Represent your local brewing scene.

Virginia:

Max's on Broad: Amazing restaurant that has almost exclusively belgian beers on draft, with the occasional belgian-style American beer popping up.
Mekong: Consistently mind-blowing draft list. They utilize a large number of taps perfectly, representing local beers, beer from across the country, and some excellent imports, including Bon Chien.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery: Really good barrel-aging program, awesome variety represented by limited 750 mls, and newer six and four packs of their singel, pale, and IPA. They have grown a lot in the past couple of years. I can only see them getting better from here.
Blue Mountain/Blue Mountain Barrel House: One of the most incredibly well-rounded breweries in Virginia, and dare I say, the best brewery in Virginia. Incredible amount of variety in six packs (with a really good dubbel), one the most reasonably priced, delicious, and readily available BA stouts out there, along with a whole host of other barrel-aged goodies. What's not to like?

 

Rochester, NY/Finger Lakes.

A lot of new breweries have opened lately, that I would really like to try when the time comes. In the city we have -

Rohrbach's, the old standard around here, which is ok but nothing to shake a stick at.
Roc Brewing is putting out some cool stuff- they had a coffee saison on recently that was really interesting. They have a collaboration with a local coffee roaster so they make some really interesting coffee-based beers, along with a great Dark Mild- it's good to see that style get some recognition.
Three Heads- they contract out of CB Craft Brewers, but everything they make is a lot better than anything CB's makes. They just came out with a new Smoked Rye IPA, which was excellent and didn't clash like I thought it might. Their hoppy beers are their savior- The Kind, Too Kind, Skunk, and Loopy are all very tasty, and very reasonably priced.
Rogers- small operation, he contract brews out of CB Craft Brewers. He has one very tasty brew- The Mutt- a great Double IPA that holds its own. Nothing else really of note, so far, but I can tell he has potential.

In various suburbs, we have-

CB Craft Brewers- a brewery of extremes. They have their own line of beers, but they also make beers for restaurants in the Rochester/Buffalo/Finger Lakes area, and also do the brewing for a few local breweries- Three Heads, War Horse, Rogers, Lock 32, etc. Some of their beers are great- including their own Silverback and Joe Latte, and some of the beers they make for restaurants are also great- The Old Toad 20th Anniversary IPA is possibly the best IPA made in the Rochester area. However, some of their own beers and the beers they make for others are just pure garbage. Huge inconsistency. They could be so much more, but just seem to be held back by something. I don't really know what it is.
Lock 32- they just opened a taproom in Pittsford. Contract brewed by CB craft brewers, nothing to write home about.
Fairport Brewing Company- I've had a good ESB and a good oatmeal stout from them, but they mostly make beers in the same styles and of comparable quality to every other small little brewery trying to make a name for themselves. Just a lot of sameness.
Victor Brewing Company- some decent selections, but again a similar problem- there is nothing to make them stand out in any particular way. Just sort of boring.

In the Finger Lakes region, we have:

Ithaca Beer Company- an interesting situation with them. They used to be one of the best breweries in the state, when Jeff O'Neill was the head brewer. Releases like Brute, Super Friends, and LeBleu were incredible. He left, and they entered a state of decline. Flower Power decreased in quality- it's still quite good, but it's apparently not the same it used to be. Lots of creative beers made by O'Neill were never to be made again. Lately, they seem to be making some progress- they had their first sour release without O'Neill, Luminous, and came out with some really interesting taproom only releases, including Cranbretty, a wonderful cranberry sour. However, they just lost their head brewer AGAIN, and are likely to keep on a declining path. It's sad, they could be so much more.

Abandon Brewing Company- a new farmhouse brewery in Penn Yan, NY, and probably the brewery with the most potential to do great things in the area. Lots of their beers use farmhouse yeast or Brett, which is a technique almost no breweries do around here. Their flagship Farmhouse IPA is stellar, and they're experimenting with barrel-aging a lot now too, and send out casks to Rochester a decent amount. They seem to get it. They'll just keep getting better and better as time goes along.

Keuka Brewing- they just recently won brewery of the state at Tap NY, for the FX Matt Memorial Cup. Rigged, anyone? What a joke. They are pretty weak, and just boring, with off-flavors galore. How they won over a brewery like Peekskill is a travesty, honestly.

