Whether the growth for microbreweries in American is spawned by American’s love for the frost brew or hipsters claiming their love an devotion to microbrews before they were a thing. Once thing is for sure, they ain’t go nowhere. In just the last two years alone, the number of microbreweries in the US nearly doubled from 1,464 to 2,397 (breweryassocation.org statistic). Read the rest of the article to find out why microbreweries are so beloved the good ole’ USA.
There’s that moment when you try a better beer, a beer that’s not your average Coors/Bud/Pabst/Enter One-Syllable Beer Name Here, and you’re hooked. Not everyone may remember exactly where, or when. You may not even remember what beer it was. But much like a 1-year old who tries his first bite of birthday cake and has his first real taste of sugar, you know you’re never going back to that other beer again.
Craft beer was barely a term 30 years ago; since then, the phrase has been uttered by everyone from beer aficionados to the average Joe. Everyone’s talking about it, and everyone wants in on it. (We’re looking at you, Budweiser Black Crown.) And everyone has a favorite.
The Daily Meal couldn’t have found more variation when we began to survey our craft beer experts and readers about who they think deserves to be called the “best” craft brewery in America. We asked some of the country’s leading craft beer experts (can we have that job?) for their suggestions of which breweries they thought were among the best in the country. Their nominations included breweries of all sizes, regions, and styles. After all, narrowing down a list of 2,538-plus breweries (the latest numbers from the Brewer’s Association) to a mere top three nominations is no easy feat. After we picked through the 72 nominees we received, we put the vote to you, the readers. Thanks to you and the support of these outstanding 72 nominees — who cast more than 11,500 votes — we got our list of the best craft breweries in America.
Granted, as we mulled over our top picks, there was one clear theme — there’s a difference between what’s called “the best,” and those that are “beloved.” After all, there’s plenty of subjectivity in picking a craft beer you know you should love, and one you should try. As an editor who’s often tasked to try new craft brews (rough job, I know), there are plenty of times that I end up ordering my standard brew when out at a bar — not because it’s the best beer on tap, but because I know I’ll like it, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.
But as we talked with our experts and readers about these breweries, we found that there is an intersection of best and beloved. These are the breweries that produced a better product, and then found their fan base (and judging by our responses, these breweries sure have some fan girls and boys). As Tristan Chan, co-founder of the craft beer enthusiast website Porch Drinking noted, there’s much to consider when narrowing down the great craft breweries from the pack: solid flagship beers, interesting new styles and seasonal beers, as well as the business of design, marketing, and fan base-building. “It’s still kind of subjective,” he says. “But the breweries that are really successful and thriving have incorporated a lot of those elements” into their business. You can read the rest of the story and find additional microbreweries to try by clicking here.
Article source: USA Today
Photo source: @stonebrewingco
