Best U.S. beer city: the poll

Going to have to go with Rochester!! It has a slew of amazing bars and bottle shops, with enough serious rotation that things never get old.

 

West side of Michigan

Founders
Shorts
Arcadia
New Holland
Bells

Yeah, it gets better

 

True, but can it be called the best beer city if you have no desire to live there? I know Philly gets mentioned a lot, and they get awesome distribution, but I have no desire to live there so I have a difficult time considering it better than many other cities I've been to.

 

False

 

Just one catch; you can walk (or catch mass city transit) to all four of the mentioned Portland breweries as well as New Old Lompoc, Laurelwood, Hopworks, and world class beer bars like Apex, Belmont Station, and Horse Brass. Pretty sure some of the breweries you mentioned are at least 50 miles apart.

 

Wait, what? Best beer city, and you reply with the entire west side of a state? Might as well say San Diego county or SF Bay Area.

 

Asheville, NC gets my vote, absolutely love the microbreweries already up there, Asheville Brewing Company, Lexington Avenue Brewery, Pisgah, Highland, Green Man. Not to mention great bars such as Thirsty Monk, Bier Garden, The Wedge, Universal Joint, etc. Now we have Sierra Nevada and possibly New Belgium coming to town...not a bad little town on top of the mountain.

 

I'm a bit suprised that Madison, WI has not been mentioned. Great city to live in, college atmosphere and breweries that include the Ale Asylum, Great Dane Brewing Company (4 locations), The Vintage Brewing Company, Capital Brewing Company, Grey's Tide House, soon to open House of Brews, plus Granite City Brewing Company we have 10 locations that brew their own beer in a city of 200,000. With breweries like Lake Louie, Tyrannena, New Glarus Brewing Company, The Grumpy Troll and Esser's all within a 20 mile radius of the city, southcentral Wisconsin is a hotbed for small craft breweries.

 

I have not had the opportunity to visit many great brew cities, but I think I will cast my vote for Portland. Great beer culture, amazing selections and the heart of Cascadian brewing.

Being a Canuck, I feel that I should drop a city north of the border into the mix. It would be between Montreal and Victoria, bc. In the end I think I will choose Vic.

 

hmmmm....Portland and San Diego are top 2 for sure in my opinion. Tough to call a winner, but I think that craft beer is more prevalent in Portland and more well known to the average resident. I am going to say Portland.

I also would like to throw in Northern California as "city". Russian River, Lagunitas, Bear Republic and Sierra Nevada all within 2 hours of each other. Not bad at all.

 

Huh... surprised no one has mentioned St. Cloud, MN.

 

I'm sorry,but you're all wrong : Lovell,ME

 

Except then you have to be in the People's Republic of Madison. To many loonies for me. I will take Chicago as every great brewery not named Furthermore, New Glarus, Surley or Shlafley has a presence in Chicago not mention Half Acre, Revolution, Goose Island, Three Floyds (it's in the suburbs, come on) et al.

 

i feel like colorado cities are being a little overlooked here

 

Milwaukee probably consumes the most (not all triple hopped Miller lite.)..... Their are a hand full of bars in a 10 mile radius that have been rated in the top 100 beer bars in America. Their are another hand full that could be. Gotta say best beer bar i've been in though has been in boston. Having said that i would put the midwest against any region in the country!

 

Hope you only came to visit, since you don't know how to spell it....

 

For the love of god! If you're going to rep the town, learn how to spell it!!!