Hidden Gem breweries

A few that I visited last year that I thought were underrated/hidden gems. Traveling to cities 10 years ago or so, there might have been only a couple of breweries. These days it’s fun to have so much choice, but there sure are a lot of mediocre breweries out there!

Daredevil - Indianapolis, IN
Love many of the IPAs here, and not sure why they don’t get more attention. Maybe because they only used to have one location that was out near near the airport.

Metropolitan - Chicago, IL
I was stunned that this place wasn’t a “must hit” on the Chicago guide/thread here on BA. Awesome lagers in a great setting

Cerebral - Denver, CO
I probably hit 90% of the Denver breweries on my trip (which was a lot of breweries!), but thought this was maybe the best one. Seemed underrated.

Astrolab - Silver Spring, MD
Hard to believe a brewery can now make IPAs right off the bat that are this good.

 

High Nine Brewing in Deep River Connecticut. Hidden because they have only been open for a few months. They have a text-book Pilsner and a killer coffee stout. Their NEIPAs are pretty good also. I predict they will be well known in 2 years.

 

Barrelhouse Paso Robles
They make a damn solid west coast IPA. I try to stop every time I'm driving down to LA. Assuming my family will let me.

 

In Eugene OR or local, Alesong and Coldfire.

 

I'd like to second the mention of Free Will, which has a wide range of beers and particularly superb sours.

 

I like Tonewood, too. They regularly have cask ale on offer. Everything that I've had from Tonewood has been distinctive.

 

I guess that hidden depends on where one looks. My suggestions:

The Referend Bier Blendery (1595 Reed Road, Pennington, NJ)
This is an esoteric lambic producer with a small output, located in a warehouse park and open a few hours a week.

Fermentery Form (1700 Palethorp Street, Philadelphia)
Another blendery, this one open one night a week, with a hard-to-find small space in a back alley in a grimey neighborhood. This one is literally hidden.

 

Very nice place in a part of France that reminded me of Midwest farm land. No grape vines in sight, just cows, corn, & great beer at Thiriez.

Owner/brewer, Daniel Thiriez was a gracious host. He took time way from brewing to show off the operation. Three beers on draft, (including the IPA you mentioned) & a nice bottle selection, plus Daniel is a French/Belgium breweriana collector, hence the taproom walls were covered w/ European brewery advertisement of bygone days.

 

Southern Yankee and Holler Brewing in Houston.

 

I gotta try more from these breweries:

VitaminSea Brewing - Weymouth, Ma
Equilibrium - Middletown , NY

Check them out yourself, thank me later

 

In the Grand Rapids region, my opinion is that the gems are Speciation for wild/sour beers and Cedar Springs for German styles. Happily, both of the breweries are setting up new locations closer to the center of town.

 

I second Holler!

Here’s some other Houston lesser knowns that are solid:
Sigma Brewing - my favorite beers in the city
Great Heights Brewing - second favorite beer lineup and best atmosphere
Baileson Brewing
Astral Brewing

 

Tustin brewery company in, well Tustin, CA. More known for their awesome tap list and Russian river beer week as it’s a restaurant but their Old Town IPA is my perfect WC IPA. They also Brew good coffee beers, doubles and triple ipas.

From a national perspective green cheek. They are one if not the best brewery in OC. Very popular in the local market but I don’t believe they get any national hype. But their iPas, WC and Hazies are some of the best around.

 

Cerebral gets a lot of hometown love. I've been wanting to get up and grab some foeder fermented lagers fro. Them.

 

in the kc metro area:
martin city brewing! they have the best stouts in kc with BROO and BIG BROTHER
torn label. i feel like this place should be as darling as pipeworks

missouri wide
civil life. the best brewery

 

Arch Rock Brewing, Gold Beach, OR

 

Astro Lab does make some great IPAs. I'd add Silver Branch, also in Silver Spring MD. Great selection of styles. Walking distance from Astro Lab and the Metro station.

 

Sweet - a new place for me to check out. Thanks! Never heard of it, and I'm in DuPage County myself.

 

I'm near Chicago, in the west/nw suburbs. I've enjoyed Mikerphone (especially the slushie fruit beer), and Triptych in southern IL. Noon whistle is pretty good.

 

...but my favorite is More Brewing, in Villa Park, IL Best fruit beers I've ever tried. The restaurant is pretty dang good also. It's pretty small, so they sell out of to-go stuff pretty quick. The raspberry beer was like nothing I'd ever tried before. It was almost like juice or a fruit smoothie.