Unknown Brewery Gems

For me, in Indiana, it would be Daredevil Brewing in Indianapolis. They have been around since 2013 or somewhere close to that. But I love what they do, from their flagship beers to special releases.

 

It's all good! Daredevil was just the first that came to mind to me. But yes we have Deviate too. That would be my two.

 

SingleSpeed, Cedar Falls and Waterloo, IA. They're doing some amazing things across a wide variety of styles, including collabs with a couple of other solid regional breweries (Backpocket, Coralville, IA and Pulpit Rock, Decorah, IA). They recently underwent an expansion, so I'm hoping that they'll be canning in the not-too-distant future.

 

Aardwolf out of Jacksonville. Service out of Savannah. I live between Jax and Sav.

 

I have family down there and have visited their brewery and enjoyed their beer on tap. Really nice stuff esp the berliners and sours.

 

Honorable mention goes out to Southern Prohibition in MS and Straight to Ale in AL. Not everything they make is great but they stand out from the crowd by occasionally producing something very good while managing to keep it consistent.

 

Two Blokes in Mt.Pleasant S.C. Great people passionate about beer! Good rotation. Just started doing some barrel aged stouts and porters. A few breweries opened up here around the same time but Two Blokes really took off! Their beers are on tap in a lot of local bars and the also just started producing bottles. I was there in the beginning and I'm glad to see them blow up!

 

To be pretty honest, Denver's finest are mostly well known. We might not have the same hype as some places, but GABF gives us a lot of exposure.

IMO, the entire town of Albuquerque NM flies under the radar except maybe La Cumbre. Marble, LC, Bosque, Boxing Bear, Canteen, Chama River, Blue Corn, Tractor, and a half dozen more a killing it. For bold (but not excessive) American styles, they have one of the best scenes in the country and the competition is making them all better, too.

 

Monkish became one of the premiere New England style IPA/wait-in-line breweries in the country. They're basically the Tree House of the West Coast to haze bros. I've had an Other Half collab from them but nothing brewed on site, because they're near-impossible to trade for.

My favorite breweries in NJ are Kane and Magnify, neither of which qualify as "unknown".

 

Scratch brewing out in the woods in the middle of nowhere southern Illinois and White Rooster in tiny Sparta, Illinois. Neither brewery will ever "blow up" because I don't think either brewery intends to expand to distribute widely. But Scratch has won some awards and distributes to a few places in Chicago and has gained a following and both breweries get quite a few people from St. Louis. Every time I go to Scratch it seems I talk to or overhear people who have driven at least 3 hours and often from Chicago 6 hours away or out of state. Scratch is so unique, making beers from ingredients found and grown on their property (each unique, many flat-out wonderful), in a gorgeous setting. White Rooster is making amazing BA wild ales in a town of 2,000. I'm fortunate to have these breweries an hour away from me. And they really represent much of the craft explosion. Local breweries, attracting local people and tourists, making high quality beer and carving out their own niche. That they are successful in extremely rural areas shows just how far craft has come in the last few years.

 

Interesting. The only Monkish beer I've had was the Other Half collab Taters, which was good but nothing special, per se. I just know they're one of the hype breweries at the moment.

 

In Kentucky, Mile Wide has consistently impressed me with the stuff they're rolling out. They were one of the first ones (if not the first) to make a legitimately enjoyable NEIPA around here (Tessie), and the rest of their line is really strong. Their local distribution is increasing, and they're ramping up their canning, so I'm not sure if they're going to start going more regional, but if so, I think they'll have no trouble taking over as the best big player out of Louisville.

Nobody will ever probably hear of Holsopple Brewing, but they are my favorite local brewery. They're expanding their brewpub after less than a year of strong reviews and what seems like steady traffic, and bottling their first beer, and I have yet to have something from them I haven't enjoyed. I don't know if they'll ever be anything other than a neighborhood brewpub, but sometimes you've gotta recognize the little guys, too.

 

A bit outside my area per se, but I'm sure some IL peeps will agree that White Rooster is a true unknown gem of a brewery.

 

Scratch made a lot of waves at GABF 2-3 years ago and they're definitely on the radar for wild beer fans. They're certainly not mainstream, but that probably explains a lot of the people driving hours and hours to get there. I liken them to Casey. There's a strong underground following, but there are plenty of people in their own backyard who don't know they exist.

 

My answer to this is always Foley Brothers so its good to see a few people jump in with them as well.

I was in Vermont this weekend and my wife did some research and found Killington Brewing Company had literally just opened so we stopped by to check it out. BEAUTIFUL spot. Brews were pretty good. Not sure how big they are looking to get but I will be going back!

Also in Vermont, Frost always puts out great IPA's. FOAM has made a big name for themselves.

An oldie but goodie that nobody seems to be talking about anymore is New England Brewing Company. I went there for the first time in a while back in October. They renovated their facility and every beer I had was really good. We shouldn't forget about them just because of Tree House and Trillium.

 

Yep much better. Try head doctor and better dayz. Solid IPAs.

 

This perfectly encapsulates so much about brewing today.