What are your top 5 beer cities?

Only counting the cities I've visited / drank in and in no particular order:

Munich, Germany
San Diego, CA
Portland, ME
Philadelphia, PA
Boston, MA ("region")

 

Out of curiosity, why Phoenix?
I was born and raised there, I just don’t hear it mentioned often on this site

 

I’m admittedly and regrettably not super well travelled, but:

Seattle
San Diego
New York
San Francisco
Anaheim

 

Oh it is, I was just saying that in response to the other post mentioning Orange County in the top 5 (which Anaheim is a part of).

 

No order. Specifically with regards to cities:

Portland, Oregon- For having some of the greatest most innovative breweries. My favorite probably being Cascade, Great Notion, Hair of the Dog and more. Either way there are a ton that are excellent and hardly distribute out of the state. In addition, the city has great beer availability with lots of excellent breweries selling beer in the city such as Russian River and lots of other Oregon brewers outside the city like Pfreim and Deschutes.

San Diego - Personal bias as it's my hometown but with a great scene. Stone, Ballast Point, Green Flash, tons of smaller breweries and it's Mikkeller's US headquarters which is a huge plus. Good beer distribution availability as well including from other California brewers and Oregon brewers and more.

Philadelphia - Great scene and great distribution. The brewery culture in Philly has definitely cemented itself in the city's culture these last few years. Traditionally this was Yuengling territory and it still is, though they are nearly two hours away in Pottsville but it's still the place to order a Yuengling lager. Yard's is based here and Victory now has a taproom on site. You got tons of other breweries opening up and getting more reknown such as Human Robot, Love City, Crime and Punishment, 2nd District, and frankly more than can be named. It's a very cool scene and then you have some specialist brewers like Fermentery Form doing some very unique almost haute things in the scene. It's obligatory to mention Monk's Cafe which did a lot to bring the Belgian style to prominence in the states and who also does some beers in conjunction with other brewers both foreign and domestic and has a great collection ranging from domestic Russian River stuff from the west coast to rare Belgians.

New York City - This one is up and coming and hugely underrated. While there isn't really any large brewer in the city it certainly has a great scene that is reflective of how large the city is itself. Some of the bigger brewers include Brooklyn Brewing, Sixpoint, and then Evil Twin which is a microbrewery but with national distribution and some of the most innovative and unique beers of all time. Then you have the excellent stuff at smaller scale. Other Half, Grimm's, Bronx Brewing, Three's, Transmitter, Ebbs, Talea, KCBC, Coney Island, and a bunch more to mention. They mostly do not distribute outside of the city but a lot of the beers from these guys are insanely good. Then the city has great beer distribution with many unexpected beers across the country being available if you find the right spot. There's plentiful craft beer stores but sometimes even hidden cafes sell the rarest beers most unexpected beers out of their mini fridge. Then you got a tremendous amount of dives and pubs that offer plentiful craft offerings such as Torst, As Is, Arts and Crafts, and a whole lot more.

Minneapolis - The midwest has a great beer scene and I'd have to pick this city to be the most representative of it as a whole. It's the entire region condensed: Huge beer culture in the area and tons of great breweries that are too much to name. So you have a well developed beer culture with many brewers and then top it off with a great brewery like Surly that make some of the best beers listed on this site.

Honorable Mention:
Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina - Great beer states but couldn't pin it on just one any city.

 

Cities I’ve visited for beer purposes:

1. Asheville
2. Tampa/St. Pete
3. Richmond
4. PhIladelphia
5. Charlotte

 

Charlotte NC (has passed Asheville IMO)
San Diego
Boise
Portland, OR
Tampa

 

Grand Rapids, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Cincinnati

 

Best beer places I've visited (many are not major cities however):
1) Vermont (like others, you can't pin it to a specific town or city) - just the qualtiy of beer everywhere you go around the state, the tranquility and scenic beauty
2) Asheville, NC - probably the best single town/city destination on my list
3) Finger Lake region, NY - too many breweries to shake a stick at, and the area is beautiful
4) SF Bay area (including Oakland, Santa Rosa etc)
5) Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Breckenridge and Estes Park) are places I've been here - Most anywhere I stopped in my travels for 1 week there was a local outstanding beer scene

Honorable mentions - Cleveland OH, White Mountains region of NH, Richmond VA, San Diego, Salisbury UK

Where I really want to / plan to travel to? In US I still really want to visit Bend OR, and states of Michigan, Wisconsin and pretty much anywhere in Europe

 

Can't we call New England a city for the sake of argument?

 

I have a sense of why Chambly might be on the list, but i was surprised to see this.

 

DC
San Antone
Libertytown
Boston
Baton Rouge
Tulsa
Austin
Oklahoma City
Seattle
San Francisco too!

 

US:

San Diego
Portland, OR
Chicago
SF Bay Area (including wine country and down to Santa Cruz)
New York

Honorable mention to Philly and Los Angeles.

 

• Austin
• Brussels
• Richmond
• St. Louis
• Tampa/St. Pete

 

I can't say I get around much but of all the places I've been Seattle has been my favorite beer city, and place maybe in general.

I couldn't believe how many breweries were in Ballard, the neighborhood we were in. We also went during early fresh hop season so that was a huge treat.

I'm guessing most of the PNW cities are similar, thought I haven't been; lots of well established breweries and a true fresh hop season. Does any other part of the country have both of those things...?

I'd recommend going to anyone during this time of year, heck if we didn't have kids and a life back here I may have stayed

 

In no particular order
1.Asheville (so many breweries)
2. D.C. (The Other Half, Aslin and a bunch of others)
3. Pittsburgh (a lot going on there)
4.Portland ME
5.LA/Orange county

 

I have never read/heard this before. Why do you think that Charlotte has "passed" Asheville? What would be your evaluation criteria here?

Cheers!

 

But you have visited Philly, right?

On a related note, have you watched the most recent episode of Next Exit (Philly):

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...hia-craft-beer-the-city-of-beery-love.669109/

Cheers!

 

Anyplace that makes the best Tripel on the planet has to be on the list!

 

Asheville has a ton of breweries and history, but honestly when I go I have little to no trouble narrowing the ones I feel are must hits - Eurisko, Zillacoah, Hi Wire and a couple others. Many IMO are perfectly fine but don't demand a visit. Whereas in Charlotte I feel there is a wide range of excellent breweries doing unique things, and very few that I never feel compelled to stop in to. I think Asheville is the easy choice for these lists based on it's established name but I also think that time has passed. Years ago we'd visit several times a year for beercation weekends; now there has to be something special going on. Just no reason to leave the scene we have here.