5 Best/Favorite Breweries

Yes it's been done many times over and will be done many times again...

Nice to see you took the time to click the forum title, scroll to the comment box and reply to a question you apparently have no interest in...bravo good fellow...bravo

 

Three Floyds
Founders
Great Lakes
Cigar City
Terrapin

 

1. Founders(better be since I'm a mugger there)
2. Shorts
3. Lagunitas
4. Bells
5. Great Lakes

 

Founders
Three Floyd's
Firestone Walker
Surly
Perennial

(In no particular order)

 

1. Lagunitas

2. Founders

3. Stone

4. Maine Beer Co

5. Sierra Nevada


Runners up are:
Alchemist, Troegs, Victory, Rising Tide, Baxter, Peak Organic, Jacks Abbey and Firestone Walker.

 

Hill Farmstead
Treehouse Brewing Co.
Founders
NEBCO
Tired Hands

 

Hill Farmstead
Westbrook
Evil Twin
Broken Tooth
Prairie

 

1.Victory
2.Dogfish
3.Stone
4.Troegs
5.Anchor/Cigar City

 

So yea more high school girl lists, but WTH, have fun and be constructive!

5. Bells- Never been dissapointed. Two Hearted is an incredible every day style beer. Overall incredibly well rounded.

4. Founders- Founders really doesn't miss on a whole lot, Breakfast stout is one of the best I've had. I havn't even tried KBS yet but this brewery delivers on everything so far. Devil Dancer is harsh but well constructed, All Day might be one of my favorite beers ever.

3. Lawson Finest Liquids- Living in VT for awhile definitely creates a bias but the beer made by Sean Lawson warrants serious praise! Double Sunshine is easily one of the best beers of any style I've ever had and the guy is cool as hell on top of everything!

2. Maine Beer company- Amazing and versatile lineup of beers from this brewery! Nothing is overly exaggerated in any sense but every beer is well rounded and delicious. Mo has gotten buried under the radar by Lunch and Dinner a bit, though I think it's their all around strongest beer.

1. Hill Farmstead- see above about Lawsons + an amazing sense of true artistry that Shaun Hill exudes. This sense seems to run deep in Vermont with whatever craft is being pursued. I've witnessed the man at his craft looking like some deeply disturbed yet focused mad scientist making sure everything is incredibly accurate. The amazing beers are the well earned result.

 

According to my ratings,

Top Breweries (5+ Ratings)LocationCountAverage Rating

Prairie Artisan AlesOklahoma5
4.08
Sixpoint BreweryNew York6
4.05
Buckeye Brewing CompanyOhio5
3.92
Austin BeerworksTexas18
3.89
Pinthouse PizzaTexas21
3.87

According to what I'd think,

Three Floyds
New Glarus
Austin Beerworks
Pinthouse Pizza
Sierra Nevada

 

In no particular order!...

Sixpoint
Off Color*
Cantillon
Short's*
New Glarus*


*(Midwest bias)

 

5. Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.: Probably my favorite brewery to visit. Great selection, and even better when they have a pilot tasting (I loved RIPA's Return a couple months back). Golden Delicious was fantastic, great apple flavor, exactly what I was looking for in terms of apple brandy barrel aging. And I love some fresh Seeking Alpha.

4. Founders: Probably only number 4 because of how dissapointed I was in KBS after all the hype. A decent beer, but just too thin for the style. FBS is great, one of my favorite stouts ever, and Backwoods Bastard is a home run in my books. Devil Dancer's really good too.

3. Tie Between Goose Island/Lagunitas/Cricket Hill/The Bruery: All have really decent beer, but each makes one of my favorite brews between GI BCBS, Lagunitas Sucks, CH Small Batch Smoked Rye, and The Bruery's Rye Barrel Smoking Wood - each of these breweries might have gotten their own category, but each brew is limited and seasonal (or incredibly expensive, I'm looking at you, The Bruery) (I'm not buying a bunch of those big ass Sucks bottle... because I'll drink all of it. And be poorer and fatter)

2. Stone: Do they make a bad beer? Oak Arrogant Bastard is the only dud that comes to mind from them, but Enjoy By, IRS, Old Guardian, Burning Rosids (in the bottle was better than tap), and Sublimely Self Righteous were all awesome beers. Smoked Porters really good as well. Looking forward to their session milk stout coming out too.

1. Firestone Walker: It seems like everything these guys are doing with barrel aging is amazing - I tried Sucaba for the first time this year and fell in love - since then I have picked up bottles of 17, Parabola, Velvet Merkin, and Sucaba. Wookey Jack is a phenomenal offering as well, and DBA is good stuff as well. I just wish I lived closer to the brewery so that I could hit up some of the limited releases (if I were going to have children, I might offer up my first born for a keg of Parabajava).

I know I cheated with #3, but there's just too much good beer...

Honorable mention goes to Carton Brewing (gotta rep some more Jersey beer) - if you've never tried some of their stuff, give it a shot. Regular Coffee is phenomenal and probably my favorite offering from them, but I really have yet to find a beer I didn't like from them (I hated the smell of Rickey, but it tastes pretty good, don't let the smell deter you).

Edit: Fixed some grammar. Because I'm an English teacher. And it was bothering me. Unlike these incomplete sentences.

 

Dogfish
Stone
Rouge
Heavy Seas (can someone say black cannon??)
Smuttynose

 

Wisco:
5. Lakefront
4. Lake Louie
3. Karben4
2. Black Husky
1. New Glarus

California:
5. Ballast Point
4. Societe
3. Russian River
2. Moonlight
1. Alpine

Couldn't bust up my two home states.

 

1. Breckenridge
2. Hoppin' Frog
3. Great Divide
4. Tallgrass
5. Free State

 

Fairly new to craft beers, at age 58 just started drinking them this spring.

1. Founders: Started drinking craft after "liking" my local liquor store on facebook and they let me know that KBS would be available at one per customer. Had never heard of beer that was limited. Bought one, drank it and quit buying PBR. Have had several more from them and love them all.

2. Goose Island: My brother ( who's been into craft beer for it seems like forever ) came over and shared a BCBCS and a BC barlywine with me. Now looking forward to November when I can try to get more.

3. Dark horse: Was very disappointed when my brother told me that the BB aged Pt5 was only available in Michigan.

4. Stone: Wonderful stuff.

5. Samuel Smiths: Love everything I've had.

how did I leave out bell's?

 

Stone
Ballast Point
Russian River
Lagunitas
Port Brewing

 

That's a really tough question to answer, but...

1. Founders
2. Three Floyds
3. Kuhnhenn
4. Bell's
5. Perennial

 

As of right now:

Pretty Things: Not a dud in the bunch but look out, these people might be hipsters. [cue organ]
Notch: A range of fine brews, none of 'em over 4.5% abv.
Jack's Abby: A range of fine brews, none of 'em not lagers. Plus by buying their new Framingham Lager, I'm helping to revitalize downtown Framingham, which makes me feel like a big shot.
Maine Beer Company: So expensive they make me feel like a real big shot.
Tree House: I don't often have access, but the five brews I've had from 'em have all been aces.

And here's a sixth. Sierra Feckin' Nevada: Consistently solid brew, consistently great value, available everywhere.

 

founders
stone
evil twin though obviously not a brewery (their westbrook beers)
ballast point
the bruery