I highly recommend checking out Lakefront Brewery. It's a fairly small brewery, and the beer is great. If you have time for a tour, they're a lot of fun (with plentiful sampling!). And, if you're around on a Friday, the fish fry is tasty, too!

Another good brewery, although somewhat larger, is Sprecher. The beers are good, but the tours aren't nearly as fun as Lakefront's.

You'll do yourself a favor to try a STONE SMOKED PORTER from Stone Brewing Company in San Diego. We're fortunate here in So. California to be able to buy many of the great Stone Brewing products at our local Von's Markets or Bristol Farms.

Yuengling...

That complaint that there's no good American beer is from 20 years ago. We now have hundreds of craft beers that could kick most British pub taps to the curb.

** Catamount Amber Ale out of Vermont.
** Rogue American Amber or Bitter out of Oregon.
** Scuttlebutt IPA out of Everett, Washington.
** Snoqualmie IPA.

You got to go exploring.

Belated Welcome to FlyerTalk to you envgeo. By the way, great taste in Beer!

Best regards,

RobotDoctor

My favorite microbrewery is the Bluegrass Brewing Co. in Louisville, KY. Was a regular there a few years ago when I made frequent visits to town. I used to bring two six packs of their Altbier back one each plane trip, a couple cases if I drove. Their Nut Brown Ale was my favorite (but they did not bottle it). I understand they now have a bar in SDF. You were able to get one or two of their brews at bar outside security in SDF. I think they only distribute in KY and southern IN.

Bells is also excellent. I actually did a college marketing project on the brewery. Was worth the trip from Detroit to Kalamazoo for "research".

Tom

My favorite is Schlafly Kolsch from St. Louis. It's usually only available in the Spring and Summer.

Shiner Bock...they also have Shiner Summer Stock, Shiner Blonde, (new) Shiner Light and they have a Heifeweizen too. All very good...

Yuengling, traditional lager.
Yuengling, black and tan

Gets my vote. ^

Have to agree on the Black Butte Porter. For my money, the best beer in the country is made in WA and OR. We struggle sometimes finding good beer in restaurants in other parts of the country.

Cleveland, Ohio
Great lakes Brewing- Blackout Stout

Yuengling is tops in my book!!!

Second place would be ICE COLD Henieken!

Trader Joe's also markets a Mission St. Pale Ale that is surprisingly good. Not as hoppy as a Sierra Nevada, but with a nice bite. I also used to shop at their original store on Mission St. in South Pasadena, so the label added a nice touch.

All-time favorite American beer has to be Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss. Followed by Leinie's Northwoods Lager. Followed by Leinie's Red. Followed by...you get the idea.

They know what they're doing in Chippewa Falls.

Hi, I don't drink beer at all, but I came upon this article several weeks ago... quite a cute story hehe..

This bear seems to favor Rainier Beer :P

Please check the story out!

~Little Dragon Kitty

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/

The best beer you can buy in the U.S. is Franziskaner Weissbier from Germany. but there are some good microbrew wheat beers in the States now too.

Oh my, where to begin ...
 

Well, being as though I hail from what the locals call "Munich on the Willamette" and I've indulged in durned near everything Oregon, Washington and Alaska (and nearly every other state in the union, too) has to offer over the past 20 years, here's a short list of my picks in no particular order (except for the first one :):

• http://www.bridgeportbrew.com/bp-brews-ipa.html ]Bridgeport IPA[/URL], Portland, OR -- 50 IBUs. Woo wee! (I do like 'em hoppy ...)
• Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale, Bend, OR -- It's good from the bottle, but absolutely stellar on cask.
• Alaskan Smoked Porter -- Juneau, AK -- Mm, mm, good!
• New Glarus Belgian Red, New Glarus, WI -- Roll-over-and-bark faboriffic.
• St. Stan's Alt, Modesto, CA -- My first love of all the alts. Still a winner in my little black book ;)
• Widmer Hefeweissen, Portland, OR -- (tap only) One of the finest brews to sip on a hot summer day. A slice of lemon is a must.
• Pyramid Apricot Ale, Kalama, WA -- Damn fine fruit ale
• Pyramid Belgian White, Kalama, WA -- Northwest take on a exceptional style of ale. (Sadly, I think this is off the market now, as I haven't seen it in ages)
• McMennamins Ruby Ale, pubs throughout OR and WA -- Lovely raspberry ale, using only fresh berries (no extract!)
• Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale, Boonville, CA
• Anchor Brewing Special Ale 19xx, 200x, etc. , San Francisco, CA -- Always look forward to this annual Christmas offering. Tres spicy.
• Lucky Lab Black Lab Stout, Portland, OR -- (only available on tap at the pub) -- My favorite American style stout

I admit it, I'm a little bit of a homer when it comes to micros. Guess I can afford to be. :D But I do enjoy sampling brews from all over this fine country.

If you like English bitter John Smith's can't be found in the US but in Boston Tremont Ale comes close.

