So in my quest to put together e decent beer list, I’m starting to piece things together. Instead of having 30 breweries I’m going to try and feature a few from a smaller group. What are the top producers IYNSHO ?
Ommegang
Blue Mountain
Cisco
are my top three.
Alesmith, Jolly Pumpkin, Boulevard are going to be in consideration at the next tier, although I don’t have enough familiarity with the full line-ups yet.
Nick, I don’t know where you are located or what you can source, but for me it’s not a question of what are the top producers, but more what can you regularly obtain due to the scarcity or limited distribution of what I’d consider the top producers. Also, top producers will depend on what styles you are seeking. As you know, the answers vary depending on whether you are seeking hoppy beers, sours, farmhouse ales, lagers, stouts, etc.
Many of the cult breweries are hard to obtain and I’ve not had many of them due to scarcity/limited distribution. Some of my favorite US producers that I consider top producers and can find in the NW are:
Heater Allen
Logsdon Farmhouse Ales
Holy Mountain
pFriem
Upright
Commons
DeGarde
Crux Fermentation
Crooked Stave
Anchorage Brewing
Propolis
Boneyard
Of course there are other US breweries that I’d consider top producers that I’ve tried, but whose beers are not available in the NW - Hill Farmstead, Oxbow, Maine Beer Company, Trillium, Sante Adarius, Other Half, Monkish, Jester King. Not mentioning the imports like Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen, Westvleteren, etc. that are quite difficult to source (at least for me).
I’m sure Fu has an even better list.
Tough question. Founders (KBS) and Goose Island (BCBS) make my favorite beers, but are the breweries in my top list? Maybe Founders is. Ommegang was a good mention, Russian River Brewing is absolutely a fave. Bell’s has a very nice diverse lineup.
EDIT: I forgot about Unibroue - I could almost live off their selections! And Dieu du Ciel is awesome.
But I don’t stay too loyal to a brewery I guess. I tend to like:
Founders KBS
Goose Island BCBS
Russian River Breweing “ion” beers.
Duvel
Chimay Blue
Ommegang Three Philosphers
Allagash Curieux
Cantillion - though I never seem to find it.
Cuveee des Jacobins sour - though I had to look the brewery name up (Brouwerij Bockor N.V. / Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste)
and a bunch of German Hefe-wiesse beers (Ayinger, Weihenstephaner are 2)
All over the board for producer and style.
nick - focus on the local giants: Three Floyds, 18th Street, Half Acre, Pipeworks, Spiteful, Revolution, Lagunitas, Metropolitan, & Goose Island. Other local producers like Solemn Oath, Dryhop, Empirical, Off Color, Begyle, Finch’s are a step (or three) behind.
In Denver: Great Divide and Living the Dream. Nationally: Boulevard in Kansas City and Lake Front in Milwaukee. Honable mention to Goosetown only for Matilda and Sofie’.
Like Matt said, stick to local. Maybe have an international bottle list.
looks like you’re in Chicago …
I’d see if you can’t pull some MN craft … Summit; Surly; Steel Toe; and Indeed, to name a few. With Surly’s new (and large) facility, I would think you could land some kegs.
If there is a particular distributor you have to use, I (as would many others here, I assume) would be happy to peruse their catalogue and offer comments.
No matter what you do, you need to have a couple “crap” beers; (1), lots of people are going to want them; and (2) they’re huge money makers, which helps keep the doors open. Going all-craft-all-the-time will lose you market share; craft beer lovers, believe it or not, do have some friends who only drink industrial swill. Same thing with wine and spirits ---- if the costs of licenses is not prohibitive, it’s best to offer at least a couple wine and liquor options. I have a friend who would never go to my favorite bar with me because they only served beer (no liquor), so whenever we went out together it was never to my favorite bar.
What Fu said.
If you go national or regional take a look at Bells, Founders, Stone, and Boulevard.
Feel free to write or call if you want more in depth conversation. We distribute most of the good ones.
Cheers.
Olde Hickory-best barrel aging program in existance
Cigar City
Westbrook- One Claw, Gose
Wicked Weed
Founders
If those are available I would take a look
Wicked Weed! I’ll be in Asheville this weekend
gotta give more detail. Are you looking to do a bunch of taps? bottles? What price point are you looking to sell at? Similar to wine I guess.
Yeah, pretty hard to nail down, but IMO the best in CA are:
Alesmith, Alpine, Ballast Point, Bruery, Green Flash, Firestone-Walker, Hanger 24, Knee Deep, Lagunitas, Lost Abbey, Redwood Curtain, Russian River,Stone, Track 7
NYC:
Other Half
Grimm
Transmitter
Big ALICe
Will repeat the “regional” ask - need to narrow it down. For me, I’m all about IPA and barrel-aged stouts. West Coast standouts that I go to regularly, as opposed to finding a single bottle of greatness:
- Boneyard (RPM, Hop Venom, Notorious, Ale Master) - can’t really go wrong. Based in Bend, but I’ve only seen on tap. Lombardi will high-five me on this one.
- Georgetown Lucille - it’s on just about every tap and is old faithful. It isn’t a 10, but I’ve never had it at a 6 or 7.
- HUB / Hopworks Urban Brewing - similar to Georgetown Lucille, but in cans. Old Faithful.
- Deschutes - Fresh Squeezed is GREAT for something that is so mass-produced. 6 pack for $10.99 and I’m lighting up the grill. Abyss is a spectacular barrel-aged stout
- Avery - hard to go wrong with the IPA line-up from single (IPA, Raja) to double/imperial (Maharaja, Dugana)
- Russian River Brewing - love Pliny, Blind Pig. Not a fan of everything that ends in “ion”
- Firestone Walker - Union Jack, Double Jack, Parabola (stout) are all fantastic
- Alesmith - really hard to go wrong with Alesmith’s line-up. IPAs are money and I love the Speedway Stout.
- Bear Republic - Dude. Racer 5 was my gateway drug. Racer X, Racer 15, Hop Rod Rye.
- Lagunitas - readily available and they have some great stuff. Hop Stoopid, Maximus stand out as easy to find (see Fresh Squeezed), rest of the IPAs are pretty solid.
Barrel aged stouts are generally one-offs. I usually pick up - Fremont Kentucky Dark Star, Deschutes Abyss, Perennial Sump, Perennial Abraxas, Midnight Sun Berserker, Midnight Sun Sloth, Fifty Fifty Eclipse line (whatever my brother grabs), Firestone Walker Parabola, F/W Anniversary, Founders KBS (at Whole Foods now), Goose Island BCBS (I think it’s overrated, but it’s still good).
Thanks to everyone for the help. Pretty much finalized the beer list. We’re going to have 6 handles. We’re giving them to 3 different brewers. All local and mostly draft only. Each brewery will get one handle for a year round feature and one seasonal.
Then I’m I’m going to have about 30 craft beers in bottle/can. Again we’ll commit to 2 to 3 products per brewery so we can have a little depth. On top of that we’ll carry about 5 or 6 d bag beers and 4 to 5 ciders.
Again thank you. A lot of good advice here that I used diligently.
STL has some great brewers.
Side Project
Perennial
Narrow Gage
I have some WW in the cellar, it is stellar brew. Wedge is also great.
My favorite breweries are:
Unibroue
Goose Island
Chimay
Rochefort
Wyerbacher
Great Divide
There are so may other breweries out there that are so awesome, you really can’t make a list less than 50 or 100.