What are your 2 favorite breweries?

If I had to pick only two...

Great Lakes, home of several of my favorite go-to beers, year round and seasonals.

Ayinger, which I envision as a mythical realm of svartalves carefully and painstakingly crafting only perfect beers via a combination of ancient mystical rites and cutting-edge technology gleaned from peering into the future.

 

A top two seems silly, so I'll go with a more traditional top three. I also like the "with access/without access" distinction, so I'll cop that. I'm also putting my own little wrinkle in with imports, and I'll cheat even further by having honorable mentions.

With access:

1. New Glarus
2. Toppling Goliath
3. Great Lakes

Honorable mentions include Minneapolis Town Hall, Funk Factory Geuzeria, and Central Waters.

Without access:

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Jester King
3. OEC Brewing

Honorable mentions include Side Project, Ale Apothecary, and Cellarmaker.

Imports:

1. Cantillon
2. Drie Fonteinen
3. Weihenstephaner

Honorable mentions include Rochefort, St. Bernardus, and Ayinger.

 

Victory & Stone

 

Small-scale: Trillium and Hill Farmstead
Large-scale: Firestone Walker and Founders

 

Surly
Stone

also...

Avery
Bell's
The Lost Abbey/Port

to hard to narrow this down!

 

Great Lakes
Jackie O's

These are right up there;
Bell's
Founder's

 

Kane & Carton

 

Ballast Point
Firestone Walker (even though their limited release stuff is tough to be had around me)
Lagunitas

 

Firestone Walker and Dogfish Head

 

I'm gonna say Founders and Stone. Maybe their beers are not in my top 5 but overall they make great beer and it is fairly easy for me to obtain , even their seasonal and limited bottles I usually find a way to get my hands on. So with that in mind I choose those two

 

Glad you said two. Founders and Stone are neck and neck for me.

 

And this one, for their IPAs. Big Eye and Sculpin are my favorite. Blow me away when I get them super fresh.



(answered according to what I can get here in the U.S.)

 

I tend to stay local.

Established old-line:
Summit. In their regular line, EPA, Northern Porter, and Sága are solid and well done. I like some of their seasonals, and their limited release beers (Union Series and Unchained Series) are always interesting and frequently hit it out of the park.
August Schell. Sentimental favorite who stood up to the Brewers Association. Solid offerings in the German style. Pils, Arminius, and Zommerfest are my favorites.

Favorite newer:
Bent Paddle. I haven't tried any of their beers that I didn't like. Favorites: 14° ESB and Cold Press Black Ale.
Badger Hill. First to locate south of the river in the metro proper puts them up on my list, but their beers are also very good. Favorites: Foundation Stout and Minnesota Special Bitter.

Honorable mentions:
Indeed.
Central Waters.


OK, that's 6, but I rationalize that by breaking it up into 2 per category!

 

Stillwater and Boulevard

 

Evil Twin & Prairie

 

I'm really enjoying Prairie beers. I love the dry saisons in the summer, and the stouts are delicious for winter beers.

My favorite local brewery is Schlafly. It's a local staple. They have a few experimental beers, but for the most part they just make really good basic beer. Their food is good too.

 

Fat Heads - they make great hoppy beers, they are easy to find in western PA, consistent as hell, and they are continually expanding
Victory - Great price, great availability, and they have a great assortment of styles that they do very well. I can find them in virtually every state I could possibly want to go to as well.

 

Night Shift - Located near my house and on the way home from work so I get go there fairly regularly. Constantly putting out new and interesting beers and the Barrel Society has been awesome so far. Can't beat that kind of connection.

For my second favorite, I guess I would say Stone since it's my old go to.

 

Founders

Floyds/Bells.. not sure.

Ah whatever, im from Indiana.. floyds

 

Gotta love Stone and Sierra Nevada but I'm gonna give some love to the locals. Snake River Brewing in Jackson Wyoming and Sockeye Brewing in Idaho make beer as good as anyone. Every single beer I have had from both breweries has been outstanding.