Unknown Brewery Gems

New England? Shilling in Littleton, NH. New brew house under construction. My daughter brings me growlers when she comes south to visit( raised her right) MA? So many so good. Lets go North shore, Ipswich and Newburyport, both have some great offerings.

 

I have to agree with that statement regarding the greater Denver area, but I will say that due to the sheer volume of competition, there are a number of good to great breweries that rarely get discussed even amongst BAs on the local forums. To mention two of them (per the OP), I'll suggest Fermaentra and Grimm Brothers. Grimm Brothers ticks all the boxes as they are on the far outskirts of the metro area and for all intents and purposes don't even make an IPA. I'm not quite sure why Fermaentra flies so far under the radar, but I've really enjoyed their beers and atmosphere on the occasions that I've visited.

 

To illustrate how correct you are, I don't know if I've ever had anything from Fermaentra. I'm going to have to remedy that. Grimm's definitely a hidden gem up north. Bierstadt does the German production brewing thing like a champ. Grimm is more of the small town village type of brewery. They're doing killer stuff, though.

 

Have to agree about Twin Elephant and Ramstein. I would also add Conclave.

 

I was at the Ithaca Brewery tap room Saturday with a close friend after a long day of hunting. We had several IPA's on tap that were totally outstanding. I don't remember the name of them but for me it was a great example of how the little guys are stepping it up fast. I cannot wait to go back.

 

Flower Power is an old standby. Good food there too.

 

Here in my corner of Michigan we have one that may not quite be under the radar entirely, arclight. They produce award winning sours, and they always have an extensive variety of all styles on tap. Bottles come out slowly but maybe theyll ramp that up. And another one is north pier. They do some great Belgium stuff and are expanding to handle more and more distro.

 

I'll second Grimm Brahs as a standout on the northern front range.

I'm sure many have heard of Zwei in Fort Collins, but other standouts more on the south side of town are Maxline and Intersect.

Both have been around for a year or two and have essentially hit the ground running. Maxline doesn't do any sort of beanie baby beers, as their best offerings IMO are a coffee porter and their ESB. Intersect has been hitting the local neckbeards with their NEPA and NEIPA- both quite tasty, though I've never seen a line around the block so I could be wrong . They also have an incredibly good imperial stout on from time to time and my GF loves their assorted berliners.

 

La Cabra Brewing in Berwyn, PA (a Philadelphia suburb). Just up the road from Tired Hands and making some seriously awesome hoppy beers. Not a big fan of their sours but as far as IPAs and DIPAs are concerned they're totally killing it. Opened just a few months ago and even started canning some of their more regular offerings (they also bottle some limited edition sours).

 

Visited there a couple years a go and totally agree. Plus a great candy store right around the corner to occupy the kids.

 

I'm going to be the contrarian here, and not name any area breweries that don't already have a fair amount of hype. The hype-train, line-forming, latest-new-must-have-thing attitude these days is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I'll support those breweries by going there and buying beer.

 

The Farmhouse (Tap room in Owego, brewery/farm in Newark Valley)
Except for occasional trips to farmers' markets, and events, they don't bottle(much), so it's mostly brewery-only .

The usually go off the beaten path with their recipes. If you do go there, don't be scared of the odd adjuncts. They can make a beet saison taste good, so....... I'd trust anything they put out.
Belgian-type ales, & saisons, are their specialties. If you only try one, go for Crazy Daisy (tripel). (But don't drive, yourself . Knock you on your ass, & you won't even notice.)

 

Solvang Brewing in Solvang California.

A small Danish town that doesn't really want California to notice it is there.

 

The Chanterelle Bier De Garde was my first Scratch beer, nearly three years ago. Though it was definitely weird to me at the time, I enjoyed it. They have bottled the Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Bier De Mars, both were wonderful, among my favorite Scratch beers.

 

Resident Culture for all the reasons that other places are blowing up--Haze Kings-- and even if not my thing, I will acknowledge they do what they do well overall.

Haw River in Saxapahaw.m, NC. Such a break from the new "ordinary" with amazing Farmhouse stuff and an unbelievable Pale Ale.

 

I'm a huge fan of Exhibit 'A' Brewing in Framingham, MA. I'll legitimately put The Cat's Meow and Hair Raiser up against most of the regular offerings that Tree House or Trillium have done, and I enjoy their Sunday Paper Imperial Stout more than PM Dawn from Trillium (not quite as good as Double Shot from Tree House though, if I'm going to be honest.)

Springdale Barrel Room in Framingham, MA should be on more people's lists too. I'm not huge on their IPA's, but their sours and stouts are incredible. Probably doesn't hurt that they're an offshoot of Jack's Abby.

 

Not from here, but I'll chip in Grand Teton Brewing company in Victor Idaho. They have a great barrel aging program. It's always my suggestion for a family outing. I haven't found much else up here except Melvin in Wyoming, but y'all don't need me to tell you about them.

 

I will say I like what Penrose (out in Geneva il ) I have tried so far, and think they
Could grow .

 

Great topic. Thanks @cavedave !

@donspublic already mentioned Holler Brewing.

But I would say for Houston, two breweries you cant miss would be:

1) Brash Brewing
2) Sigma Brewing

Honorable mention would be B-52 though they are in Conroe which is a considerable distance from downtown Houston.

Either way, come visit!