll need to add that to the list of future beer visits.

I love Spiteful brewery right next to HA. Dovetail is a solid suggestion and also highly recommend Revolution Brewery, Maplewood Brewery and The Beer Temple, both within a short walk of each other in Avondale. Revolution Brewpub has several breweries nearby as well, including Hopewell. I also recommend Great Central Brewing / Forbidden Root / Goose Island Fulton / Kaiser Tiger on the West Side.

Also, welcome to Beer Advocate, I hope you enjoy your time here!