Give us your Top 20 American craft brewers

Let’s not get too nitpicky about what is and isn’t craft; just go for it, and have fun with this!

I would also highly encourage folks to come back to their list and edit it as you see fit as your opinions change or as you remember any brewers you previously forgot. Explanations/comments are welcome and encouraged.

Mine, in no particular order, as of now:

  1. Crooked Stave
  2. Almanac
  3. Jolly Pumpkin
  4. Russian River Brewing Co.
  5. Beachwood
  6. Port Brewing
  7. Pizza Port
  8. Alesmith
  9. Bell’s
  10. Founders
  11. Southern Tier
  12. Surly
  13. Bear Republic
  14. Cascade
  15. Stone
  16. Victory
  17. Barley John’s



as of now, I’m not willing to fill those last three spots on the strength of one or two brews from any given brewery. No Goose Island for me, despite my love for BCBS, b/c BCBS is really the only beer of theirs that grabs my attention. Some that I strongly considered, but just couldn’t go for include: Summit; Ballast Point; North Coast; Lagunitas; New Holland; Funkwerks (could easily make it in if any further experiences mirror the only two I’ve already had); Blue Mountain (same comment as with Funkwerks); Ommegang; Allagash.

Copied from the other thread. I can’t narrow it down to 20.

Alchemist
Russian River
Goose Island
Hill Farmstead
Lawson’s
Cigar City
Alpine
Beachwood
Founder’s
Bell’s
Three Floyds
Toppling Goliath
Westbrook
Surly
Bruery
Maine Beer Company
Firestone Walker
Dark Horse
Deschutes
Santa Adarius
Prairie
Central Waters
Funky Buddha
New England Brewing
Pipeworks
Perennial
Societe
Alesmith
Jack’s Abby
Foothills
Great Lakes

Locally, I think Alpine and Beachwood make IPAs as good as anyone in America. Goose Island and Alesmith are kinda one trick ponies for me due to BCBS + variants and SS + coffee variants, but those are so good. My list is heavily influenced by breweries that make great IPAs and/or stouts and porters cuz those are my favorite styles, otherwise De Garde, Jester King and Lost Abbey would make the list. Top to bottom of the lineup, hard to beat HF and TG, they just put out great beers.

Hard to play when over half the producers listed above don’t get distributed here. Some of them I’ve onlynhad one experience with which would not be a top 20 experience (Alesmith, Jolly Pumpkin). Some of them I’ve had only one experience with which would be a top 20 experience (RRBC, Maine). So my list will be far short of 20, and may includes some producers thatnothers have not had. In no particular order, producers that make several good brews…

Summit
Surly
Bell’s
Founder’s
New Glarus
Indeed
Southern Tier
Great Lakes
Half Acre

And others where you take the chaff with the wheat

Rush River
Lagunitas
Stone
Goose Island
Bent Paddle
Steel Toe
White Birch
Odells

I doubt if many folks on this Board will recognize many of mine. I’m really only interested in drinking local (freshness in critical IMO) unless someone does a great job in the styles of beer I like (in no particular order):

Chuckanut
Gigantic
The Commons
Upright
Russian River
Sierra Nevada (on the strength of their Pale Ale)
Victory
Linden St.
Hair of the Dog
Deschutes
10 Barrel
Fort George
Bear Republic
Ecliptic
Breakside

Here are some that I think are world class.

Alpine
Beachwood
Russian River
Kern River Brewing Co.
Maine Beer Co.
Lawsons Finest Liquids
Alchemist
Stone
Pizza Port
Societe
Noble Ale Works
Three Floyds
Founders
Victory
Firestone Walker
Bells
Surly
Lagunitas
Hill Farmstead
Alesmith
Pipeworks
Bruery
There are so many others that I have only dabbled in like the Toppling Goliath that Joe brought to our last bottle share that I’m sure would be on this list too given more exposure.

Cheers,

Bud

I’m sooooo close to editing my list to include Firestone; problem is, however, that I love half their lineup and very much do not love the other half. I’m surprised to see The Bruery make two lists already — for me, they have the occasional home run, and lots of strikeouts in between.

Chuckanut is crazy good. The Vienna lager is beyond my ability to form words. We never see kegs of it down here & the bottles don’t usually make it outside the brewery. The Pilsner & Kolsch are both excellent too.

Tell me about Linden Street .

Here’s mine.

  1. Hill Farmstead
  2. Russian River
  3. Alchemist
  4. Boneyard
  5. Alpine
  6. Lawson’s
  7. De Garde
  8. Toppling Goliath
  9. Logsdon
  10. Three Floyds
  11. Societe
  12. Anchorage
  13. Barley Browns
  14. Firestone Walker
  15. Goose Island
  16. Fremont
  17. Sante Adarius
  18. Propolis
  19. Ale Apothecary
  20. Block 15

Anthony,
I had a visit from some folks at RateBeer, and they mentioned that there were four West Coast breweries that focused on German-style beers - Chuckanut, Heater Allen, and Linden St were three of them. The fourth was in SoCal, I don’t remember who it was.

Linden St is a brewery in Oakland, CA. They make a very nice California Common beer, and a superb Black Lager, probably the closest thing to our Schwarzbier that I’ve tasted. They also make a Red Lager that is excellent. I don’t think they bottle at this point (at least every time I’ve had their beer it’s been on tap), and I haven’t seen it outside the Bay Area.

Thanks- I’m going to have a quick trip to hit SARA, Cellarmaker & Russian River next month & I’m going to try to get Linden St in the mix.

