What Beer Represents Your State?

Carton Boat is Jersey

 

Brooklyn is the OG craft brewery of New York, so, I don't know, maybe their Pre-Prohibition Lager?

 

A year or so ago I would have said bells two hearted for michigan. Right now I'd have to say Old Nation M43, solely because of how much of a splash it's made. Next to two hearted, it's probably a tap handle I see more than any other local beer. Cool post idea by the way.

 

Washington is proudly represented by real IPAs, modern "turbid-joozy bombs" (we do grow the hops, albeit on the other side of the Cascades, mostly that all those trendy, hip, hypebro breweries use), great stouts, wild ales that are off the scale, and just plain great drinkin' beers.

But please, tell me how 40 years of making great beer falls short of your 5 year history.

 

This post is incredibly representative of beer as a whole.
Hell it is probably representative of our world as a whole.

 

Two hearted is my preferred beer between the two. But I don't believe it's top dog in the state anymore popularity and hype wise. Two hearted probably sells more just due to it's huge footprint though. I just feel like m43 took over, but I'm kind of lumping boss tweed and cart horse, their other neipas in that takeover.

 

Beat me to it!

 

Exactly!!!!
Two Hearted is refined and classic M43 is in your face. Seems to be the preference in more than beer.

 

Good point, popularity and representation are two different things. I like KBS a bit, I wanted to pick that originally just because it was best in it's class at one point and it captured the hearts of everyone. A true diplomat of beer. I believe it was aged in a salt mine too, which ties it to the geography in a way. I'm sure it affected the taste in some fashion.

 

Bell's Two Hearted

 

5 years ago I agree this is the answer. I think M43 is the answer in these hazy days.

 

I have three states that I consider "mine" due to living in each for long enough to consider it home (Wisconsin is just where I grew up).

For Wisconsin, I feel there's no question that New Glarus Spotted Cow is the answer, as much as I don't really see the hype. I don't even think it's a great cream ale, but it is undoubtedly the beer that people think of when they think Wisconsin, especially nascent beer folks. I don't think it's a bad beer, but I wish something like Moon Man or Two Women were what they made their flagship.

For Illinois, another poster already beat me to it, but Goose Island Bourbon County Stout is the surefire answer here. It's one of the most influential and storied beers of all time, for good reason. It is still a top BA stout over twenty years later (though I'm sure many disagree). There could be arguments for Half Acre Daisy Cutter and Revolution Anti-Hero, but both are more Chicago than Illinois, and neither broke any ground nor is as ubiquitous as something like Spotted Cow.

For Minnesota, I would say Surly Furious, though I would definitely entertain an argument for Summit Saga. Surly and Summit put Minnesota craft beer on the map (as well as Town Hall, my favorite of the three, though they don't distribute and so don't see a lot of press these days) and are still going very strong (Summit less so, I suppose, but they are still doing fine). Schell's is important, but they don't seem to get as wide an audience as the other two.

There is also an argument to be made that AALs are actually the beers that represent these states. Wisconsin is Pabst and Miller (not to mention a bunch of others) and Minnesota is Grain Belt. Illinois doesn't really have a historical regional AAL as far as I'm aware, though Old Style is probably the closest thing (though it began in Wisconsin, too).

 

Shouldn't that be Matt's then?

 

I love M-43! But I'll put my money on Two Hearted to outlast M-43 or any NEIPA for that matter.

 

COOP Ale Works F5. The beer takes it name from the rating given only to the strongest tornadoes on earth. Considering how many of those we've had around here over the years, I can't think of a better beer to be the Oklahoma beer.

Prairie Bomb! would be second on that list for me. If you sit around long enough in Krebs you'll hear plenty of bombs going off in the distance, and might even feel the ground shake.

 

I'd disagree that any IPA is the representative beer for Michigan.

While Two Hearted is classic (albeit one that I never fully got into) and M43's rise is a perfect craft beer zeitgeist, for me, Michigan has to be represented by a big, blood-warming imperial stout/porter. There are TONS of breweries that either thrive in this style or at least do one great take on it... Arcadia, Bell's, Dark Horse, Drafting Table, Founders, Greenbush, Griffin Claw, Kuhnhenn, New Holland, Odd Side, Perrin, Pigeon Hill, Pike 51, Saugatuck, Shorts, Transient, Witch's Hat and some I'm probably missing.

Hell, 42 of the top-rated Michigan beers on BA are imperial stouts or porters. And another 6 are non-imperialized versions.

Given all that, for me, Michigan's beer has to be Black Note. Also acceptable: KBS. I chose BN because I prefer it slightly over KBS.