Hear, hear! ^

It seems like most of the American wheats have some sort of fruit or honey added - something I'd rather avoid. Could you or anyone else recommend some without the training wheels?

I recently tried an unflavored draft American hefe listed on this thread, left unnamed to spare the other poster. Despite walking around in the heat of the day and being rather thirsty, the first taste was so unpleasant I left it sitting on the bar and walked out. The flavor was reminiscent of decent hefe filtered through a slightly moldy bar rag. If this is an example of a good American wheat...no thanks.

Widmer hefe is quite good. But I've only drunk it from the barrel at the brewery, maybe it changes in bottling (Delta CRC at PDX had it on tap, when DL was still a good airline, and it was excellent that way, too).

Check Here For Ideas
 

Someone interested enough to read all the way through this thread may want to investigate this site:

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/04winners.htm

for suggestions of beers to try; this is the medalists' list from the just-concluded Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

These awards are perhaps the most prestigious in American brewing and, since they present gold/silver/bronze medals in 67 categories ranging from non-alcoholic beer to barleywines, there is a style here for anybody.

Almost any micro IPA. The higher the IBUs, the better. I like Mash House IPA (Fayettevile, NC), the demised Devil's Elbow IPA (Morrisville, NC), the beers of Avery and Dogfish Head. I just had a Toppers Hop Pocket at my local pub (the Sawmill Taproom) but have been drinking the Endo Cottonwood IPA (Boone, NC).

If anyone is in town, I will take you on a tour of real beer places. ^

Thanks for the suggestion. You're the second person in this thread to say that, though my experience with it was very different. I'll have to give it another try perhaps.

You really can't beat Budweiser. As mentioned on the label, it is the best beer available at any price.

Enjoy.

Thanks, I needed a good laugh today! My vote if for FT. Collins. I am sure its been mentioned already. Also here in NY is a small brewery called Woodstock Brewing. Great Stuff!

Samuel Adams Boston Lager
 

I have been drinking it for 20 years, began right after they began production. Still haven't found something better.

Hey, if it works for you
 

Considering that beer is sometimes referred to as "liquid bread," this is like saying that the packaged white bread on supermarket shelves is superior to a freshly made loaf of, say, rye from a fine neighborhood artisanal bakery.

Still, enjoy your Bud if you prefer.

The best? The one I can expense!
 

If the company's paying... I'm drinking^

Full Sail Amber Ale really tingled my taste buds. But the best beer I've had came from a liter stein at Oktober Fest in Munich.

Shiner Bock in Texas (especially after a Rugby match)

McGuires Irish Pub Stout in Pensacola, Fl. A real aviator's beer...

Almost anything cold at old Trader John's in Pensacola. There were many real "tailhooker's beers" back then. (Excepting, of course, Bud and other American p*ss beers). However, come to think of it, after the nurse's uniforms started flying off (back when they were all women, of course) I think even the Bud tasted... well.... no... it still tasted like bad tap water. :)

200 microbrews in America that would best anything in a Brit or Irish pub? Me thinketh nay!

...none of the above, and nothing in America, can touch REAL Guinness.

If you are ever in Chicago, it might be worth it to take the Metra Electric commuter south to my hometown of Flossmoor (about 40 minutes), where, attached to the train station is the Flossmoor Restaurant and Brewery.

It was named best brewpub in Chicagoland a couple years ago. Here is a listing of their beers with awards won:

http://flossmoorstation.com/OurBrews.htm

Nice not having to drive afterwards, especially after a sampler (~10 different 5 oz. glasses), and a couple pints of whichever ones you liked best.

About 30 minutes from MDW by car, or about 1 hour from ORD.

Send me an email if you want to come down and I'll stroll over and join you.

I really like Anchor Steam.

Oh, you got the smallest size ... 2 liter steins (and up) seem to be the norm. And where in the US can you get Oktoberfest style beer (I know some breweries make dark beers and label them as Oktoberfest, but has anyone found a good one?).

Black Butte Porter
Frankenheim Alt
Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Checksvar (sp?)

Brother newself...

It's spelled Czechvar (named for Czechosolvakia, now the Czech republic.) ;)

Here's a website with some history:

http://www.beersince1933.com/czechvar.htm

It's very good beer. It tastes best in a little town square in Prague.

You also share another favorite beer of mine... Black Brute Porter!!!! :)

And, of course, old reliables;

Sam Adams Boston Lagar (My first beer)
Guinness, Guinness, Guinness

Also: Abita and Shiner Boch

Well, since people are going international here, I'm voting for some Belgians. In particular, check out La Chouffe (www.achouffe.be). Their song is very inspirational. Vive la Chouffe!

I don't "prefer" Bud by any stretch of the imagination, but to its credit, at least it's just rice, malt, yeast, hops, and water (and tannin?). I'd happily take it over anything in a green or clear bottle.

So what's the punchline?

When in doubt, a Sammy will do quite nicely. ^

The Best beer in the US?
The one sitting in front of me