Best U.S. beer city: the poll

Philly, no doubt. I just got back from Devil's Den and had a couple glasses of PtY, Abner and Edward. No crowd, laid back atmosphere.

San diego has some awesome IPAs that I love, but I think Philly always has a great bar no matter where in the city you happen to be. Plus there's always Cantillon around.

 

I have to say Portland, OR

 

if we're talking beer and only beer i'd be inclined to give somewhere in michigan a slight edge over san diego only because i love michigan beer (bells, founders, dark horse, jolly pumpkin, livery, etc.) so much. it's also really hard to ignore the world class double combo of hair of the dog and cascade in portland.

but . . . if we're talking about where you would want to actually live . . . san diego all the way eight days a week. seriously, who would want to live in philly? lol. cue long, bullet pointed post praising the wonders of living in philly.

 

Bend. If we're counting larger areas like San Diego County or half of Michigan, then a Portland-Bend combo becomes impossible to beat.

 

Actually it is Milwaukee like Muhwaukee. Check your regional dialect then your attitude at the door. Good beers to be had by all huh.

 

Barstow, CA. Yeaahhh!!!!

 

Frankly, I've found Ann Arbor to be far stronger than Grand Rapids. I mean, the Founders Tap Room is the one exception. But, for example, Ashley's is much better than Hopcat. Super Liquor IV and Main Street Party Store put Sicilanos, Pauly's, and International Beverage to shame. Jolly Pumpkin has a place out there. Arbor and Kuhnhenn are way easier to get out there. And a number of out of state breweries including Dogfish Head actually get proper distribution there, unlike GR. Hell, back when Allagash was in the state, it never appeared anywhere in the Grand Rapids area. But you could get pretty much the entire roster in Ann Arbor.

Having said all of that, I think neither city is anywhere close to the best beer city in the country. While both are excellent, I think they're both inferior to the following cities as far as beer goes: Ashville, Boston, Chicago, DC, Denver, LA, Lexington, Minneapolis, New Your, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, St Louis, and Tampa Bay.

 

(Edit from Jason - I merged the two to keep the conversation in one place)

I thought this question provided a great use for the polling feature - maybe we can settle this debate once and for all.

Continue your discussion over in that thread, but please vote in this one. The site allows only 10 fields for possible responses, so unfortunately I had to narrow down the list (sorry, I wanted to include almost all cities mentioned) and I've compiled a ballot. It was pretty tough to figure out what the 10th city should be and which other ones to cut, so I tried to provide ample geographic distribution and regional representation.

One BA one vote. Use whatever critiera you want to make your decision. Cheers!

 

Its gotta be Portland imo. Easy transportation to and from many microbreweries in a small area that happens to be a beautiful PNW city.

San Diego would have got my vote if the breweries were closer together and easier to get to on foot/bike. You basically need your own vehicle which is of course prohibitive of how much you may imbibe while in San Diego. I hear they have tours with buses though so if you went with that option it might be better.

 

No representation from the vast state of NY?!

 

This poll needs a "none of the above" or "other"

 

I agree with dennis3951 as Seattle is not listed so I need a chance to vote other

 

The problem with a poll like this is only people who have been to most of those cities should vote. The guy who lives in a city who has never been to another one of these other cities would obviously pick his own. I actually expected San Francisco to be on there since one of the oldest iconic beer bars is in that city. But like you said only 10 avaliable slots. These are reasons I think this poll is kinda useless even of a city wins. Prob just means more people voted for that city who live there.

 

top notch meth out that way.

 

Glad to see you got the poll together. It's tough though because I do not have a lot of personal experience with most of these cities so I had to go with a homer vote for Boston even though I'm sure it's not the BEST. Also, I don't think this is possible with the way polls are done on these forums but it would be cool to see each user rater their top 5 and then put together an overall top 5 based on those responses. That I think would help remove some homer bias.

 

I've said this before, but while San Diego makes better beer, I enjoy drinking good beer far more in Portland and Asheville. The beer culture and the layout of the towns make them much more conducive to enjoying craft beer.

But any of the cities listed are fantastic and well-worth a dedicated beer-cation (though I haven't visited D.C. so I can't say much about it as a beer town).

 

Been to every one of em and I gotta say the Twin Cities, being right on the WI border, is right up there with the best of em!

 

Please consider this a write in vote for Bend, OR.

 

I do belive most of these fall within actual San Diego...Minus at most 3.
I still feel that wins.

Cheers!

 

Portland,OR hands down. Try this lineup. Rogue, Widmer, Pryamid, Hair of the Dog, Deschutes just to name the headliners. Got the most breweries in a city in the world. Biggest US beer market. The quality of the products is world class. If u havent experienced pdx, book a vacation in july. Got portland international beerfestival & oregon brewers festival. Local shit on display. Beervana
A-