So psyched for this. Who else is going? Anyone care to chime in on “must try” breweries beyond the obvious northeast lager heavy hitters? I’m a big fan of Goldfinger. And I’ve been making it a point to hit Strangebird whenever I’m in Rochester. Human Robot Fox Farm Zillicoah Schilling Threes Bluejacket (DC) Bierstadt (Denver, CO) Good Word (Duluth, GA) The Seed Carbon Copy Strangebird Wild East Alternative Ending (Aberdeen Township, NJ) Jack’s Abbey KCBC Fonta Flora Findback Living Haus Fidens Zero Gravity Grimm Von Trapp Suarez Forest and Main (Ambler, PA) Foam (Burlington) Dovetail (Chicago, IL) Wayfinder (Portland, OR) North Park (San Diego, CA) Benchtop (Norfolk, VA) Our Mutual Friend (Denver, CO) Eckhart (Brooklyn) Counter Weight (Cheshire, CT) Mast Landing (Westbrook, ME) Marlowe Whitman (Saratoga Springs, NY) Kilsboro (Staten Isl) Kent Falls (Kent, CT) West Kill (West Kill, NY) Seedz (MI) Halfway Crooks (Atl) Widowmaker (Braintree, MA) Cohesion (Denver, CO) Allagash (Portland) Oxbow (Portland) Niteglow (Brooklyn) End River (Hillsborough, NC) Indian Ladder Farms (Altamont, NY) Every Where (Orange, CA) Drowned Lands Icarus (Brick Township, NJ) Test (Brooklyn) Attic (Philly) Goldfinger (Downers Grove, IL) Warwick Farms (Jamison, PA) Blue Duck (Kingston, NY) Twin Elephant (Chatham, NJ) Ocelot (Dulles, VA) Nine Pin (Albany)
I've had a handful of Benchtop when down near VA Beach and they're pretty awesome Not sure if you count Marlowe with the northeast heavy hitters, I feel like I don't hear anybody talk about them but they make incredible stuff across lagers and IPA and bitters and ESB, if they're not on your radar I'd highly recommed.
Breweries I can vouch for: Dovetail Wayfinder Halfway Crooks Breweries I'd be interested in trying: Zillicoah Bierstadt Cohesion Goldfinger Lotta breweries I like at this fest.
I can vouch that the Philly area breweries on the list (Carbon Copy, F&M, Attic, Warwick) are all solid, but not quite on Human Robot's level of quality/ consistency on lagers. From those, if F&M has their Dark Lager, I am fan of that beer. If youre not familiar with The Seed, they are probabaly the best of the NJ breweries listed. Of the national places - I have visited Bierstadt and Wayfinder in their respective cities, and was impressed with their stuff. Enjoy the event! Unfortunately this year I again will be out of town, or else I would have considered meeting up with some upstate NY friends to attend.
I'm a beer buyer in the area, and I would def recommend local breweries West Kill and Suarez. West Kill's Kaaterskill is my best-selling beer, with their Brookie as a close second. They have a wide range of seasonals that they rotate in/out. Their Bezucha Bros is one of my fav Czech-style pilsners, or really one of my fav beers in general. And as a big fan of the following, I'd definitely recommend you try: Human Robot - just world class Euro style beers Schilling - every beer I've had from them has been a treat, but I'm especially partial to their czech lager Alexandr Fidens - amazing brews from up in Albany! Grimm - my favorite NY brewery, just so many heavy hitters, especially when it comes to IPAs, but I haven't had a bad beer from them yet. Their Weisse wins awards all the time. Vonn Trapp - very classy, yummy, Euro-style beers Forest & Main - I've carried a few of their beers on my wall recently and they've all been delicious Dovetail - top notch Euro-beers from Chicago! Halfway Crooks - I've only been able to snag a few of their beers for my wall, but super delicious! Drowned Lands - another local-ish brewery here in NY, excellent quality
That’s quite a lineup! Suarez and Schilling are my two favorite US lager brewers. Fox Farm, Bierstadt, and Human Robot would round out my personal top-5 for lager. So many good breweries here, though! Sleeper pick: Ocelot. Local to me, makes some great lagers.
I thought we'd get more chatter. No worries. If you see me, please say hi. I'll be the dude digging the shit out of the lagers.