Finger Lakes Beer Company- not quite as bad as Keuka, but just weak and tasteless beers too. It seems like their draft lines aren't always clean either, which is a problem.

Rooster Fish- great food at their brewpub, and pretty solid beers. Nothing crazy, but all fairly tasty.

Horseheads- tiny little operation, unassuming location, really solid beer. Their Pumpkin Ale is really honestly quite good, if you're into that sort of thing. Their IPA is very solid, and they also have a quite good BA Barleywine, Domination. Not quite in the Finger Lakes region but only about an hour from Rochester.

And if we extend to Buffalo, I get to talk about-

Community Beer Works- a really small nano-brewery in the city, but churning out some really cool stuff. They have a single hop series of IPAs that is very tasty, their regular IPA, simply called "The IPA" is excellent, and one of my favorite beers made in the state. They're starting some barrel-aging projects as well, and seem to be really enthusiastic and care about making excellent beer.

 

You'll love it. Lots of old breweriana, great pizza, great beer. If you're lucky, Vicki (the owner) will be behind the bar, and she's a blast. Sassy and funny. They've been letting Eric, the brewer, do some cool stuff. He just put on Black Francis; a black sour aged in whiskey and Red Zin barrels. Not sure if it's still on, but he makes a killer Berliner Weisse as well. It's between mile markers 20 & 21, almost to 21, it's on the right when you're headed back towards Hamsterham.

 

That Black Francis sounds like a rare beer. As you know, these are strictly forbidden in Washington. I'll be reporting this establishment to the authorities forthwith.

 

New Glarus, WI..New Glarus Brewery, could stop here...
Lots of great breweries to choose from made in the Cheese State: Lake Front, Lake Louie, Tyraneena, Central Waters, Capitol, WBC, Ale Asylum, Karben4, Door County, MKE, Furthermore...Brew Pubs as well: Great Dane, Vintage, Grumpy Troll...New Glarus is not that far from Decorah, and Minnesota is real close too.

 

I'm another Mass-hole, so I won't repeat what others have said.
I really like that there are so many 'scenes' popping up everywhere these days. Anywhere you travel you can find lots of great, fresh beer that you can't find anywhere else.

 

Don't see anything for Columbus yet. I'll highlight my top 3 breweries within an hour drive of Cbus.

1. Columbus Brewing Company - Brewmaster Eric Bean is making some great stuff. Obviously Bodhi is popular and will climb the rankings, especially if it ever gets canned/bottled. Their IPA is amazing too and is always fresh on the shelves.

2. Jackie O's - Gaining popularity nationally with their special bottle releases. Solid distribution to stores all around Columbus.

3. Rockmill - Relatively new and very promising farmhouse brewery. Right now they only make organic Belgian ales like Saisons, Dubbels, Tripels, etc. I hope they experiment with wild ales and become Ohio's version of Jester King.

 

The central Wisconsin beer scene is very kind to me. Central Waters, O'so, Kozy Yak, and Bull Falls all offer great stuff throughout the year. Obviously Central Waters tends to take the cake with stuff like Illumination, Bourbon Barrel Stout/Barleywine/Scotch Ale/etc., Exodus, and their anniversary brews. O'so is right down the street from my house so I have been frequenting the tap house for the ESB lately.

Access to all of the New Glarus, MKE, and Lakefront sweetens the deal.

 

Colorado has so much going for it. I can insert hunndreds of brewery names in here that can hang with the best in the nation. That being said I'll go another route. We have gabf, denver rare beer tasting, almost a beer fest every weekend somewhere you can hit. The crowd is pretty solid as a whole, lots of good hearted people have given me the chance to taste world class beers from all over that I would have otherwise missed. Add all this on top of a huge population of homebrewers and you have an AMAZING beer culture in CO.

 

Western North Carolina- the small guys
Wicked Weed Brewing
Olde Mecklenburg
The Wedge
Frog Level Brewing Co.
Fonta Flora Brewing Co.
Twin Leaf Brewing
Heinzelmachen Brewey

 

I grew up in St. Louis, but better beer scene didn't really blow up there until after I moved away to Chicagoland. I've been back many a time since and I agree with you. St .Louis is going to be a beer mecca, especially with the likes of 4 Hands, Perennial and Alpha.

By the way, I am a HUGE fan of 4 Hands, can ya tell? Cheers!

 

You left out Right Proper!

