Craft Beer & Brewing’s annual readers’ poll of the top beers and breweries in the US is always a fun list to peruse. Given the effort I’ve put into visiting nearly 3,000 breweries in the US alone, the number of breweries appearing in the poll results that get added to my “to-visit” list each year dwindles more and more. But it’s intriguing to crunch the numbers and see what’s left for me. While this newsletter is for you, the reader, I’m putting this down for my own reference — the breweries across all categories that I have not yet visited:
Small Breweries (fewer than 5,000 barrels per year)
- Visited 16 out of 208. Goldfinger (Downers Grove, Illinois)
12. Riip (Huntington Beach, California)
13. Phase Three (Lake Zurich, Illinois)
16. Fidens (Albany, New York)
16 out of 20 is pretty good for a category that’s often populated by small up-and-comers. I had some excellent Goldfinger and Phase Three beers while in Chicago earlier this month, so I’m going to make an effort to get out to both on my next visit. And the new Fidens space is part of my plans for an upcoming Albany trip (when I’ll visit my 300th brewery in New York State).
Small Regional (5,000–25,000 barrels per year)
- Visited 14 out of 203. Alvarado Street (Monterey, California)
5. Ghost Town (Oakland, California)
6. Pinthouse (Austin)
16. Figueroa Mountain (Buellton, California)
18. Parish (Broussard, Louisiana)
20. Jackie O’s (Athens, Ohio)
This tier is a little trickier. A lot of these are off the beaten path — Broussard and Athens are not exactly teeming metropolises. And my stubbornness around California (my insistence that I maintain a record of visiting more breweries in New York than any other state) has kept me out of the Bay Area for nearly five years. Perhaps a trip down the California coast is in the cards.
Midsize Regional (25,000–100,000 barrels per year)
- Visited 17 out of 208. Toppling Goliath (Decorah, Iowa)
16. Melvin (Alpine, Wyoming)
17. Short’s (Bellaire, Michigan)
This tier is my bread-and-butter. Two of these three remaining breweries have problematic records and I stupidly did not properly plan to visit Short’s when I was mere miles away in Petoskey, Michigan in the summer of 2020. Northern Michigan in the summertime is magical, though, so there’s no doubt I’ll return to that region for a long Short’s visit.
Large (100,000+ barrels per year)
- Visited 14 out of 202. Bell’s (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
4. Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, California)
6. New Glarus (New Glarus, Wisconsin)
10. Tröegs (Hershey, Pennsylvania)
11. Three Floyds (Munster, Indiana)
18. Southern Tier (Lakewood, New York)
This category shocks me as much as it probably shocks you. These are all breweries I’ve classified as “low-hanging fruit,” and I just keep telling myself, “I’ll get to them someday.” New Glarus’ taproom was closed for renovations when I was in nearby Madison in 2021, and Three Floyds’ taproom has been closed since 2020, though they’re planning a new one in 2024. Given its proximity to New York, Tröegs is by far the most egregious of these, but a fresh Nugget Nectar at the source is definitely on my beer bucket list.
And to all of you who keep joking, “you’re going to run out of breweries to visit,” see? I’m nowhere close.
A Brief Chicago Brewery Guide
Chicago seems to be an overlooked beer destination among us coastal elites. Perhaps it’s because the Second City has about two weeks of decent weather each year (we feel you here in New York, Chicago), but with the busiest domestic flight route in the US connecting our two cities, it’s definitely one of those cities that I’m constantly asked for brewery recommendations. So here’s a guide to eight of those, with a few others for good measure. For more Brief Brewery Guides, you can see what I’ve done for Richmond, Seattle, London, Denver, and Portland, Maine.
The Haze Bro Darling: Hop Butcher for the World
Hop Butcher was making beers at the peak of the haze craze, long before they had a taproom they could call their own. But late last year, they took over a former Half Acre production space and now you don’t have to search far and wide for their beers, with both a taproom and retail shop for cans on-site. Despite the hype, the bar is low-key and the staff is happy to make recommendations. Carl Sandburg would approve.
Lovely For Lager Lovers: Dovetail Brewery
Dovetail has been my go-to brewery in Chicago since it opened back in 2016, before lagers were cool in craft beer. The attention to detail, the appreciation of old-world European beer styles, and the respect for brewing traditions here make it a must-stop for beer drinkers seeking anything from a Helles to a Doppelbock. But it doesn't stop there -- their sponaneously-fermented stuff is also fantastic.
The Juggernaut: Revolution Brewing
It's not exactly old, but by the standards of Chicago's rapidly-growing beer scene, Revolution has been around a long time. And their success in becoming one of the nation's 40 largest craft breweries in a little over a decade is noteworthy. Their Logan Square Brewpub, the place where it all began, is worth a visit for a good meal, and you’re bound to find some big, boozy surprises on tap, too.
