Which Big East City Has The Best Beer?

[MUBoxer]

Goose Island, while a perfectly fine beer, is also a sellout to InBev.

+1

But Bourbon County is still cool in spite of them selling out. Everything else Goose Island is dead to me but for the record they aren't even the largest brewery in IL/Chicago anymore, Revolution is and they've managed to not sell out, not destroy their Quality control, and just generally have better options from their IPAs to Sours to stouts and more.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

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[Fieldhouse Flyer]

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[Doge McDermott]

Those of you talking about Goose Island should read Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out. It's a quick read, and a really good look at the beer industry.

I only have experience in three of these cities:

Chicago - How big of a radius are we talking? City proper, or do suburbs count? Do we get to claim 3 Floyds? Either way, Chicago kills it. Totally understand why they'd be behind Milwaukee though. Revolution, Half Acre, On Tour, Metropolitan, Begyle, Maplewood and Off Color are all outstanding. There are a whole ton of good ones I didn't mention too. If suburbs count, 3 Floyds, 18th Street, Buckledown, 2 Brothers, Pollyanna are all great as well.

Omaha - I worked at a brewpub while in undergrad here. Granted, this was a long time ago, but it killed me that people would ask for a Bud Light when we made our beer RIGHT BEHIND THEM. Probably why the place closed. Benson Brewery is good, Infusion is too sweet. Is the Upstream still around?

MKE - I feel like New Glarus, while a bit overrated, should be lumped into MKE's beer. It's not like you can get it outside of WI. Miller is the better of the two national macros. Did the Lakefront tour while up for a CU-MU game (we won). Good stuff all around. Totally understand the rating.

although I haven't been there... Omaha! Quest Ctr/CHICO's 1$ Beer has to be the Best in the land.

Guys, I think we found Steve Lavin's burner account.

EDIT - I lived in DC for a couple years. They aren't on my list. That should tell you how "awesome" their beer scene was.

[MUBoxer]

Those of you talking about Goose Island should read Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out. It's a quick read, and a really good look at the beer industry.

I only have experience in three of these cities:

Chicago - How big of a radius are we talking? City proper, or do suburbs count? Do we get to claim 3 Floyds? Either way, Chicago kills it. Totally understand why they'd be behind Milwaukee though. Revolution, Half Acre, On Tour, Metropolitan, Begyle, Maplewood and Off Color are all outstanding. There are a whole ton of good ones I didn't mention too. If suburbs count, 3 Floyds, 18th Street, Buckledown, 2 Brothers, Pollyanna are all great as well.

Omaha - I worked at a brewpub while in undergrad here. Granted, this was a long time ago, but it killed me that people would ask for a Bud Light when we made our beer RIGHT BEHIND THEM. Probably why the place closed. Benson Brewery is good, Infusion is too sweet. Is the Upstream still around?

MKE - I feel like New Glarus, while a bit overrated, should be lumped into MKE's beer. It's not like you can get it outside of WI. Miller is the better of the two national macros. Did the Lakefront tour while up for a CU-MU game (we won). Good stuff all around. Totally understand the rating.

although I haven't been there... Omaha! Quest Ctr/CHICO's 1$ Beer has to be the Best in the land.

Guys, I think we found Steve Lavin's burner account.

EDIT - I lived in DC for a couple years. They aren't on my list. That should tell you how "awesome" their beer scene was.

I think 3 Floyd's 100% counts as a Chicagoland brewery. If it's city proper I'd still put Revolution's deep wood series and Bourbon County against anything around the country that isn't Darklord or Abraxis. Two Brothers is average at best though some other great breweries you mention, Begyle always does a collab with Galway Bay Brewery and it's always fantastic. I stand by my earlier point that MKE's Craft scene doesn't hold up on a National scale.

[Doge McDermott]

I think 3 Floyd's 100% counts as a Chicagoland brewery. If it's city proper I'd still put Revolution's deep wood series and Bourbon County against anything around the country that isn't Darklord or Abraxis. Two Brothers is average at best though some other great breweries you mention, Begyle always does a collab with Galway Bay Brewery and it's always fantastic. I stand by my earlier point that MKE's Craft scene doesn't hold up on a National scale.

