Wait a minute Kyle, did you move to bigger place like I said you would want to do after you had a kid? And then you told me that you wouldn't.

We were told we couldn't renew our lease in the loft, because the landlord is "moving back in." I doubt she is, but she didn't like us very much and didn't want us to stay there. It's not legal but whaddya gonna do.

Had Wilco (the beer) last night. Good stuff.

Yep that is really good shit. One of the best 5 breweries in the country, I think.

So wait, let's open that up and look around... what are your top 5 US breweries, folks? Without thinking really hard about it, and in no particular order, I'd say

Dogfish Head
Bell's
Lagunitas
Goose Island (for now)

and I am having the hardest time deciding on a fifth. I can think of shitloads of good individual beers, but a brewery that makes lots of beers, all of which are "very good" to "excellent", and no duds... people like Russian River would be disqualified, as far as I know, because they only make a few kinds of beer right?

[quote="Cap'n Squirrgle"]So wait, let's open that up and look around... what are your top 5 US breweries, folks? Without thinking really hard about it, and in no particular order, I'd say
Without thinking too hard. That is, off the top of my head:
• Bell's
• Goose Island
• Capital
• New Holland Brewing (for Dragon's Milk, alone)
• Abita (for Turbo Dog, alone)

Runners up:
• New Belgium Brewing Co., for their summer beers (Sunshine and Mothership)
• Two Brothers (I love the Domaine Du Page)

pretty things
allagash
dogfish
lagunitas
goose island

green flash and sixpoint are near the top for me as well.

In no particular order:

Bell's
North Coast Brewing
Victory Brewing
Lagunitas
Founder's

Victory. Yes. I just got the same old 12 pack mixer again last week, and realized for the 14th time how deep their bench is. Those 3 beers are all very, very good, and they're in a reasonably priced mixer 12 pack.

edit: and I think you may be right about Founders, too. Several heavy hitters from them, and no duds.

I also can't judge people like Goose Island because I've only had a couple of their offerings. (which were both great)

I've also only had a couple of beers each from Dogfish and Allagash.

Yeah, that's basically why I wouldn't make a list.
There's some heavy hitters from the coastal breweries that I have been able to try, but I don't really get to regularly drink their standard line-up like I do the Colorado and Midwest regional microbreweries.
I could rate stouts and possibly Rye beers in this country, but I certainly wouldn't be a fair judge to the IPA or Belgian strong/dark ales available throughout the US.

I had had probably 6 or 7 of theirs via bottles when I visited the brewpub in Chicago back in march or whenever that was, and I liked all of them pretty well. What struck me sitting there in the pub was how damned many choices there were on that beer menu... it was very impressive. So I just started going down the list, you know, prioritizing what I could likely get down my gullet and through my liver before The Drunkening set in. I recall one being kinda meh, but everything else being really solid and interesting, and not too same-y tasting. Like I've said before, they turned themselves into an incredibly solid unit, able to produce a big range of styles convincingly, and with good subtle twists to make them stand out.




Dogfish is sold around you though, right? So you can eventually remedy that. What about Allagash? They're all over the place up here but they're in Maine, so it makes sense. They're all belgian, but they get very, very experimental with it. Only their crazy price tags keep me from buying them with regularity. They are THE definition of "beers you want someone else to buy for you."

Also I am living on this website lately, getting prepped for the Netherlands / Holland trip in 2 weeks:

http://beermapping.com/maps/maps.php?m=netherlands#lat=52.381467377903476&lng=4.932861328125&z=7

Breweries like this one -

http://www.snab.nl/xcms/text/id/1022/mid/1037

- that are within a day's bike trip of A'Dam are on my list of spots to visit.

Dogfish Head
Rogue
Lagunitas
Avery
Bell's

I got wierdly tired of Rogue, like most other good beers I drank in college. Is that wrong? Are they better than I remember?

Great Divide
Avery
Oskar Blues
Lagunitas
Dogfish Head

the first three get the added bonus of homerism because the tap-room/local beerfest thing elevates the experience even more.

i just started checking out the Goose Island stuff this year and they could very easily find their way up there. what little Bell's i've had when i go back east has been great too. Stone, Deschutes and Russian River aren't far behind either.

i can't help but feel like i'm missing something.

Divide is solid - their sixpacks and mixed 12's are out here. The Yeti is the one that stood out for me, in its several varieties. Oskar Blues is always just slightly off the "excellent" mark for me. I buy them sometimes, and they're not bad, but I feel like they fumble on the 2 yard line.

Yeah, they're both sold here. I've only had the 90 minute, 60 minute, and Raison d'Etre from Dogfish. I should dig deeper but of those, only the 60 minute is something I'd drink with any regularity.

I can only get 12oz bottles of Allagash White here and the rest I can only get in big bottles. I've had the Tripel but I wasn't blown away. I think I was expecting more of a Belgian tripel along the lines of St. Bernardus. I def need to dig deeper with them. I've had the Curieux in my hand about 4 times and never pulled the trigger.

you're welcome!

I do have a soft spot for Rogue from college myself since it was one of the first microbreweries I dug once I started to expand my beer buying, but I recently had their Daddy's Little Helper Black IPA and loved it. I still love their Hazelnut Brown and Dead Guy Ale. So, equal parts nostalgia and also liking pretty much every one of the 10-11 beers I've had from them (with the exception of their Chipotle Ale - although I'd be interested in trying that again as its been 5 years).

What are they missing? I think they make most styles even if some are only limited releases.

I've only had a handful of their beers but what I've had has been very good so they'd make my list as would North Coast.

Not sure what else. There are very few breweries that I like more than one or two things from but I have tried as many things as many of you.

So Lagunitas is that good huh? It's everywhere here and I could have sworn I tried some of their beers a few years ago and thought they were pretty meh. I'm probably mistaking them for someone else.



I love Black Butte Porter but it's the only thing I really like by Deschutes. I don't love anything by Stone but they are pretty consistently good.

i've got a couple of these in my pantry...trying to hold off until winter:

That's the thing - I have no idea what they make besides Pliny, and it is a fantastic beer but I've never seen or tried anything else. Is their bench deep? Because Pliny is really really fucking good.

I think they only have three beers available year round but if you look at their website you'll see they list about 20-30 of their beers with most if not all styles represented. I've only had 3-4 of them (all of which were really good) and have one or two more in my refrigerator to try and the Blind Pig on order. Also, their website for some reason must not list everything. I know that I have a Belgian Sour Blonde, Consecretion Ale, for example that they don't list.

Edit:

Here's a more complete list:

http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/russian ... wing/1480/

My local store doesn't have the White but does have some big mysterious expensive bottles. I remedied never trying the White by making my first trip to Hop City (overwhelming) and I'll actually drink one this weekend. I predict my wife will drink the other 3 before I even notice.

I've never had anything by Dogfish. Is the 60 the best place to start?