Interesting to read some of these lists. Like Rick, most of what I drink winds up being local. Every time New Year’s rolls around, I say “OK, I’m really going to start branching out and exploring this year.” Then I just wind up drinking the same handful of producers I always do. I couldn’t even compile a list of 20. It probably doesn’t help that my consumption has plummeted to about 1/4 of what it was last year. Anyway, in no particular order:

Founders
Bell’s
New Holland
Dark Horse
Jolly Pumpkin
Right Brain Brewery
North Peak
Perrin Brewing
Half Acre
Revolution
Three Floyds
Goose Island
Great Lakes
Firestone Walker
Bear Republic
Lagunitas

I’ve had a few bottles from Stone, Deschutes, Ommegang, Bruery, and Southern Tier. They were mostly good, but I just don’t feel like I have a good handle on any of them as a whole. Sad to say that I have yet to try RRBC. Tried stopping by the brewpub on vacation last year, but it was a 2.5 hr wait to get seated and the wife/kids were getting hangry, so it was a no go.

Dang! Was there a special event going on or something?

I like your list — I see New Holland made the cut for you — what beers of theirs do it for you?

Thanks Brian.
Not sure what was happening. All I remember is that it was like 3pm on a Saturday. We were planning on getting there earlier, but wound up hiking around Muir Woods for an extra couple of hours and that threw off the rest of the day.

New Holland’s brewpub is a 10 min drive from my house, and I spent an inordinate amount of time there pre-kids. So I’ve had a lot of stuff that just doesn’t make it into bottles. Dragon’s Milk is definitely one of my favorites. It’s not on the level of Founders KBS, but for my palate it’s not that far behind (plus it’s a helluva lot easier to get). It definitely seems better on tap than in bottles, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever ordered one of their mainstay beers at the pub. I mean, I’m sure I have, but it doesn’t happen often. There’s just too much other stuff to try.

At home, my go-tos are Mad Hatter, Full Circle, and Sundog. I also dig most of the Hatter variants (Black Hatter, Rye Hatter, Oak Aged Hatter). Their other beers are decent, but really suffer in comparison to Bell’s and Founders. The Poet is a decent stout, but not as good as Bell’s Kalamazoo or Founders Breakfast. Cabin Fever is also decent, but not as good as Bell’s Best Brown. I’ll get them now and then, but they’re nothing to write home about. I will admit that their sours and Belgians really don’t do it for me. Something just seems a bit off on them, and I don’t drink that style enough to know what it is. Then again, if I’m in the mood for something like that, I’ll reach for Brewery Vivant instead.

I frame this question as “what breweries will I automatically buy stuff from (at least to try) if I see it available somewhere” Somewhat limited in scope as I haven’t tried a lot of the limited distribution Midwest/east coast beers.

In no particular order:

Fremont
Boneyard
Fort George
Stone
Russian River
Bells
Founders
Great Lakes
Goose Island
Laurelwood
Allagash
Unibroue

Ommegang
Blue Mountain
Dark Horse
Unibroue (they are not US but are American so I will include them)
Stone
Lagunitas
Dogfish Head
Full Pint
New Glarus

…off the top of my head

We have several local breweries that can play here.
The under the radar brewery is Back Forty from Gadsden Alabama.
Some great beers!
The Naked Pig Ale is absolutely first rate.
I like Terrapin from Athens better than Lagunitas or Dogfish.

  1. Russian River Brewery
  2. 21st Amendment Brewery
  3. Bell’s from Michigan
  4. Three Floyds (by reputation only)
  5. Cigar City from Tampa
  6. Terrapin from Athens, GA
  7. Back Forty from Alabama
  8. Alchemist
  9. Dechutes- we don’t get this around here but it is awesome
  10. Victory
  11. Southern Tier- This would be up top if only considering the fantastic Live.
  12. Allagash
  13. Founders
  14. Stone
  15. Evil Twin
  16. Dogfish Head
  17. Red Brick in Atlanta
  18. Three Taverns in Decatur, GA
  19. Clown Shoes Brewery
  20. Sweetwater - Atlanta (homer pick!)

No particular order (there’s a bunch listed above I don’t know anything about & I don’t even have 20):

RRBC
Lagunitas
Bear Republic
Allagash
Firestone Walker
Tahoe Mtn
Track 7
Sierra Nevada
Jolly Pumpkin
Ninkasi

Random:

Alpine
RRBC
Port
Beachwood
Cascade
Almanac
Rare Barrel
Omegang
Anchor
Firestone
Epic
Green Flash
Goose Island
Hair of the Dog
Kern River
Drakes
Bear Republic
Clown Shoes
North Coast
The Bruery

At this stage, no particular order.

Russian River Brewing
Odells
Unibroue - I guess this is allowed
The Bruery
Victory
Goose Island
Boulevard - I am shocked. SHOCKED!!! [shock.gif] No one has listed them.
Surly
Ommegang
Allagash
Fort George
Cigar City
Kern River
North Coast

There are lots of Breweries I think highly of but don’t feel like have had enough of them on a regular basis. Here are a few.

Almanac
Craftsman
Pisgah
Jolly Pumpkin (had bunch but want to re-visit.)

Ones that I have had a lot of and would not include in my list are below. Just mentioning because it seems like these are on a lot of lists.

Stone
Lagunitas
Bells
Founders

Cheers,

Jason

No particular order and likely incomplete.

Societe
AleSmith
Alpine
Beachwood
Russian River
Sante Adairius
The Bruery
Crooked Stave
Kern River
Boneyard
Logsdon
Jolly Pumpkin
Stone
Noble
Firestone Walker
Almanac
Fremont
Pizza Port
Prairie
Anchorage


Some that I have not had the pleasure to try but could be in the running based off reputation:

Hill Farmstead
Lawson’s
Three Floyds
Toppling Goliath
The Alchemist
Cascade
Westbrook
Maine
Surly
Pipeworks