Top 5 Beer Countries

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by MeMyselfNAles7, Jun 23, 2013.

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  1. mcrago

    mcrago Pundit (839) Oct 6, 2012 Indiana

    1. USA
    1a. California
    2. Colorado
    3. Michigan
    4. Oregon
    5. Belgium
     
  2. Rohkey

    Rohkey Initiate (0) Jan 13, 2013 Michigan

    In order:

    1) Belgium
    2) Germany
    3) USA
    4) Netherlands
    5) France or U.K.

    Honorable mentions to Canada and Czech Republic
     
  3. TheRealDBCooper

    TheRealDBCooper Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands

    I'm somewhat surprised at the lack of Japan on a lot of these lists, though arguably the majority of their beer is not widely distributed. (And if it wasn't for trips to Singapore I wouldn't have tried even 1/4 of what I've had from Japan.) The sake brewers that have started making beer are producing world class product. Think of the cleanest German made beer, but applied to non-German style beers. (Saisons, IPAs, APAs, etc) It is an attention to quality that is unsurpassed.
     
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  4. Kirk

    Kirk Initiate (0) May 16, 2005 England

    USA
    UK
    Denmark
    Belgium
    Netherlands
     
  5. Hanglow

    Hanglow Pooh-Bah (2,051) Feb 18, 2012 Scotland
    Pooh-Bah



    You guys started early today? :grinning: Surely any comparison in terms of numbers when it comes to the likes of beer should be done by head of population, I don't really see where size of country really comes into it with todays transport

    EU is probably half the physical size of the US, similar population and has more breweries

    UK is about 1/50ths size of US, 1/5th population and has 1/3 as many breweries

    All this means is .....we all have good beer both sides of the pond now and it's still improving :slight_smile:
     
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  6. micromaniac129

    micromaniac129 Initiate (0) Nov 1, 2009 Pennsylvania

    Good ol' USA
    Great Britain
    Germany
    Belgium
    Canada just because it rides on America's coat tails
     
  7. djsmith1174

    djsmith1174 Savant (1,015) Aug 21, 2005 Minnesota


    Awesome information. I hope they do distribute this more widely. I can see the craft of sake brewing translating well to beer. And I've always admired it. I haven't been anywhere in the Western Pacific for nearly 20 yrs, though. Sure miss the culture.
     
  8. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    I've already alluded to countries with "honourable mentions" , many countries do have some world class brewers but can't be placed in the "top five"
    That's because one swallow doesn't make a summer. To be a top beer country there surely has to be enough popular interest in "craft" beer and it should be generally available rather than just specialised outlets.Even the US has only 6% of its beer volume as craft ; the figures are higher in Northern European countries.France and Italy are basically wine drinking areas which happen to contain a small number of excellent breweries.It's a combination of quality with market penetration.
     
  9. 604growler

    604growler Zealot (665) Jul 20, 2009 Canada (BC)

    Top 5 empirically derived: USA, Belgium, "Scandinavia", Canada, UK&Ireland.

    I computed the mean ratings of the top 50 beers from each country based on the BA ratings and here is the order:

    usa 4.58
    Belgium 4.38
    Scandinavia 4.15
    Canada 4.13
    UK&Ireland 4.12
    Germany 4.11
    Netherlands 3.92
    Italy 3.9
    France 3.74
    Australia 3.74
    Japan 3.71
    Brazil 3.23
    Mexico 3.15
     
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  10. Dreizhen

    Dreizhen Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2013 District of Columbia

    Personal preference:

    Belgium
    USA
    UK
    Netherlands
    Germany

    I might possibly bump USA up to #1 after I have more of the "famous" US brews. I've had the best Belgium has to offer and I'm in love. I've only had a good amount of the higher ranked US beer (Bells, Founders, Smutty Nose, etc...) but have yet to try Russian River and a handful of others. That being said, UK and Netherlands have some damn good beer and I want to try more, though I feel I've had a good enough amount to make a judgment. German beer I admit is very good in quality, but I'm just not wild about a lot of the styles that are more popular there.


    It's been a couple years since I ran around in the UK but I can definitely vouch for the Netherlands as another European country having some very ballsy beers. Something I had a couple weeks back had lemongrass and chili pepper. Maybe I'm not as well versed in crazy beer, but that was very new for me (though I have seen pepper type beers) and I found it surprisingly good.
     
  11. Hanglow

    Hanglow Pooh-Bah (2,051) Feb 18, 2012 Scotland
    Pooh-Bah

    You need to remove .47 " 'murica, fuck yeah!" bonus that those scores include though
     
  12. Bobheed

    Bobheed Initiate (0) Dec 27, 2010 Texas

    USA
    Belgium
    Germany
    UK
    Canada
     
  13. marquis

    marquis Pooh-Bah (2,313) Nov 20, 2005 England
    Pooh-Bah

    But you shouldn't really be judging on the basis of a few "famous" beers , it should be on the ones that form the bulk of what's drunk.The OP asked for beer countries not best individual beers (which in any case are matters of taste and opinion) ie in which countries can a beer enthusiast easily and effortlessly find exactly what he wants wherever he happens to find himself.
     
  14. yamar68

    yamar68 Initiate (0) Apr 1, 2011 Minnesota

    You Brits are just bitter because we beat you in Vietnam.
     
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  15. DmouthCaliBrewz

    DmouthCaliBrewz Initiate (0) Mar 29, 2013 New Hampshire
    Trader

    WTF BOUT DA FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA BRO?
     
  16. Ri0

    Ri0 Initiate (0) Jul 1, 2012 Wisconsin

    1. United States
    2. Belgium
    3. Czech Republic
    4. United Kingdom
    5. New Zealand (killer hops grown there gives it the wildcard)
     
  17. kingofhop

    kingofhop Initiate (0) May 9, 2010 Oklahoma
    In Memoriam

    Hard to beat the UK, Germany and Belgium's beer culture. Hard to out drink the Czechs. Hard to beat America, period. :slight_smile:
     
  18. willbm3

    willbm3 Initiate (0) Feb 19, 2010 Massachusetts

    1) Northeast (mid-Atlantic and above)
    2) West Coast
    3) Northwest
    4) Midwest
    5) South
     
  19. HokiesandBeer

    HokiesandBeer Initiate (0) Jan 10, 2013 Pennsylvania

    I have lived a very large part of my life outside the US. In fact I wasn't even born here so I'd like to think I'm unbiased when I say the US is making the best beer in the world. I have traveled and/or lived in countries such as England, Canada, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, KL, HK, New Zealand and Australia. In my humble opinion.

    1. US
    2. Belgium
    3. Germany
    4. England
    5. Australia (there is my biased homer pick)
     
  20. mmmbirra

    mmmbirra Pundit (877) Apr 19, 2009 Italy

    Not that different from most people's lists.
    In no particular order
    Germany
    Italy
    USA
    Belgium
    UK
     
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