If anyone wants to play with this it's on my Github. There's directions for the "non-technical" if you download and just open the html file in your browser you can tick off states. I seeded a bunch of breweries for funsies. Definitely not high quality but I like visuals to go with my lists. https://github.com/chrisjws/brew-mapper
I have a spreadsheet of visited breweries. I don't have time right now to create a detailed list like others here did. But I did sort it by the "state" field and I counted 19 states (DC included).
I'm a big fan of flights myself, but I'm also cognizant that they can slow things down. At my local, I always ask my bartender first if she minds if I order a flight. She typically doesn't mind, but I think appreciates the request. If the place is obviously packed and the staff are slammed, then I don't ask. I just order a glass of something. Once things calm down (if they calm down), I'll ask about getting a flight. A little courtesy and awareness of your surroundings goes a long way in these types of situations. I'm of course aware that there are some that could care less how their actions might affect others, but that's no reason to completely ban an enjoyable feature. My local typically charges around $16 for four 5 ounce pours (the price goes up for ba stuff, lambics and the like), so I don't feel as if having a flight offer is doing any harm financially either. A long as it's not a huge inconvenience, I feel like offering flights is a win-win for everyone.
Just for laughs and giggles, I looked over the list of states. Turns out I've been to breweries in 38 states, but... I can't swear I've ordered a pint at every brewery. As I alluded to above, I'm a big fan of flights, and will often just order flights and sample glasses at a new to me brewery. If I'm just counting states where I ordered a pint or 12 ounce glass at a brewery, the number is probably closer to half that (maybe around 20).
7 oz (approx) servings were common on the east coast into the 60s (usually one at a time). McSorleys Ale House has two drafts (light and dark). Minimum order is two (about) 6 oz mugs. A mini-taster of one each has been consistently available as long as I can remember. I'm not sure who brews the beer they serve these days, but quality has been up-and-down since the 80s. Despite the "Ale House" name, both beers are likely to be adjunct lagers (and taste like it).
Seems to me it's probably unlikely, but I always wondered if there was some connection with German kolsch. I assume the beers you're describing were very light lagers, with an abv likely similar to most kolsch. The glass size would be very similar in size to typical kolsch glasses, and it sounds like they were consumed in a similar manner. Just a thought.
1. AL-Ferus 2. AK-Anchorage 3. AZ-Gentle Ben's 4. CA-Ballast Point 5. CO-Crooked Stave 6. CT-New England 7. DE-Dewey 8. FL-Magnanimous 9. GA-Crooked Culture 10. IL-Corridor 11. ME-Allagash 12. MD-Burley Oak 13. MA-Tree House 14. MI-Great Baraboo 15. MO-Schlafly 16. NJ-Kane 17. NY-Test 18. NC-Burial 19. OH-Hoof Hearted 20. OR-Hair of the Dog 21. PA-Warwick Farm 22. RI-Tilted Barn 23. TN-Southern Grist 24. TX-Back Unturned 25. VA-The Veil 26. WA-Fremont 27. WI-Great Dane 28. WY-Danielmark's
https://allaboutbeer.com/mcsorleys-a-tavern-behind-the-times/ The glasses at McSorley's are small mugs filled about 2/3. I suspect (without evidence) that the beers have been around 5 to 5.5% In the 70s, Rheingold, then Ortlieb brewed McSorleys Ale (light) draft and bottled, then C. Schmidt to the mid-80s. I liked Ortlieb's version enough to special order a keg for a picnic. Until the mid-70s (when they closed) Stegmaier brewed the dark. It was likely similar to the bottled Steg Porter (full bodied, very dark). I think that recent McSorley's owners might not be too particular about the styles of beer served. I wasn't impressed on my few visits over the years when the primary supplier has been Pabst.
I've got a spreadsheet of all the breweries I have been to, with a strikingly similar list of criteria as the OP to count as a "brewery". I count both pints and flights, though, as a "visit". 29 states total: what's on this map, plus 4 breweries in Alaska, 7 in Hawaii, and 3 in Puerto Rico if you want to branch out to territories. I use Tableau Public to do my map visualizations. I have also checked off two Canadian provinces/territories (BC and NWT), three Mexican states (Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Mexico City), and 20 other first-order administrative subdivisions in various countries (the top two of which, by far, are Budapest (13 breweries) and Prague (9 breweries)).
Nerd! You and me brother! This is so awesome, and thank you for sharing some of these maps with me when we met. We gotta fix the empty PA though.
Oh for sure. There's definitely some very notable gaps* from a beer standpoint -- PA, CO, MA, VT. * Obviously, there are good breweries everywhere ... these are just the surprising gaps for a beer lover
