Finally a good Top 10 Cities list

Um Vermont is not a city so that means the writer clearly don't have a clue. Philadelphia get more breweries beers then most of any of these cities mentioned and not to mention the big German and Belgian beer selection. Some research have not been done on Philadelphia.

 

No Portland Maine? And Hill Farmstead is "prissy"?

 

Yeah, no Portland ME. Seriously??? Maine beer is the only brewery that doesn't churn out disgusting syrup. I love Portland so much, it's not close to Waterbury/Stowe zone. Calling Hill Farmstead "prissy" is absolutely moronic. Maine Beer spanks themselves asleep every night wishing they could produce the same across the board quality that Hill does. Lunch, Zoe etc are nice beers, but clearly not Hill or top level Lawsons quality. Wake up junior!

 

Im def not taking away from Lawyson's, Hill or Alchemist but to call Maine made beers as disgusting syrup, c'mon. Maine Beer, Bunker, Allagash, Rising Tide? Ill even go out a little to add Oxbow. Ofcourse these arent Hill but def quality for breweries. Vt area beers and Portland Maine should be in top 10.

 

You sir are correct Vermont is not a city, it is a Socialist Republic.

 

The criteria are simple: the largest clusters of A) total breweries and B) outstanding, nationally-recognized breweries.

 

The City of Vermont?

 

IMO, Market Garden has some work to do on their beer...largely mediocre in the multiple visits I've made. Also, it's not the most pleasant place to hang out. Huge (not a bad thing in its own right), but always packed and thus loud.

Nano has a good tap list. A couple of their own brews, a couple good locals, often a FFF or two, etc.

 

Not a bad list at all, I would have 7 out of those 10. Not Seattle, Boston and SF. Maybe instead Philly, Twin Cities and Cleveland or Asheville.

 

In all honesty, I'd probably lump Denver/Boulder/Longmont/Ft. Collins together as one entry instead of two.

 

Yeah, but can you realistically drink in each of those places in the same day? Would be tough! I like the separations, the respect for the Ft. Collins area and also to Bend and of course Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids!

 

I like how even on the list of dirtiest cities in America, they make mention of craft beer and Philadelphia.

 

Maybe not ALL of the spots (there are 60+ breweries now), but I've done New Belgium, Grimm Brothers, Oskar Blues, and Dry Dock in one day. There's just so little separation between our different cities these days, I kinda liked giving more cities a chance and lumping the big metro areas together. Just my opinion...I've been known to be wrong on occasion

 

But with breweries like Odell, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Avery, Great Divide, Crooked Stave plus many more all in a 70 or so mile radius is a great thing!

 

Well said dirtylou, well said.

 

Having a bunch of breweries around means nothing if they aren't really that great. One great brewery is worth ten mediocre ones that only have a marginally good brew or two. I can't count the number of times that a local brew pub disappointed on like 6 out of 8 samples of a flight. We have a decent number of breweries all over New England, but there are clearly only a handful that truly excel.

 

I want to do a thread of the top 10 lamest top 10 lists. This would be top 5. And I live in San Diego.

 

Sheer numbers definitely don’t mean quality. Out here I honestly think quality has forced everyone to up their game. I can’t think of (m)any places around here putting out sub-par beers for long. In the few instances where I have seen it, in 6-months those same breweries have made a complete 180.
If anything, the real debate around here lately has come down to pricing. Can a start-up price their beers higher than big names like Odell or Avery? We’re in the process of finding out…

 

Lists are stupid, but provide something to post about.

 

Careful, or he'll puke on you and your daughters.