What breweries do you want to try the most?

Love this idea! I'd like to try many of the smaller lambic producers in Belgium. Here are a few I'm interested in trying / visiting.

1. Monkish. After hearing great things about their work for years, I'd really love to experience their beers. As luck would have it, I should be there this weekend for the first time. This is one of the last big hype hazy breweries that I have yet to try at least one of their beers.

2. Kuhnhenn. They've got OMT clout, and I'd really like to visit their eisbock series, and some of their other annual releases.

3. Saurez Family Brewing. I've heard great things for years, but never been able to get there. It seems many of the beers they make that I'd enjoy are draft only.

4. Notch. This one actually slipped my grasp during my Boston trip. It's been suggested I visit there by sources I trust, and who know my palate well. I'd love to both visit and try their line up.

5. Hair of the Dog.* This is a weird one. I've wanted to try their beers for awhile. A BA member sent me some as a BIF and I actually picked up a cellar box from HotD afterwards, but have yet to dip into anything yet, so I guess you could say this one is completely on me.

6. SARA. Have yet to try anything from them, but continue to hear the high remarks.

I've managed to tick a lot of random breweries through trades and BIF. There are many breweries I've only had one or two of their beers, but would like to try more. Otherwise, if we're talking about just breweries we want to visit, but have had, then Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, and Tree House quickly come to mind.

Perhaps I need to visit Homage during my work trip, as I keep seeing their name pop up on this forum.

 

My list:

Monkish (CA)
Verdant (UK)
Cloudwater (UK)
Troon (NJ)
DeGarde (OR)
Casey (CO)
La Cumbre (NM)

 

Here is a list of 82 American breweries in my German-American Venues spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vvgzuuhF7JA9Q2TWIIM0WVK-pX2YG7LHR-uGu8NkA5U/edit?usp=sharing) that I'd love to visit if I can find the time, and if COVID would just go away. I've only knocked off 10 of them, so a long way to go. In reality, I recognize about half of them as being a higher priority than the others, but it would be hard to narrow those down any more.

CA Moorpark Energren Brewing
CA Vista Eppig Brewing
CO Denver Bierstadt Lagerhouse
CO Denver Prost
CO Fort Collins Zwei Bruder
CO Longmont Wibby Brewing
CO Loveland Grimm Brothers
CT Mystic Jealous Monk
FL Palm Harbor LagerHaus Grill & Brewery
FL Tampa Barriehaus Beer Company
FL Tampa Mr. Dunderbak's/Dunderbrau Brewery
GA Stone Mountain Stone Mountain Brewery
IA Amana Millstream
IL Chicago Metropolitan
IL Chicago Dovetail
IL Chicago Great Central
IL Chicago The Berghoff
IL Millstadt Millpond Brewing & Incubator
IL Oak Park Kinslahger Brewing
IL Red Bud Lieferbrau Brewery
IL Urbana Riggs Beer Company
IL Waterloo Stubborn German Brewing
KY Lexington Blue Stallion Brewing
KY Newport Hofbrauhaus – Cincinnati
MA Framingham Jack's Abby
MA Salem Notch Brewing
ME Limerick Gneiss Brewing Company
MI Battle Creek Territorial Brewing
MI Cedar Springs Cedar Springs Brewing
MI Frankenmuth Frankenmuth Brewing
MI Wyoming Kitzingen
MN Minneapolis Utepils
MN New Ulm August Schell Brewing
MN New Ulm Starkeller Brewing/August Schell Brewing
MN St. Paul Waldman Brewery & Wurstery
MN St. Paul The Yoerg Brewing Company
MO Kansas City K C Bier Co.
MO St. Louis Urban Chestnut – Grove Brewery & Bierhall
MO St. Louis Hofbrauhaus – Belleville, IL
MT Missoula Bayern Brewing / Edelweiss Bistro
NC Charlotte Olde Mecklenburg
NC Whitsett Red Oak Brewery
NC Woodfin Zillicoah
NH Littleton Schilling Beer Co.
NJ Butler High Point (Ramstein) Brewing
NY Buffalo Hofbrauhaus – Buffalo
NY Farmingdale Black Forest Brew Haus
OH Cleveland Hansa Brewery
OH Cleveland Hofbrauhaus
OH Columbus Gemut Biergarten
OH Columbus Hofbrauhaus
OH Fresno Wooly Pig Farm Brewery
OK Moore Royal Bavaria Restaurant & Brewery
OR McMinnville Heater Allen
OR Portland Occidental Brewing
OR Portland Zoiglhaus Brewing Company
OR Portland Wayfinder
PA Downingtown Victory
PA Kennett Square Victory
PA Parkesburg Victory
PA Phoenxville Sly Fox
PA Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Brewing
PA Pittsburgh Hofbrauhaus
PA Pottstown Sly Fox
PA St. Mary's Straub
SC Columbia Bierkeller
TN Knoxville Schulz Brau
TN Memphis Wiseacre Brewing
TX Austin Austin Beer Garden
TX Del Valle Live Oak
TX Fredericksburg Altstadt Brewery
TX Houston Saint Arnold
TX Waco Pivovar Waco
UT Midvale Bohemian Brewery
VT Stowe von Trapp
WA Bellingham Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen
WA Burlington Chuckanut Southnut Taproom
WI Appleton Old Bavarian/OB's Brauhaus
WI Delafield Delafield Brewhaus
WI Eau Claire Lazy Monk
WI Glendale Bavarian Bierhaus
WI Middleton Capital
WV Shepherdstown Bavarian Brothers Brewing