Revolution's Deth's Tar is on my bucket list. It's always sold out at my liquor store. That's fair about Two Brothers. I was going for stuff that's fairly widely available. Aside from On Tour, I think I've found every one of the breweries I listed at Jewel. Just trying to not doxx myself with my local favorites.

You could make the case that NW Indiana/SW Michigan area breweries aren't Chicago breweries, but their own subset. They're like the New Haven Pizza of the beer world. There are a lot of sneaky good breweries there, but it's super niche if you don't follow micros.

[Novachap]

I think 3 Floyd's 100% counts as a Chicagoland brewery. If it's city proper I'd still put Revolution's deep wood series and Bourbon County against anything around the country that isn't Darklord or Abraxis. Two Brothers is average at best though some other great breweries you mention, Begyle always does a collab with Galway Bay Brewery and it's always fantastic. I stand by my earlier point that MKE's Craft scene doesn't hold up on a National scale.

Revolution's Deth's Tar is on my bucket list. It's always sold out at my liquor store. That's fair about Two Brothers. I was going for stuff that's fairly widely available. Aside from On Tour, I think I've found every one of the breweries I listed at Jewel. Just trying to not doxx myself with my local favorites.

You could make the case that NW Indiana/SW Michigan area breweries aren't Chicago breweries, but their own subset. They're like the New Haven Pizza of the beer world. There are a lot of sneaky good breweries there, but it's super niche if you don't follow micros.

Having had the pleasure to have lived in NYC, Philly, CT a few places in the south and now in SW Michigan... I second that.. CT / VT have great IPAs (not my test, but they are great), I like the Chicago Breweries a lot.. but man oh man, love Founders, Bells, New Holland, Odd Sides and Saugatuck. We like our Barrel aged, stouts and ales out here---keeps us warm!

[MUBoxer]

I think 3 Floyd's 100% counts as a Chicagoland brewery. If it's city proper I'd still put Revolution's deep wood series and Bourbon County against anything around the country that isn't Darklord or Abraxis. Two Brothers is average at best though some other great breweries you mention, Begyle always does a collab with Galway Bay Brewery and it's always fantastic. I stand by my earlier point that MKE's Craft scene doesn't hold up on a National scale.

Revolution's Deth's Tar is on my bucket list. It's always sold out at my liquor store. That's fair about Two Brothers. I was going for stuff that's fairly widely available. Aside from On Tour, I think I've found every one of the breweries I listed at Jewel. Just trying to not doxx myself with my local favorites.

You could make the case that NW Indiana/SW Michigan area breweries aren't Chicago breweries, but their own subset. They're like the New Haven Pizza of the beer world. There are a lot of sneaky good breweries there, but it's super niche if you don't follow micros.

Deth's tar is fantastic, I prefer VSOD personally but it's definitely a close call. I definitely agree many of the NW Indians breweries and certainly SW Michigan but something like 3 Floyd's is closer to the city than half the Illinois suburbs so I think that and 18th street aka anything west of Gary is still Chicagoland.

Having had the pleasure to have lived in NYC, Philly, CT a few places in the south and now in SW Michigan... I second that.. CT / VT have great IPAs (not my test, but they are great), I like the Chicago Breweries a lot.. but man oh man, love Founders, Bells, New Holland, Odd Sides and Saugatuck. We like our Barrel aged, stouts and ales out here---keeps us warm!

Grand Rapids is low key the best medium sized beer city I've been to. With heavy hitters like New Holland andFounders but also Perrin is absolutely fantastic and it's seems every pizza joint makes their own beer there. Also I was at Larry Bell's wedding, he did not serve his own beer, and I have very conflicting feelings toward him which has ruined Two Hearted and Oberon for me.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

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[DeltaV]

I know everywhere has their own good beers, but I do think the Charleston SC area is somewhat underrated. There are a number of good microbreweries, and the best part is a lot of them are in the same neighborhood. If the Charleston Classic ever happens again, we'll have to have a brewery crawl up the neck (the 'narrow' part of the Charleston peninsula, former industrial area where a lot of the breweries are) whenever your team is in town.