Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Total Domination. sort of.

it's been years since i homebrewed (although that may change with an uncle's purchase of a force-carbonating system for keg-brewing)...and as such, it has been quite a while since i perused the archives over at BA. i just noticed the amazing collection of NW IN and S. MI breweries on their "Top Beers" list. having lived along that latitude for way too long, i have spent many many nights drinking brews from founders (best michigan brewery), bell's (personal favorite, i think) and Three Floyd's (really stellar permanent line-up and some legendary seasonals).

anyway, take a look at the list. yeah there's california on there...and belgium. but the area of the midwest that houses those indiana and michigan brews is maybe like a 4 hour drive from end to end and all generally part of the same beer culture.

if you like american wine, go to napa valley i guess? but if you want american beer, you need to be further east. MI, IN, OH, PA the Four Horsemen of the Hoppocalypse.

4 comments:

GZ said...

Sigh. Or San Diego.

Patrick Thurber said...

ok, i'll bite. i can't recall having a true "san diego" brew ever before.

seeing as today is a snow day, i'm going to do my research into san diegan beer and see what i can sample out here in MI.

what are your personal recommendations? where should i start?

GZ said...

stone, green flash. Both solid breweries.

Patrick Thurber said...

ah! stone brewery! (smacks forehead)

yes, i've had many a stone brew. they're double bastard ale had been becoming my go-to winter warm up until my girlfriend pointed out that, post-consumption, the title became telling.

so...maybe back to the 1-bastard, then.

i'll check out green flash, but as i've definitely never heard of it, i have doubts that their distribution reaches past the rockies. vamos a ver.