Best New England Beer State

maine
vermont
mass
ct
ri
nh

 

Don't get me wrong, Vermont has some stellar beers...But Maine has more breweries (micro) than anyother in the country. With names like Allagash, Maine Beer Co, Grittys, Bissell Brothers, Foundation, Rising Tide, Austin St, Oxbow, Funky Bow, Baxter, and Liquid Riot....Well its pretty hard to compete with such a large list (and that's not even half of it). Vermont has phenomenal beers as well, but in my opinion Maine is just putting in a ton of work right now for the micro-brew scene. Increbidle talent up there right now

 

VT*
ME
MA
CT
NH
RI
* = even if hf didn't exist

 

Greensboro Bend should just be its own state.

 

vermont
maine
mass
ri
nh
ct

Got to say the New England breweries in the last few years have really blossomed. Hill & Heady still take the cake, but Trillium & Ipswich stand tall in my homeplace. A recent visit to Portland Maine put them at #2. Bissell Brothers, Austin Street Brewery brew topshelf beer. Ultimately, who de heck knows?

 

I've got to go with Massachusetts. Tree House tops the list of any brewery in any of these states. Trillium probably places third with HF in the second spot for me. Night Shift is also damn good. So my list goes.....

MA
VT
ME
CT
RI
NH

 

Mass
Vermont
Maine
Connecticut
NH
RI

Rhode Island does have a few potential gems in the making.

 

I have to say, I think Vermont is kind of overrated if you factor in accessibility at all. Lawsons may make some amazing stuff, but they're the brewing equivilant of Brigadoon. Alchemist? They make one beer, and dudes from New Jersey buy every available case within thirty seconds of it's delivery. My beloved Commonwealth doesn't quite have the elite breweries that VT does, but it's close with Trillium and Tree House, and you can actually go to a store and buy stuff from Night Shift, Jack's, Idle Hands, Mystic, CBC, etc, without knowing the secret drop off times or chasing a truck around.

MA
VT
ME
CT
RI
NH

 

Maine has your racist grandpa as their governor, too.

 

VT
MA
ME
CT
NH
RI

Tons of fantastic breweries in Maine, but the beers that are coming out of Tree House & Trillium are on another level. HF, with their ridiculous world class lineup across so many styles, makes VT the clear #1. Lawson's, Fiddlehead, Alchemist, Lost Nation, 14th Star, Foley Brothers, Prohibition Pig, etc... don't hurt.

And if we're talking about the best beer state, we've got to include bars. There are so many incredible spots in VT.

Assuming you haven't had Focal Banger, Luscious, Petit Mutant, The Crusher, Holy Cow or any of the other world class beers Kimmich makes? Heady is very easy to find.

 

Just my personal list due to convenience i.e. drive time and the fact I have family in Maine where I can stay plays into this, and MA convenience just increased with Trillium in the 'burbs. However when I actually make it to HF it is the best place in the world at that time:

ME
MA
VT
CT
NH
RI

Although I may put our top several breweries against the several top NH breweries, RI will never get out of last place with the 72 oz max direct brewery purchase law. But NH challenged us on the government interference angle with the recent Breakfast Stout labeling debacle.

From reading the NEBCo threads though, I may place CT last in bottle shops. Didn't know how good we have it in RI with stores posting limited stuff on facebook or via email when it arrives, or actually giving info about approximate delivery times on the phone with no attitude. And most shops *gasp* put the product on the shelves instead of requiring a secret handshake. (Yes I know the bitching/moaning posts for CT shops may not be the majority...)

 

Try assuming that my statement wasn't 100% literal.

 

Isn't it great that each of these states is producing some world class brews! All within what is a really small area of square miles.

VT
MA
ME
CT
NH
RI

Tree house and Trillium rank highly, but don't quite catch MA up to VT with Lawson's, Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Fiddlehead IMO.

 

That's a pretty big exaggeration of how difficult the beers are to get. Other than high tourism time (leaf peepers, Ski, Summer) most delivery spots don't require a wait in line.

Big releases at HF and the limited Lawson's bottles are a different story.

 

This nails it. HF is the best all-around brewery in the region, and the world IMO. Treehouse is great all-around, but the diversity of styles represented at HF easily surpasses them. Agree on Maine slightly ahead of MA with all of the incredible breweries - if you haven't been to Oxbow yet, definitely get there soon. Bissell's IPAs are incredible and Allagash is great across the board.

Don't drink a ton out of CT, but OEC is doing amazing things and I've liked the IPAs I've had from Beer'd and obviously NEBCO. Aside from Proclamation, most of what I've had out of RI hasn't been very good. I like Grey Sail, but have found them very inconsistent, especially in the can. I'm glad to see some of these breweries popular locally, but I'd much rather take a 9-hour round trip to HF then a 5 a minute ride to Bucket.

 

If you've ever hung out there for a few days, you see that it kind of is.

OP: My call is a 3 way tie, VT, MA and ME. Life is hard around here

 

What? I think you got your Portland's mixed up. There are single cities in other states with more microbreweries then Maine.

 

Seems to me that dudes from CT pretty much buy up all the TH stuff....so that's a wash w the alchemist....

 

i stand corrected, re-checked my source and it is most definitely not accurate.