Best Brewery Experience?

Brewery Ommegang in the fall was one of the most beautiful brewery trips I've ever had. That's saying alot considering I've been up to Stowe, VT to do the whole Alchemist/HF/Lawson's/Foam trip. I didn't get to hit up Von Trapp though...still kicking myself.

One of my most favorite, consistent brewery experience though is Trillium in Canton. I'm usually in and out within 5-10 mins with some of the best beer in America (IMO of course)

 

Always wanted to go, but the wifey is not going to buy into that one. HoF and Ommegang would be a lovely long weekend, though.

 

Aw, bummer dude! My gf at the time (now fiancee) wasn't big into beer but even she had a blast. Maybe you can sway here with some antique shops, cider mills, etc. If she likes nature or nice scenery it's a great place to visit even if she isn't into beer.

 

The controversial beer opinions thread is over here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/controversial-beer-opinions-thread.559492/

 

The Imperial Coconut porter is good stuff!

 

It's a tie for me as well. Alesong in Oregon and Allagash in Maine.

Alesong has one of the best views of any brewery I've been to and the servers and beer were/are excellent. Allagash had one of the best tours I ever experienced. There's nothing better than drinking a saison in a barrel warehouse, for free.

 

Will be up to Eugene this fall for an Oregon vs SJ State Football game. Will have to see if I can convince they wife to drive out and check it out.

 

I've been to about 60 in the last 5 years. Here's my best experiences categorized and listed best first.

Best facilities-
1. Sierra Nevada, Mills River, (As already mentioned in this thread, the pinnicle of facilities).
2. Stone, Escondido (Beautiful, but no where near the scale of SN).
3. Jack's Abbey, Framingham, (Mentioned because I did not expect what I found).

Best Clientele (probably bias to my alcohol consumption at the time)
1. Snake River Brewing, Jackson Hole
2. New Belgium, Asheville
3. Kinsmen, Southington CT

Best owner or employee
1. Alvarium, New Britain CT, (Owner talked and drank with us for 45 minutes despite 100 people in the place).
2. 30 Mile, Old Saybrook CT, (I've developed quite a friendship with the owner and employees).
3. Denver Brewing

Your going to laugh at #1
Best Food-
1. Hill Farmstead (Yes the beer was impeccable but I expected that, I still tell everyone the sharp cheddar I had there was the best cheese I ever ate).
2. Sierra Nevada, Mills River (On our second visit we got a counter seat overlooking the kitchen. Not only was our meal amazing, but everything else looked good including the skill the staff exhibited.)
3. Two Roads, Stratford CT, (This is kind of cheating, they have a beer fest every May with 40 breweries and 10 food trucks).

 

Amen to all the Mills River love for Sierra Nevada. Totally deserved. My #1 was a 30th bday road trip to Asheville with my wife that included a visit to the Highland brewery. This was more than a couple years ago (cough cough) so the brewery was in the basement of Barley's taproom. Knocked on the door totally out of the blue, no tour, just some annoying beer geek, and the brewer is the only person there. He drops everything to spend 20 minutes with us, showing us the facility and letting us taste some of the brews. The guy had shit to do but he acted like we were the only people in the world. Meant a lot to us and we've been fans ever since. Here's to 'em.
P.S. Great thread btw. This is the type of topic that builds community.

 

With over 500 brewery visits behind me, it is a task to come up with one best experience. So, I'll come up with two:

1. After touring the brewery, it was a beautiful, warm and sunny autumn afternoon when I was drinking beer with my drinking buddy (my wife) at a picnic table in the backyard of New Glarus Brewery while overlooking the town in the valley below. It was a great feeling of euphoria!

2. Last year my drinking buddy and I took our 17-day beercation of a lifetime to Belgium and Germany, and while in Belgium we took the VIP tour at De Halve Maan brewery in Brugge. It was a great tour in their old facility, but having spent the day in the city enjoying the beer culture and then going on the tour all of it has to be considered in this experience. We drank some great beers after the tour in the tour tasting room and chatted with other beer-lovers from all over Europe.

 

Ive only been to a handful of smaller breweries, so my experience thus far is limited.
Of the ones I've been to, warwater brewery in st. Clair has the best scenery. The taproom is set by a court yard area of a strip mall across from the st clair river. Lots of people walking through during the summer, good people watching.
Brown iron brewing had the best in house beer I've tried, plus about 60 guest taps and good food. They always have some great guest brews on tap and do 6 oz pours rather than the normal 4 oz flights..

This summer me and the wife to be will spend our honeymoon hitting up michigan breweries, so I should have some better experiences after that.

 

There is no way I can name a favorite. I wish I could. I can't even list all of the ones I have been to. Maybe 50? All over the country. I did a Vermont Brewery tour (visited the original hole in the wall that was ALCHEMIST). I did a San Diego tour. Indianapolis. Chicago. And everywhere in between.

 

I would go +1 on New Glarus @Mothergoose03 but after hiking around the state park on a drizzley day but the folkiness of Beamish for me made it the best.

 

Absolutely gorgeous spot. Also, it's next door to King Estate winery, which is a great winery.

 

Dogfish Head was awesome! the main brewery is amazing, a gigantic and beautiful location. THE best tour i've ever been on plus they serve 3 beers, of your choice, at the end of the tour.

Tree House is also amazing, the locale is beautiful and the brewery is world class. the line kinda sucks but the beer and experience made up for it.

 

I spent a couple hours at Zero Gravity one beautiful early October day. Absolutely beautiful.

 

Yes, indeed. SN has one of the most gorgeous breweries in the East. Parking lot is concrete (to reduce global warming) and the HVAC system looks like it's ducted in copper (because they can afford to), but.... SN is in the major leagues.
There are so many seriously fun tiny breweries around the nation: Frog Level in Waynesville NC (the most dog-friendly brewery I've ever seen, with - according to my wife - puppies wandering around in the ladies' restroom); Oskar Blues in Brevard NC (gritty mountain-biker vibe and great, great beer); Brewer's Art in Baltimore MD (world-class food in a Victorian townhouse, plus an exceptional selection of beers); Burley Oak in Berlin MD (REALLY tiny brewery in a former cooperage, in "America's coolest small town"); Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton VA (unparalleled view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from their outside seating area)....
My aim is to experience as many breweries as humanly possible (given the limitations of my job, my marriage, and my liver). Every one of them has something to offer - good and bad. Just keep on moving and visit whatever is convenient to wherever you end up.
Some will be good; some won't. "But that is what you risk, Grasshopper: great pain, or great joy."

 

New Belgium.