Which Big East City Has The Best Beer?

[hoyahooligan]

Haven't read the thread yet, but here are my rankings I love craft beer so I feel these are pretty educated Included how many 2020 Great American Beer Festival medals breweries in the cities brought home last week:
1) Indianapolis. Sun King is the most well known here definitely underrated. 2020 GABF medals 8
2) Cincinnati Madtree, Rhinegeist are great 2020 GABF 2
3) Chicago: goose Island is the big name but has gone down hill since AB- Inbev took over, Half Acre is another solid one. 2020 GABF medals 6
4) NYC Other Half is one of the best breweries in the country, Evil Twin is also top 50. 2020 GABF 4
5) Philadelphia: Tired Hands while outside the city limits I would consider part of the philly beer scene is a top 25 brewery and the beer scene in the city is great tons of beer gardens and beer bars with great lists. Monk's Cafe is visited from states all around Pennsylvania for their belgian imports and breweries over there create beer specifically for them. very underrated in your list. Lived there for 4 years. 2020 GABF 1
6) Milwaukee: Madison is actually a better beer town in wisconsin. Milwaukee is dominated by the big macro companies. 2020 GABF 0 ( Madison had 1)
7) DC: Definitely rising in the beer scene. Other Half just opened a brewery in DC and that alone will boost the city for beer drinkers. When you include suburbs ( which I did for all cities) GABF medals 2
8) Omaha infusion is good 2020 GABF 0
9) Providence: Lack of happy hours hurts providence and the breweries I tried in the state weren't much to write home about. I lived there for a year and visit regularly and my parents live there so visit often (pre-covid) 2020 GABF 0
10) Storrs 2020 GABF 0
11) South Orange 2020 GABF 0

I feel like basing it purely off 2020 isn't right. I mean Three Floyd's isn't listed but Marshmellow Handjee is recognized on beer advocate 250 as the second best beer. GABF is a solid additional metric but it's a snapshot based on who is competing that isn't necessarily reflective of the whole scene

Right wasn't solely based on that if it were cinci wouldn't be first, just providing some "objective" data.

[BEXU]

Since Denver U is a Big East member in Lacrosse and is home to the GABF, wouldn't Denver blow away the other candidates? Asking for a friend. hahaha


https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/10/ ... do/247174/

[Xuperman]

I can not believe there are 5 pages on this thread and very few props for Cincinnati and it's rich German heritage.....we have a brewing history SECOND TO NONE. Quality beer has run thru the veins of this city for centuries. After the collapse of the Big 4 (Hudepohl, Weidemann, Schoenling, Burger) we have seen an massive resurgence of local breweries in the last decade. I will rank some of the best ones-

1) Taft Brewing Co.- WoW, this place is amazing. The beers are off the chart.
2) Mad Tree- Very high marks across the board. My go to brew.
3) Listermann- *Easy walking distance from Cintas. Shockingly good brew!
4) Streetside- These guys know what they're doing. Very bold and sophisticated flavors.
5) Dead Low- New spot....FANTASIC BEER!
6) Braxton- One of the older craft brews. High quality in larger batches
7) Rhinegeist- Same as Braxton.
8) West Side- Haven't tried....heard good things.
9) Moerlein- Made a big come back using original recipes...very traditional flavors
10) Country Boy- It's out of Lexington, but readily available around here. One the best Brown Ales around.

Keep in mind, all these Brewers have locations serving their beers fresh on tap. All have unique ambience and most have great food.

[MUBoxer]

I can not believe there are 5 pages on this thread and very few props for Cincinnati and it's rich German heritage.....we have a brewing history SECOND TO NONE. Quality beer has run thru the veins of this city for centuries. After the collapse of the Big 4 (Hudepohl, Weidemann, Schoenling, Burger) we have seen an massive resurgence of local breweries in the last decade. I will rank some of the best ones-

1) Taft Brewing Co.- WoW, this place is amazing. The beers are off the chart.
2) Mad Tree- Very high marks across the board. My go to brew.
3) Listermann- *Easy walking distance from Cintas. Shockingly good brew!
4) Streetside- These guys know what they're doing. Very bold and sophisticated flavors.
5) Dead Low- New spot....FANTASIC BEER!
6) Braxton- One of the older craft brews. High quality in larger batches
7) Rhinegeist- Same as Braxton.
8) West Side- Haven't tried....heard good things.
9) Moerlein- Made a big come back using original recipes...very traditional flavors
10) Country Boy- It's out of Lexington, but readily available around here. One the best Brown Ales around.

Keep in mind, all these Brewers have locations serving their beers fresh on tap. All have unique ambience and most have great food.

None of these places are rated higher than some of the very readily available breweries around Chicago via Beer Advocate (a beer snob favorite place to be a beer snob)

1) Taft Brewing Co.- 3.88
2) Mad Tree- 3.97
3) Listermann- 3.96
4) Streetside- 4
5) Dead Low- 3.54
6) Braxton- 3.88
7) Rhinegeist- 3.89
8) West Side- 3.98
9) Moerlein- 3.69
10) Country Boy- 3.84

These are some of my personal go to brewery ratings from Chicagoland:

1) Three Floyd's: 4.25
2) Revolution: 4.09
3) Half Acre: 4.11
4) Noon Whistle: 4.03
5) Pipeworks: 4.15
6) Mikerphone: 4.18
7) Kinslagher: 3.82
8) Pollyanna: 3.95
9) Old Irving Brewery: 4.03
10) Maplewood: 4.04

And for good measure the over produced, and overrated (outside of Bourbon County):
Goose Island: 4.12

I will say I look forward to trying some Cincy beer someday as all three times I was there I was too young to drink but the crowd sourced numbers from Beer Snobs tend not to lie. And I want to stress I did not pick and choose these I looked in my fridge and at my barrel aged stout collection and checked those breweries.