 

1)Side Project
2)Side Project
3)Side Project
4)Side Project
5)Side Project

 

Take your banker with you.

 

It's definitely worth the trip, and the money.

 

I’ll have to leave him at home. He’s too worried about my retirement to let me spend thousands on beer in one visit.

 

To all those saying Monkish, I will say the NEIPAS are excellent. I will also say if you live in a good beer state, you probably have something available to you that is at least equal and maybe superior. In my state at least we have HOMES, Arvon, Wax Wings, Ascension and more that on their worst days are at least as good as Monkish, Treehouse, Trillium, etc and on their best days are far better. Cheers.

 

This list is quite possibly the greatest beer road trip EVER for USA German Style beers.
Well done!

 

Suarez Family.

 

Make sure you wisely plan your visit. I just went to their website and it lists:

“TASTING ROOM is CLOSED until further notice…”

http://www.suarezfamilybrewery.com/tasting-room

I visited Suarez Brewery pre-pandemic (Feb. 2020) on a return trip from skiing in the Adirondacks.

As you can see in the below photo they had limited days/hours when the tasting room was open:



Between my wife and me we had four beers within the tasting room served in small-ish glasses; two of the beers pictured below.:



I thought all of the beers were tasty.

You can read more here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-783.634783/#post-6811792

Cheers!

 

2 on my wishlist are Forest & Main in Ambler, PA, as they seem to have an interesting draft list and several on hand pumps or side pulls. The other is Orkney Brewery for no other reason than they seem to be at the edge of civilization.

 

And the new taproom has a cozy pub-like feel to it:



I enjoyed the two beers they had on cask that evening.

Bitter Ale:



And Dark Mild Ale:



But the highlight for me was their House Lager which was served via a side-pull faucet:



Definitely worth a visit.

Cheers!

 

Fair enough. As I mentioned, I have been fortunate enough to try beers from some of the highly regarded breweries around, including California. I do enjoy Green Cheek as well as Monkish, but if I’m being choosy on California haze, I suppose Beachwood would be the cream of the crop as far as my tastes. At the end of the day, I suppose taste dictates opinion. I like a great deal of what I’ve had, so much so it’s hard to call one a great deal better than another. Cheers.

 

I've been following some of the discussion on here about them and it definitely got my attention. It appears from your photos that there is a lack of television screens; so much the better.

 

Yes, there are no TVs.

As a FYI there is no food served at the new taproom.

Cheers!