It's not a silly question at all. I'll estimate that the three breweries in town are 50-50 in going to them, i.e. good/great beer/food as well as the need to support them, and the three that are 12-20 miles away are more to the side of me wanting to support them, but their beers are always worth the drive or I probably wouldn't make the effort. The 3 locals do get more visits, especially in the winter because of snowy driving conditions.
I can never tell if Denver is the tip of the spear or just a weird exception. I went to Portland in the Fall and they didn't seem to be experiencing what we are. We lost several big parts of the scene in the last year (TRVE, Call to Arms, Sanitas, Burns, Trinity, etc.). For a minute we had a place closing seemingly every week. We have Wilding buying up a slew of breweries for the sake of their brand names while closing the actual breweries. Our two biggest regional breweries, New Belgium and Avery, have been corporately owned for several years and their focuses have pivoted in major ways. We do have a few positives, though. Odell is still independent and doing well enough. For a place their size, they're well ahead of the curve. Most people would agree that Westbound & Down is one of the best breweries in the region, and they continue to expand. Cerebral, too. We have some consolidations and partnerships going on (Left Hand/Dry Dock, Crooked Stave/Casey, etc.) that make sense, too. Overall I'd say things aren't going well, but there are a few rays of sunshine.
I had a feeling that food quality was a factor somewhere in the equation. Here in Asheville, Hillman has the best food out of any of the breweries, but their beers range from fair to very good in my opinion. They rarely wow me beer-wise, but I know which ones I like and will go there often since their wings, burgers, Cuban and pretty much everything is consistently great. The service is impeccable as well
My question for you would be, "Why?" Do you support them because they put out an awesome product, do a great job with customer service, and have a unique and inviting environment or do you support them just because they are local? I've been to a lot of (read: not every) breweries here in Pittsburgh and I feel very justified in saying my life wouldn't change very much if they all closed. Very few of them are doing anything special, so, in reality, I couldn't care less about most of them. I know this seems very pessimistic and curmudgeonly, but I don't have time to drink mediocre, uninspired beer. Don't get me wrong, I'll still visit locals for a variety of reasons, but most of what I drink is from dependably excellent national breweries. It's going to be very interesting to see "the shake out" over the next couple years, though. It will definitely be good for craft beer.
My 3 local breweries are okay for now. All three have 2 or more locations in other cities. Beachwood Brewing has 5 spots including their production facility. Riip has 2 spots in HB and Green Cheek has 4 spots. Beer sales are down. Seltzers are probably the biggest seller for GC. We’ll have to see how the next couple years pan out.
I liked what I did have from them, but honestly I won’t miss them because I didn’t drink a lot of their stuff. I think Goldfinger’s Dark Lager Day is next weekend and I am planning to be there.
No, but it definitely doesn't come off as a glowing review of Pittsburgh's craft beer scene. Me and some beer buddies of mine are planning a trip to Toronto next August and were gonna spend a day in Pittsburgh on the way up. Maybe we should figure out a different halfway point?
Alive and well in the Boston area. There’s a small group of breweries I go to and they all seem to be quite busy. They all make great beer, but also a great community of people I love to see. I support them weekly for those reasons. I can of course always point to Tree House which is likely doing better than any craft brewery in the country. They’re not within walking distance of me so I don’t go there as often.
Well that's just one person's view, so there's that. Many interesting things to see and do in Pittsburgh as stated already.
just a feeling but i think 2026 will be the year we see a the most brewery closings ever and most will sit empty and that is ok
Stopped by a couple of less known Richmond breweries today after running errands. Both had big crowds. Both had a lot of grey hairs in the crowds They knew the audience. Not everybody can be the hype-train brewery, but connecting with the locals that want a good beer and a good time in a decent place is a recipe for survival.
If you like hazies, I think you will be very pleased with Brew Gentlemen, in particular, as well as Dancing Gnome. Tessaro's makes the best burger I have ever tasted and, if you like tapas, Morcilla can't be beat.
In San Antonio, several have closed recently. Mostly those were taprooms and brewpubs that didn't distribute. Still plenty of breweries around, but they often seem kind of empty when I visit.
My wife and I attended the Sly Fox 30th anniversary celebration last evening at their Phoenixville brewpub location. It was a well attended event but there was a tremendous amount of grey haired folks there. I know the person in charge of Marketing & Sales for Sly Fox and I congratulated him on surviving 30 years of operations. I asked him how well the Sly Fox business was going and he was a little pensive and he commented these are challenging times. He went on to say he personally knew a lot of people who used to work for the Iron Hill ‘chain’ of brewpubs and he felt bad for them being unemployed. Cheers!
Here in the CLE Great Lakes and Fat Head seem to be going strong. GLBC does especially well during the holidays. I worry about the smaller breweries. We’re already losing Bookhouse and a few others. We try to support places like Forest City, Immigrant Son and Noble Beast when we go out. They do really well made beers and have terrific spaces. Forest City’s Atlantic Beer Garden is a true gem
I don't know why you quoted me on this, @JackHorzempa outside of the old folks connection. I've always liked Sly Fox beers, and their grisette was one of my favorites. Sucks that they pulled back distribution.
