Represent your local brewing scene.

Portland, OR.

With the local breweries and the distro we get, I have no need to trade anymore.

That being said, I would love to have some Founders and Bells....and some Be Hoppy

 

My basement

500+ bottles, 95% of which were not purchased in WV. That's about all you get around here.

 

Sante Adairius Rustic Ales.

/thread

 

Since I have access to most beers from Washington and Oregon (and Alaska for that matter) here in Seattle, I'm going to call the Pacific Northwest my local brewing scene. And what I love most about it is that if I wanted to, I could drink PNW beers exclusively without missing out on much of anything.

 

Chicago.

I don't have the numbers unfortunately but there is a SERIOUS boom right now and the community is really receiving it well. This town is craft beer crazy right now and it seems all the young breweries have nothing but great things to say about the elders in the community helping them get started. It just seems so communal and that is what is so great about craft beer. FOBAB has really driven this movement over the years.

These young breweries need time to expand, but man oh man does this city have potential. I could easily see it rivaling the best beer communities in the county in 5 - 10 years. I want to say there have been over 100 new brewers in the last 2 years. It is fantastic.


We have companies getting ready to blow up on the national scene and we have companies that will only focus on providing locals with fresh beer.

Chicago is one of the proudest cities I've ever been around and I think the beer community is going to back that up. There is so much diversity around here that the consumer is going to have options, no matter what style they love. We have lager breweries looking to stay local. We have innovative breweries that might take the country by storm.

Cheers to the craft community.

 

Maryland:

I don't know what I'd do without Max's Taphouse. I would probably go to Union more, which I should anyways.
The best brewery in Maryland doesn't really bottle and the ones that do put out great beer, but nothing that gets talked about online at all, which isn't to say that I don't enjoy their stuff.

Flying Dog: Dead Rise is the first non-ageable beer that I've bought 2 six-packs of. Love the Brewhouse Rarities.
DuClaw: All over the board and my favorite beer from them is retired.
Heavy Seas: Same old same old.
Brewer's Art: Had some good stuff, but haven't been to the bar yet.
Stillwater: Strumke is a great guy and makes some great beers.

Overall Distribution: Middle of the road, some great stuff but we miss out on some big nationals like Founders and Bell's.

Summary: We make some great beer that gets a bit of distribution, but I would like to see more visible breweries, something akin to PhillyTapFinder (it would be good, but PA needs it more than us because they get more), and more places to use BeerMenus. Also, I feel that all the breweries in MD ignore each other and act like each of them are the one and only brewery in MD (except Burley Oak); so, I would like to see them acknowledge each other and do some kind of collaboration. I mean the Mid-Atlantic forum only has MD threads when Max's has an event or a limited release beer comes out (mainly FW, there isn't much else that draws that much hype for a thread here in MD). Most stuff doesn't fly off the shelves here and even when they do, there is usually always at least one place that has a bottle.

Maryland would be much poorer without Max's.

 

Jeez.
Sherwood Brewing Company-Mistress Jade's Hemp Ale
Falling Down Beer Company-Ninja Chicken APA
Dragonmead-Honey Porter
Kuhnhenn-DRIPA
Atwater Block-Purple Gang Pils
etc,etc,etc.

 

*Applauds* I couldn't agree more!

 

Sheer variety of style and innovation by guys like Shorts, Greenbush, Founders, Bells, and Odd Sides, to name a few. Shorts has been killing it lately with the variety packs, and a newly bottled beer almost weekly.

 

DC: I think a good word to describe the scene here is "burgeoning." We had our first District [production] brewery start 3 years ago, and there are now 5 (that I can think of), plus a dozen others in the immediate suburbs. We also have quite a few really great beer bars and some solid brewpubs as well.

DC Brau: The ones that (re)started it all. One of the fastest-growing breweries in the country. Their core offerings are canned, which is cool, though they sell some bombers as well. Their most popular is On the Wings of Armageddon, which has often been compared to Heady.
Port City: Probably my favorite, from Alexandria VA. They don't do anything earth-shattering, just solid interpretations of classic styles. My favorite is Revival oyster stout.
Chocolate City: They don't get much recognition in the area or much love on the site, but they have a couple of really solid offerings. Draft only
3 Stars: Other than DC Brau, 3 Stars is definitely the most popular in the area. They do lots of collaborations and some experimental stuff. Draft only, but they plan to bottle soon. Their Citra Lemon Peel Saison is ridiculously tasty.
Atlas Brew Works: The youngest of the bunch. They only have a few offerings but they are all very good, including a CA common, rye ale, and black rye IPA (better than Wookey Jack, IMO)
Bluejacket: Straddling the line between a brewpub and a brewery, though they would beg to differ. The brainchild of the head beer guy over at Churchkey, the top beer bar in the area. Constantly rotating lineup with some really unusual offerings (elderberry bier de garde, anyone?). Just started bottling, but only a handful of their offerings. Originally had Megan Parisi from Cambridge Brewing Co as their head brewer, but she left and went to Wormtown (in my hometown!).

 

Ditto on these two. It was through Mayflower that I learned that I don't dislike stouts. Bog Iron has some great beer and they're just down the road from me. I'd buy beer from them more often but it's hard to get in there when their hours are so limited. Really loved the Campout Mild.

Special shout out to Cape Cod Beer for providing good local brews to that area. The Red ale, Summer Weizen and Porter are all good.

 

Michigan

We can either pay a visit to Founders, Bells, or kuhnhenn exclusively for the day or we can make a trip to traverse city where we can enjoy the weather and visit 10+ breweries all easily by bike.

Specifically:

Founders backwoods bastard
Bells Expedition Stout
Right brain's crazy beers in their tap room (asparagus, lavender, smoked pig)
Kuhnhenn's DRIPA and everything else

We are very spoiled in the mitten.

 

Foothills and NoDa, but Hop Drop'n Roll has become a touch more rare since their award.

 

If by local you mean the city you leave in (Kassel, Germany for me); think of a steaming pile of dog crap on the sidewalk, you see it, you know its there, but sometimes you just cant avoid it.

 

Within 30 miles, Duck Rabbit, and Mother Earth Brewing. State wide Foothills. Have to drive several hours to get to NoDa, but it's well worth it. Wicked Weed is worth the trip to Asheville all by itself.

 

Here, in Tinley Park, we have two recent additions to the better beer movement: Hailstorm and 350. Then in Naperville, there's Solemn Oath. Chicagoland is going to have a bright and tasty future when it comes to beer.

 

NYC - the ones listed here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nycs-micro-brewery-renaissance.188580/#post-2541323

Shout out as well to Barrier who, although on LI, is very accessible and is all over the city

 

Jacksonville, FL:
(In alphabetical order just because)
Aardwolf, Bold City, Engine 15, Green Room, Intuition, Pinglehead (Brewer's Pizza), Veterans (coming soon), and Zeta (coming soon)

 

5 Stones-Cibolo, Texas (original flavors, diligence in quality, tireless efforts in community support)
Ranger Creek-San Antonio, Texas
Twisted X-Dripping Springs, Texas