Where's the love for the Midwest?

I had to double check where you are from ... This post is SO Minnesota-like!

 

So perhpas the rest of the nation needs to figure out what Mid-West means first

 

No love? Maybe you can find it here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/lists/top/

 

I had an interesting experience a month ago while vacationing out in California. I spent an afternoon beer hunting and at almost all my stops I was like a kid in a candy store. Parabola? Sure why not. Consecration? Absolutely! Coronado Brewing? Yes please!

I would make a point to chat with clerks or people at the taprooms and the conversation almost always turned into....oh, you live in MN?!? You have so many great beers I want to try! You are lucky!

I think it is all perspective.

 

Hey now don't let the facts get in the way of the OP's feelings.
It does not matter that 5 of the top 10 beers on this site are from the midwest, OP says there is no love, so there is no love

 

I likes my women like I likes my stouts too. Rich, thick, and full of alcohol.

 

I don't want to sound mean, but no, I don't think many people feel that way. At least here on BA, craft breweries in the midwest have a ton of recognition, there are plenty of midwestern beers in the top 250. Are you not counting Goose Island or Bell's? Someone just wrote a book and travel guide entirely about Midwestern breweries! ("The Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland" by Michael Agnew)

Aside from these big exceptions, I guess the problem is that most of these breweries just aren't big enough at this moment to get that distribution all the way to the coasts. Summit for example is pretty big, but most of its distribution hasn't made it to the coasts just yet (http://www.summitbrewing.com/where-to-find/distributor-finder).

 

Women, jsut like beer, you can find em strong and dark, or light and fizzy

 

I consider Oklahoma Mid West, but many don't. They don't even serve you grits with breakfast here & the call soda "pop".

Texas to me is just its own deal...

 

What would they call Oklahoma then if not Midwest? I wouldn't say it's the South either (especially if you don't get grits!).

 

Everybody on this site is location biased it seems. I'd love to try some FFF Zombie Dust to see what the hype is about, or a Surly Abrasive or whatever. Boulevard is the only midwestern brewery I can think of that had the balls to come to New England and even they did it with Smokestack first (not counting Goose Island, which is national via AB). Bells, Oberon, Surly, Schlafly, New Glarus...not one of them from the OP's list distributes here. Yet we get tons of west coast beers and Colorado and Utah beers. I can only guess that the level of competition concerns them.

 

I think Great Lakes/Midwest gets all the respect in the world.. I just hate when the inevitable "East vs West IPAs" debate pops up and they don't get thrown in the conversation.. it should clearly be a Triple Threat Match..

 

Yeah, Texas is a whole different country inside the US ☺

 

What are you looking for, a medal for the midwest? I never have, and never will, understand the obsession with trying to figure out what the "best" region, or state, or whatever else is...what is wrong with breweries in all parts of the country brewing some great beers, and simply appreciating all those great beers being brewed? What's the benefit to trying to decide if one region is "better" than another, as if that is even possible? Enjoy the beer available to you and don't worry about how many internet points that beer could win.

 

It's all about size. Those midwest breweries can barely keep up with demand in their home regions, let alone distribute to lots of other states. The Colorado brews that get distributed are all the big ones that have amped up production in the past few years, same with the big Utah breweries. It would be like saying that the only reason Pliny isn't distributed to more places is because Russian River is scared of the competition. Somehow I don't think that is the case.

 

Common male, classical thinking. Competition. Versus romantic thinking...

 

"Third Coast"

 

hmmm,well don't forget People's Brew Co. in Lafayette,IN...
they have Mr.Brown & the Mound Builder IPA.
there's more than corn in Indiana...
the Indy 500.
the birth state of Kurt Vonnegut,Shannon Hoon,David Lee Roth,John Mellencamp,Eugene Debs,Sydney Pollack & of course,Axl Rose & Michael Jackson...the list goes on & on with luminary/controversial "Hoosiers".
& then there is the water & hops & soil (which plays a big regional role in yer "local" beer,i hear)...

 

I dunno, I think there's plenty of love to go around. We're all going to prefer some of our local stuff (assuming everyone has access to quality breweries), so maybe the two coasts are better/louder represented here? Either way, you'll always have people yelling that Pliny is the best DIPA, or Heady, or Hopslam, etc., but I think everyone can agree that drinking from all the different and awesome breweries across the nation (and beyond) is the only way to really do craft beer well!

Besides, as has been covered on this thread already, GI, FFF, Surly, Bell's, Founders, New Glarus, etc. definitely get at LEAST their fair share of love.

 

Perennial and Schlafly out of the STL!!!