BA, Rate Your Top Three Breweries

Yeah, but in what order?

 

1. Hill Farmstead
2. Russian River
3. Peekskill

 

Russian River
Hair of the Dog
Fremont

 

1. Toppling Goliath
2. Surly
3. Founders

 

New Glarus
Deschute's
Sierra Nevada

 

FIRST OFF, NOBODY will read this, but I'm doing it anyway. Because I CAN.

Wow. Alright. Well. Uhm. Okay. This is a hard one for me. I know you said top THREE, but I'm going to list eight because I'm bored, am drinking, and feel like typing. Excuse my almost certain Michigan bias. In no particular order...

1.) Short's: I haven't been BLOWN AWAY by any of their beers per se, but for some reason I always feel obligated to jump on their newest release. I love how experimental they are. I love the style of their bottle art. I think I'd put Short's as my number one. I know I said no particular order, but... this is probably the exception.

2.) Founders: Almost everything I've had from them has been consistently awesome. There are obviously some that I like more than others, but that can be said for any brewery. Overall, I enjoy their beer more than Short's, but I prefer Short's experimentalism (yep, new word).

3.) Kuhnhenn: Here we go, a third Michigan brewery. I just absolutely love their DRIPA. Their Raspberry Eisbock is amazing. Kuhnhenn's 4D (I actually prefer the non-BA version)... they make some fantastic beer. I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of their bottling facility. Second brewery. Whatever the hell they'll call it.

4.) Three Floyds: I've only had 5 (?) of their beers, but Zombie Dust, Alpha King, and Arctic Panzer Wolf have all basically blown my mind. I wasn't too fond of the "we're too hip to treat you with respect" attitude I got at their brewpub, but I can't deny the quality of their beer. And hey, their bottle art is some of the best there is.

5.) Bell's: Come on, now. Hopslam remains my all-time favorite beer, and almost no beer has really come close to reaching that level of near perfection for me. Quinnanan Falls Lager and Two Hearted are a couple of my top beers as well.

6.) Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company: They're solid at best. They are what they are. The inBev of the craft beer industry. Piss poor comparison, but I don't know how else to do it. Whatever, they're the top dogs. They got me into craft beer in the first place, and I appreciate and enjoy almost all of their beers.

7.) Great Lakes Brewing Company: Not much to say here other than that they make some outstanding beers. I think for average rating, GLBC would be near the top for me.

8.) Odd Side: They remind me of Short's in that they have some damn interesting beers and aren't afraid to experiment. They make my favorite sub-5% brews, without a doubt. And Bean Flicker? You want to talk about an interesting beer, try that one out for yourself.

Other mentions: Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada ... consistently awesome.

 

Troegs
Stone
Smuttynose

 

no American brewery should make the top three

you should all be ashamed

 

I'll stay local -
Hill farmstead
The Alchemist
The Portsmouth Brewery

 

When I constructed my list I 'forgot' about Tired Hands. My wife and I went there last night and I had 4 ounce samples of most of the beers that they had on tap. Every beer I had was AWESOME. The standout was a Berliner Weisse which was brewed with lychee; that beer was 'extra' AWESOME.

Cheers to Tired Hands!

 

1. Great Lakes Brewing Co.
2. Founders
3. Stone
3a. Columbus Brewing Co.

 

Ha! You've rated 44 - that's forty-four beers a five. 37 - that's thirty-seven of them brewed in the good 'ol USA.
Do you always just throw bombs?

 

Boneyard
Breakside
Fort George

 

wicked weed
noda
RR

 

Midnight Sun - Moscow, Bersereker, Arctic Devil, Monks Mistress... just thinking about my favorites from them is tantalizing.

Stone - So, SO many awesome hoppy things from them.

Lagunitas - Kinda like Stone with the hoppy things... and EXTREMELY affordable compared to most other craft stuff.

I'm totally cut off from (and thus haven't tried much from) most midwest and east coast stuff, so I can't really choose from those breweries.

 

This is tough because it will change but for now....

1. Three Floyd's
2. Stone
3. Pipeworks

And you have to include Sierra Nevada.

 

Founders
Bruery
Cantillon

 

It's a work in progress, constantly evolving but as of today:

Bells (would be here for Hopslam alone, but plenty of other greats)
Goose Island (yeah you heard me)
Three Floyds Founders Sierra Nevada Stone Lagunitas Victory Great Lakes Dark Horse and all the rest here on Gilligan's Island.

I never did like playing by the rules.

 

Founders
Columbus Brewing
Three Floyd's/Bell's

Fatheads, Brew Kettle get honorable mention

 

I wouldn't equate my knowledge to the ability to post on beer advocate

Seems like you are the type of guy to post a review about every beer you drink, I am not... Silly noob