Guy Gadbois, I don't know what part of Asheville you saw all this in but I assure you that non of those people you saw were native to the south. As a whole the south is embarrassed by Asheville and no longer even consider it part of the south and no self respecting proud southerner would ever live in Asheville, that is why the population of natives are the largest minority in this city. The natives & southerner don't ever go to downtown, we avoid it like the plaque. The ONLY time you will ever hear a southern accent in downtown is if someone comes here on vacation & somehow has never heard much about the city, but once they visit, they quickly find out what the town is like & they either never come back or when they do, they also avoid downtown. The majority of those "over-privileged white kids from rich parents" are from California or New England. The only southerners who live in this town are those like me whose family roots go back 200+ years in the area. Ask anyone who lives in this town & they will all agree that it is rare to see a southerner or native, the vast majority of people have only lived here for 5 years of less, that is the typical length of time someone will stay here before they leave for something better. I am not defending Asheville, I agree with everything you are saying, its just that its not the southerners you are seeing, because we would typically never go to the places that the tourist or transplants go to, we do everything we can to avoid those places & those people.
Kurt - 11 years ago
Love kzooooo!
scott - 11 years ago
Mmmmm...beer!
MWB Fan - 11 years ago
Yankee's don't know how to brew??? Our baseball team is the "Milwaukee Brewers" HA!!!
Tim Barrier - 11 years ago
Asheville!
Guy Gadbois - 11 years ago
Asheville Native,
Yes i have been to asheville.
It is full of over-privileged white kids from rich parents that are from conservative areas of the south having a "look at me" moment as they parade around lexington ave. thinking they are at Folsom St Fair. If they were to leave the region and actually live in a progressive area, they would find better beer and modern culture. Yes, there are a clump of Floridiots there who's parents were upper level engineering management on the space coast leaching of others pensions. But mostly over privy trustiafarians from winston-salem, Greenville, Charlotte, and Myrtle Beach gated communities who complain about their conservative christian parents...
Andre - 11 years ago
Because, Beer Exchange.
Brian Peters - 11 years ago
Bell's K'zoo. Oberon !!!
Jeannet - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids, Mi All The Way!!
Alison Cole - 11 years ago
Bell's! Kalamazoo
Randall - 11 years ago
Ha this guy saying us "yankees" don't know how to make stouts.....
*checks top rated stouts*
you're right dude. Vote GR!
AshevilleNative - 11 years ago
Brian, funny that you would say "The south doesn't know how to make a decent stout". The fact of the matter is that NONE of the microbreweries are owned or operated by a single southern, each and every one of them are owned and operated by yankees (native northerners) & some are natives to GR. Not even any of the delivery men or people who work in the bars or tasting rooms are native southerns. So its not the south who doesn't know how to make a decent stout, its yankees who don't know how to make a decent stout, since that is who is making the beer.
WB - 11 years ago
Mmmmm... KBS. Some good things do come from MI. But I can order a $2 pint of KBS at one of my favorite restaurants near Asheville, and drink it on the outdoor seating in February while I laugh at my relatives in MI bitch about the snow :)
AshevilleNative - 11 years ago
Guy Gadbois, have you actually been to Asheville? The vast majority of the population of this town are yankees or from Florida or California. Natives are the largest minority here, there are more blacks or Mexicans in this town than there are native southerners.
Paul - 11 years ago
Asheville = happy place to live. We have great beer, over 13 microbreweries - that is a lot for a town our size - nothing watered down. Our setting is breathtaking. The weather is fantastic! Especially now. We love life here. I think our service is fine. We are laid back happy people who enjoy working hard, great beer and the great outdoors. We are not all conservative, we are not all liberal - just a mix. Any generalizations of any place is rooted in ignorance. To truly know a location you must spend some solid time there. I've never been to Grand Rapids but seems like people really love it there and that is awesome! Maybe one day I'll be passing through that town. I am glad we share the enthusiasm for good craft beer.