 

Am I the only one amused by the fact that some folks are claiming their entire state as "local"? And some of them are big states!

 

Bend, OR:

- Relatively isolated population of ~100,000 with 26 breweries means unparalleled access to brewers and a culture where promoting beer is promoting local businesses. Also, the isolation has bred a strong DIY ethic.

-Related local businesses like Hydroflask, Drink Tanks, Silipint, Dawg Grog, LeCol Beer Soap make this town more than a one beer trick pony. Not to mention, many brewers give their spent grain to local farmers.

-Beautiful high desert location with mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, scenic landscapes, and a little bit of civilization for beautiful places in which to enjoy beer.

-Deschutes production brewery and brewpub: the benefits of a large brewery (significant distribution, barrel and sour programs, and a talent pool of educated brewers who sometimes leave to form their own ventures) and the small batch pub beers to keep things interesting.

-Bend Brewing: 2nd oldest brewery in town, dozens of GABF, NABA, World Beer Cup medals to their name, been doing so good for so long that you could take them for granted. Most towns/cities would make this brewery their claim to fame if it was theirs. Here it's an unhyped utility player on an All-Star team.

-Boneyard: you like hops, they got you covered with some of the best in the world.

-Ale Apothecary: formerly of Deschutes (see talent pool reference above), a wild beer mad scientist left to his own devices out in the forest.

-Below Grade: Tiny local nano that bottles and only distributes to 3 or 4 shops around town. A hidden gem plenty of locals haven't heard of, but he still needs to make beer good enough to compete for shelf space with breweries thousands of times his size.

-Other great breweries and brewpubs like 10 Barrel, Crux, Worthy Brewing, Good Life, Sunriver Brewing to keep the market competition stiff.

-Great distribution from Portland, Seattle, the rest of the country and the world.

Other cities have great beer culture, but I don't think they can match our complete beer ecosystem.

 

I didn't mean to diss Right Proper, which I really need to try to get to at some point. I just didn't include any brewpubs.

 

Bellingham wants to be Bend when we grow up. At least our baseball team beat your baseball team 2/3 last weekend, so there! Oh, and we have better sailing than you do too!

 

I'm extremely proud of Cincinnati and Ohio in general. Really great things happening here.
MadTree Brewing Company is killing it. PsycHOPathy is a fantastic go to IPA and their Galaxy High DIPA is out of this world.
Rhinegeist is a staple in the community with one of the best tap rooms around, not to mention great beer.
Rivertown is producing some absolutely amazing sour ales. Their Pear Gueze and Pomegranate Lambic are delicious.
50 West is a great brew pub offering good food, incredible beer and a great atmosphere.
Mt Carmel has been releasing a snapshot series of beers that are completely game changers. Their Imperial IPA and Coffee Amber are must haves.
Listermann and Triple Digit are producing very high quality beers with another great tap room. Chickow and all it's variations are so tasty and the events they are putting on in the city are second to none.
Quaff Bros is our "gypsy brewer" out of northern kentucky. All barrel aged beers in collaboration with the local breweries.
There reallly isn't a brewery in Cincinnati that isn't pumping out incredible beer.
And of course being in Ohio we have Jackie o'sColumbus brewing, Great Lakes, Rockmill, Hoppin Frog to mention a few. Against the Grain and West sixth just south of Cincinnati in Kentucky.

You can go into almost any restaurant or any liquor store or gas station and find craft beer. It's invading this city in a very good way with no end in sight. We have roughly 10 breweries that are going to open within the next two years. Beer here is trending way up. The community is involved, young people, old people, drink local, produce local. Its wonderful to see and be a part of.

 

Rhode Island's scene is crap. Better than it used to be for sure, but way behind the rest of New England. Right now we've got some solid brews, such as Grey Sail Flagship and Foolproof Robust Porter. However, when you've got Gandhi Bot produced a few miles south and Hoponius Union produced a few miles north, you gotta step it up if you want recognition.

 

nope

depends on what you consider nearby. But nothing within 50 miles or more. nearest things I want are in Bavaria, Jena and Cologne, those are all a few hours away.

 

Duluth, MN -Superior, WI TWINPORTS

Fitger’s Brewhouse
Lake Superior Brewing Company
Bent Paddle Brewing Company
Blacklist Brewing
Canal Park Brewing Company
Carmody Irish Pub & Brewery
Castle Danger Brewing
Thirsty Pagan