Top 50 U.S. craft breweries

Sierra Nevada at #40? PLEASE. Pretty solid list, but having Southern Tier so high w/SN at #40 is a big mistake, in my humble opinion.

 

I love the Maine photo

 

Hill Farmstead at #28? Problematic.

 

It's just another list but I disagree with your premise. I much prefer Stone to New Glarus. NG is solid but 22 seems about right for them. Founders at 1 is spot on. I think Surly is waaay too low and New Belgium isn't top 50, but otherwise not a lot stood out as huge problems for me though I've never had anything from Hill Farmstead, Crooked Stave, Maine and others.

 

"My favorite home state brewery is under-rated!"

 

A good list if you disregard placement.

 

I think that list is pretty shitty, but it's impossible to put out one that everyone would agree on. For example, I'd put Goose Island at #1 (it's my favorite brewery), and a lot of people don't even consider it a craft brewery anymore.

In short, the list is subjective, and there's going to be a LOT of differing opinions.

 

Neither Terrapin nor Sweetwater get the recognition they deserve for their domination over the region...just like the Atlanta Braves.

 

Maybe BA should have a list of top breweries in the same style as the list of top beers.

 

I'm a little confused. Was the list a popularity contest (13,000 voters mentioned in the article)? The use of the phrase "Once the nominations were in (all 118 of them), we asked you, dear readers, to weigh in on which breweries deserved to be recognized. And you responded with a deluge of your well-researched opinions: we received over 13,000 votes, and many write-in opinions" suggests that the voters only weighed in, but did not entirely decide the list.

Anyway: Avery at #12 is WAY too high

Yeah, because it shouldn't even be on this list.

 

Notable absences (some may be on here and I just missed them):
Russian River
Troegs
Goose Island
Jester King
Perennial
Boston Beer Co (let the flame war begin)
Bear Republic
Lawson's
Midnight Sun
Hair of the Dog
Brew Dog
Left Hand
Pretty Things
Smuttynose

 

12 of the top 20 beers in New England are Hill Farmstead. HF does not have a single beer rated below 4...They don't rate top 10....give me a break...another list thaqt doesn't know a hole in the ground from its a**.

 

With some of the beers they are putting out, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tree House and New England Brewing on a list like this in the next couple years (hopefully sooner!)

 

This is like arguing over "who's the prettiest woman in the world?"

 

"WAY too much love for Colorado breweries." - Said the guy from Colorado

 

Only one Portland brewery on the list (and at #49) ... Just the way we like it.

 

Would Brew Dog even count? They're Scottish. Evil Twin's in a somewhat grey zone