States where craft brewing is exploding

Those reviews. How is that place still in business and why would anyone drive there?

 

Kentucky has seen a few really small ones in the past few years open up. Not nearly enough.

 

I travel around a lot for breweries and beer bars. I continue to think the Midwest and NW is where it's at.

 

San Diego had 17 new breweries open in 2012 and 17-18 under construction and planned to open in 2013.

63 currently operational by Jan 1, 2013, possibly 81 by Dec 31st.

That's incredible. http://www.westcoastersd.com/sd-brewing-industry-watch/

In terms of quality? The beer is B+ for Helm's, Rough Draft, Lat 33, and low A's for Monkey Paw, Societe, Rip Current, Belching Beaver...none are making bad beer and with time...they'll become even better.

There's actually too many options these days. Suxs to be us.

 

The number of Rhode Island owned breweries has increased 33% in the last year!.

We've gone from from 6 to 8 .

 

Would be just as interested to know the number that fail/close yearly?

 

52 new breweries a year? Right.

 

Is anyone making a Pilsner worth a damn? The one I had out there was not very good.

 

The Brewers Association lists closures in their annual Press Release that comes out in the spring, and remains on their website's Number of Breweries page.

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Possibly the brewpubs...not 100% sure. Not on my radar of beers I usually drink.

 

In the last year we have seen the following places open: River North, Black Shirt, Our Mutual Friend, Crooked Stave, Prost, Caution, Hogshead, Rickoli, West Flanders, Verboten, J. Wells, High Hops, Big Beaver, Black Bottle, Hall, Lone Tree, TRVE, Gravity, Bootstrap, BRU, Echo, Very Nice, Vine Street, Wild Woods, & Great Storm. That's 26, and I did say "seemingly." That's an average of one every other week.

 

Having lived in Germany, I do seek those out. If a brewery can brew a good German or Czech Pilsner, they can brew anything.

 

Here in Michigan in the greater Grand Rapids area it is booming.

 

I know exactly what you mean, we definatly don't need any more Fretzy or Watermelon Wheat Ale!

But, we do have a couple of breweries kicking out, maybe not all jems, but some good beers like Four Peaks, San Tan, Sonoran and Nimbus.


I am curious though, which local are you drinking?

 

Only care for Four Peaks. And I'm talking on draft at the brewery locations only - Hop Knot, Raj, Hefe-Weizen, plus a few others.

Jeremy - you mean you're no fan of Old World Brewing or Grand Canyon? Electric Dave's? Drink local man, drink local!

 

As a fellow Missourian, I agree. The St. Louis area is exploding. We've gone from a handful of breweries/brewpubs just five years ago to 22 within an hour drive of downtown STL, with two more opening within 3 months (Alpha, Heavy Riff). It's really exciting. The quality is not consistent overall, but Perennial, 4 Hands, Urban Chestnut, Civil Life, 2nd Shift, and several more are very promising, young breweries that cannot keep up with demand. In outstate areas, and across the river in Illinois (STL Metro area), we have some quality small breweries either in operation (Charleville, Mother's) or opening soon (Scratch - totally pumped for them). Anchored by stalwarts Boulevard in KC and Schlafly in STL, the area is poised to continue this growth.

There was one true "beer bar" five years ago - Cicero's - and now they exist in most neighborhoods. Flying Saucer is opening downtown, joining Bridge, iTap (3 locations), and a handful of others in the City. Even most restaurants now dedicate a few taps to locals, with many expanding to 10+ craft taps. I can't speak for KC, Columbia, or other areas, but I'm sure there are some great beer bars there as well.

One cannot keep up with the beer festivals - Lupulin, Wolpertinger, FestivAle, Microfest, Brewers Heritage Festival, plus too many more to list here.

There is a decidedly anti-AB movement sprouting since the Inbev takeover, with many folks turning toward local products as their lifelong AB loyalties wane. The market share is there for the taking, with micros still only accounting for 5-6% by recent estimates.

I'm not a homer enough to claim we're on a level of Southern California, Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan, Seattle, Portland, etal, but it's an exciting scene and time to be here.

 

Damn. Now WV is certainly in last place.
Nope! I think we still beat NDakota.

 

Georgia is definitely gaining some momentum in the new brewery department. Sweetwater and Terrapin (both fairly well-established breweries) are expanding quite a bit in terms of distribution and lineup. Red Brick, Jailhouse, Red Hare, and Burnt Hickory are also all fairly recent additions to the craft beer scene in Georgia.

 

The great state of Chicago!

 

Some excellent Pilsners are made in Texas. Live Oak Pilz, Real Ale Hans Pilz, Austin Beer Works Pearl Snap, and Deep Ellum Rye Pilz are all top notch. I wish more breweries would make a good lager that is not just their substitute for macro crap.

On that note, Texas has certainly been growling very rapidly. Also, second OK. Some very good breweries there as well.