The Old Guard: Half Acre Beer
Besting Revolution by barely more than a year, Half Acre has always been well-regarded for their flagship Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, which still packs a pleasant punch of hops. It’s a hard beer to avoid at bars in Chicago, but going to the source is worth its while to drink it super-fresh. Their Balmoral taproom adjoins their massive, booming production space, yet manages to feel cozy and welcoming at the same time.
The Oldest Guard: Goose Island Beer Company
Look, I get it. Goose Island has evolved from an exceptional regional brewery to a nationally-known, corporate-owned behemoth since I first visited the Clybourn brewhouse in 2009. But they continue making great beer, and their two locations are places where you can just casually walk in and find a vintage Bourbon County Stout variant on tap. That's still something special.
The Neighborhood Joint: Maplewood Brewery & Distillery
Maplewood was the first place in Illinois to establish a combined brewery and distillery, and it’s worked wonders for elevating their profile across the Midwest. Their beers are innovative and run the style gamut, but what’s most noteworthy to me is their taproom, the Maplewood Lounge, which feels far more like a neighborhood hangout and chill cocktail bar than a brewery taproom. I could spend all day there.
The Quirky Favorite: Off Color Brewing
The “Mousetrap”, as their taproom is called, is another spot in Chicago that I regularly go out of my way to visit when in town. You’re probably familiar with Off Color’s beers if you’re in New York, as they’ve been available here for years… and the vibe here is very much in keeping with the beers’ contents, labels, and names: a little creative, a little quirky, and a little fun.
The Friendly Taproom: Hopewell Brewing Co.
I visited Hopewell for the first time mere weeks after they opened back in 2016, and it quickly became my first and/or last stop in town, as it’s just off the Blue Line on the way to and from O’Hare Airport. It’s a welcoming, aesthetically pleasing taproom with a whole lot of accessible beers — lots of simple, straightforward styles, expertly made.
Honorable Mentions: The sheer number of breweries in Chicago proper made it hard to whittle this down. Forbidden Root has some of the best food I’ve ever had in a brewery taproom. Marz is another spot with a cool aesthetic with great beer to match. Piece Brewery & Pizzeria was one I wrote about last week for their outstanding atmosphere and award-winning beer. Pilot Project and District Brew Yards are both examples of breweries-within-breweries, showcasing multiple brands in the same space in starkly different ways. And I would’ve dedicated a space for the excellent lagers at Metropolitan Brewing, but they are sadly closing in December.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,248
Total breweries visited in 2023: 353
Total breweries visited in British Columbia: 74
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #3228, Another Beer Co., New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada (Visited 10-Nov-2023)
I really need to unpack my trip to Vancouver last week a bit more (perhaps A Brief Vancouver Beer Guide is coming in the near future), but because I always love chance encounters with people in beer, this is the first spot I’ll mention. Another Beer Co. was one of those places where I intended to have a quick beer and ended up spending most of the afternoon. That was mostly thanks to co-founder Alex Jopson, who introduced himself to me at the bar after I praised the Holy Smokes, a rauchbier collaboration with Spokane, Washington’s Whistle Punk Brewing, a favorite of mine on a visit there back in the summer of 2021. Turns out that there’s a family connection between the two breweries, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Alex talked shop while he used a Bierstacheln to add a little caramelization to their Bock and poured me a milk tube of their delicious Pilsner. I sat next to a couple from Vancouver Island who picked my brain for beer recommendations while in New York City next Spring while I sipped on a West Coast IPA. And I left into darkness wondering where the heck my entire Friday afternoon went. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.
The Weekly Reader
The design behind TALEA’s new West Village taproom [Sofia de la Cruz, Wallpaper]
Other Half is expanding to Canandaigua [Will Cleveland, Cleveland Prost]
How Fiddlehead became a Vermont brewing success story [Beth Demmon, Good Beer Hunting]
Get to know the National Black Brewers Association [Dave Infante, VinePair]
One Last Thing
We’ve seen a handful of breweries in the New York area close up shop or sell in the past couple months, and while it hasn’t been the bloodbath that other parts of the country (or other countries) have seen, but this brutally honest remark from Doug Veliky in his outstanding Beer Crunchers newsletter gave me pause in an era where “support your local brewery” has more importance than ever, from the perspective of someone in beer:
For those still fighting this may sound harsh, but I believe if you’re pleading for support from customers, it might be too late. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt to try but that’s not going to move the needle in any meaningful way and instead may distract from the real work that needs to be done. It’s not our fans’ job to keeping find reasons to love us. It’s our job to give them the reasons.
We’re going to see a lot more brewery closures to come. News of some will be met with a shrug, but some will devastate beer fans who think they have no one to blame but themselves — but that’s not necessarily the case.
Cheers,
Chris
I’m shocked I’ve been to a brewery (Ghost Town) you haven’t been to! 😂😂 cheers!!
will you be sharing in advance on social media when your 300th NY brewery visit to Fidens will be? i still need to get there myself