Top 50 U.S. craft breweries

All very good breweries, so a nice list. We could argue about placements until the cows come home. So before they do, and sticking with the ones i know at least a bit about.....

DFH (4), New Belgium (7) Southern Tier (14), Flying Dog (30), and 21st amendment (33) might be ranked a bit high.
Ommegang (20), New Glarus (22), Sierra Nevada (40) Surly (42) and Sixpoint (44) might be a bit low (or in SN & Surly's case a lot low)

Troegs & Bear Republic would have looked good on the list.

Just my tuppence worth, cheers all.

 

Love Plead the 5th, and I agree Dark Horse should be on the list, but not above Goose Island who didn't make the list?

 

Waaaay too subjective to get involved in this. Very few of us love all styles equally.

 

Seems like a good list but they forgot to write "in no particular order."

 

I'm a downstate Illinoisan who spent a lot of time in the suburbs this summer hunting down beers that we can't get and I was not crazy about those. Revolution is great and I sadly never found a Daisy Cutter, but I preferred what I found from Off Color, Lake Effect and Solemn Oath to the other locals. Nothing compared to 3 Floyds which is on the list and closer to downtown than Naperville and Aurora despite being across the border.

We get Goose Island and 5 Rabbit down here and, besides Bourbon County, I don't think they are anything special. In fact I outright hated the Goose Island Green Line. I actually thought the keg was bad the first time I tried it, gave it a second chance at a different bar and realized I just thought it tasted bad.

 

Keep on making lists...I'll keep on trying every new beer I can find. Everyone has different taste so a beer/brewery list is pretty meaningless. I've tried several "highly rated" beers that tasted like ram piss so don't let anyone tell you what to drink. Try everything

 

I don't agree with the order of which the brewery's are placed. However, they are also missing a few standouts, but I will say overall that it's a pretty solid list. Well done.

 

Have you had anything by Hill Farmstead? In my opinion, Shaun is making the best beers in the world and nothing compares. Beer doesn't get much better than that. Although I will say that I wouldn't say they are my favorite brewery because I can't have it on a regular basis. Also, opinions change. I am moving to Chicago, and I am beyond excited to try 3 Floyd's beer.

 

Russian River # 3

 

The list simply makes no sense.

I would say it's a group of people who love popular beer geek styles, especially IPAs, but then how does Hill Farmstead get ranked so low? My next conclusion would be, that it is a group of people that love hoppy beers, but they haven't had access to many of Hill Farmstead's best beers. But then how does Russian River get ranked so high? Their distribution certainly isn't at the level of a Founders, Dogfish Head, Stone....etc.

It would help to know where the majority of the 13,000 fans who voted live. I think this would explain the bulk of the list, especially the specific rankings.

I'm fairly confident it's a list made up of breweries that make popular styles though. This would at least explain Troegs omission from the list.

 

We are all a bunch of babies.

 

What I find most interesting is the list compiled in 2013 (Top 25) by the same magazine is quite different than the 2014 (Top 50) list. Two examples

Boston Beer Company -- 2013 #20 / 2014 : outside top 50
Boulevard -- 2013 #3 / 2014 #23

According to the author there have been numerous trends; i.e., rise of session beers and the use of citra and mosaic hops that have resulted in these changes.

A little dubious for me, but fun to ponder.

 

I only counted 12 breweries from California, what gives?

 

I'm actually not familiar with those three breweries. I'll have to give them a shot.

 

shorts and surly so low? thats a head scratcher for me with some of the higher ones.

 

I've never seen Hill Farmstead, but I have family near Buffalo, NY and will hunt for it next time I'm out east. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

Sadly, you can only get his beers at the brewery in Vermont. But if you make the trip, I promise it will be worth it.

 

Braves fans don't give the braves recognition. Just because a brewery dominates an area does not make it great. I do love me done SW IPA though.

Enjoy

 

Need to go to HF to get their beers.

Enjoy

 

So, stunner of stunners, 13,000 non-BA voters didn't pick a bunch of BA-approved breweries? Or put them in the wrong order? It's like everything I once knew has crumbled beneath me.