USA Today is looking for help in naming America’s Best Beer Town for their 10Best Reader’s Choice.
Their panel of beer experts picked 20 of the best U.S. cities for “beer-centric travel”. They all offer an “excellent brewery scene, great beer bars and gastropubs and a special place in beer history”.
Over the years I’ve taken some beer-centric trips to places like Germany (including Oktoberfest last year) and Belgium. I’ve also been on many brewery tours around the United States.
Here are the cities in the running for Best Beer Town:
- Asheville, NC
- Austin, TX
- Baltimore
- Bend, OR
- Boston
- Boulder, CO
- Burlington, VT
- Chicago
- Denver
- Fort Collins, CO
- Grand Rapids, MI
- New York
- Philadelphia
- Portland, ME
- Portland, OR
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Tampa
- Washington, DC
If I could pick any city in the U.S. for this poll, I’d actually pick a place that did not make the list. My choice would be Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
I’d also throw an honorary vote to Cooperstown, NY due to it being home to one of my favorite breweries- Brewery Ommegang.
Since my top choice wasn’t an option in this poll I figured I’d stay loyal and pick my hometown of New York. Or maybe I’ll vote for a different city that I have been to each day.
If you’d like to participate in helping USA Today choose the Best Beer Town in America, you can vote once per day until October 13 (at noon) here.
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Nikdro- Thanks for the recs! While I like small, local breweries I don’t love many of the craft breweries which put out hoppy beers. I’m a wheat beer fan which are usually harder to find at smaller breweries. I love Ommegang due to their Witte beer and variety of other flavors like Rare Vos. In Milwaukee we loved the vibe over at Pabst, the Miller tour was very interesting and the Lakefront Brewery was a cool place but I didn’t love their beer. Along with the old German restaurants it just feels like a great beer city. (Maybe not putting out the best beer though.)
Arthur H- It sure is beer season! I wish we were going back to Germany for Oktoberfest. Microbrew Madness sounds like a pretty cool show. I need to check it out!
Must be beer season with Oktoberfest coming soon. Travel Channel just launched Microbrew Madness which covers craft breweries around America and asks viewers to vote for their favorite. (disclosure: I work for the network and produced many of the videos … and collected a fair bit of miles/points during the journey)
Microbrew Madness
I would go with Fort Collins and then Denver…I lived in Milwaukee for 5 years and there really aren’t that many good craft breweries there. Lakefront is ok, Milwaukee Brewing company is only so-so, and that really is about it. If you like cheap, light beers, then I guess Milwaukee would be the choice. Don’t get me wrong, I drink plenty of PBR and High Life, but I would take any Odell’s, New Belgium, or many of the other smaller craft brews in Fort Collins/Denver over them any day.