Brian - 11 years ago
I've been to the breweries in both Asheville and Grand Rapids. The two cities remind me of each other quite a bit actually. However what I can say from my own personal experience; The beer and the breweries in Grand Rapids are better. When you look at the top rated beers, NC doesn't have any on most of the lists. Where Michigan has over half a dozen. I've not heard of any beers that became nationwide hits out of Asheville. Where every craft beer drinking in this country has heard of Founders KBS. The south doesn't know how to make a decent stout in my opinion. Even coming from someone who lives in Asheville, the stouts are watered down compared to what we brew in the north. I don't mean to piss on Asheville with this post. In fact, I really enjoyed the city when I had the chance to spend time there. However no beer from there rang out to me, and most of the ones I did try weren't very memorable. Asheville also doesn't seem to be making much of an effort to brew local beers. Michigan is taking leaps and bounds putting in hop yards and barely to create a more local product. They have between 100 and 250 acres of hops. Half of which were put in during the past year. I personally feel that this fact will play a major role in the development of craft beer in each state. It eventually wont be able to be ignored.
Asheville Waiter - 11 years ago
I work in a restaurant in Asheville and sometimes when a customer orders one of the local draft beers I will give them Budweiser or Michelob instead and so far not a single customer has ever noticed, in fact many have commented how much they loved it and how it was the best beer they ever had. A couple of times after they have finished their meal and they go to the bar to hang out, they ask for another beer (thinking they have been drinking one of the micro brews) the bar tender not knowing what I have done, go ahead and gives them what they ask for, the customers usually complain because it tastes too hoppy & has a burnt aftertaste and nowhere near as good as the one I brought them. I'll over hear them complaining, so then I tell the bar tender what I did so they can continue giving them Bud or Michelob and then they tell them that they misunderstood what they wanted and gave them something else. Once they get their Bud or Michelob back, they are as happy as can be.
Ashevile is not racist, nor does it suck - 11 years ago
@Guy Gadbois, You say 'racist bumpkins' why? Asheville is the most ethnically diverse part of Western NC by far. Learn you facts please.
JENN - 11 years ago
I live in Asheville, and have to say, Highland Brewery has yummy brews, especially their seasonal ales. And now Altamont Brewing has some delicious beers as well. Unsure where commenters had their watered down beer; to be clear...if the can said BUSCH or BUD, that is not local. And don't forget Asheville Brewing Company!
Oh, don't take it personal about the service here....being cynical and unemotional is cool.
Guy Gadbois - 11 years ago
Yay Grand Rapids!!!
We'll beat the overalls off those racist bumpkins in Asheville!!!
Erik - 11 years ago
I see that there is a lot of hate towards Asheville, and I don't really care. They still have my vote! I am able to look beyond some of the breweries like Highland or Green Man to see that brewing is a part of the culture here. Don't just judge us by the beers at the bars and breweries, keep in mind that personal craft brewing is a big hobby here. It is part of the culture, we like beer, lots of beer, and we like to make it ourselves.
As for the Asheville brewries themselves i find that the Broad River Brewing company is my favorite, and Dales pale ale coming from nearby Brevard is quite exceptional as well. So what I am trying to get at here is that you shouldn't just judge Asheville based off a few breweries.
Gary Woodall - 11 years ago
I live in Asheville and love it here.. Some of the comments posted just make no sense. This is a vote to name a Beer City of America. The rude comments make no sense at all other than to allow the people posting the negative comments to come across as ignorant..
Goose - 11 years ago
Bells Oberon
A. Vandalay - 11 years ago
Just voted for Grand Rapids. Send the work and business to Michigan!!!
p.s.
My daughter went to school in AVL and worked at a restaurant that sold micro brew. I will never support that ultraconservative state that yanks rights away from workers and other life necessities "healthcare provision funded by the federal government". Go Grand Rapids !!!
Brandon Dood - 11 years ago
Founders Brewing Co.
That is all.
Karyn Sjaarda - 11 years ago
Thanks
Richard Feeley - 11 years ago
I love Asheville
Asheville sux - 11 years ago
The Pacific Northwest has real beer. Asheville has watered down crap with lousy servers.
E. gherstfield - 11 years ago
I love asheville, and the past 2 years have really turned the town from a nice place with wonderful people, to a tourist hellhole where out-of-towners come in and are just nasty and destroy wheat we love about the place. WE DON'T WANT BEER CITY, and we are ALL voting against it!!!
Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you - 11 years ago
sberchey,
We drink really good beer at locals' bars, but we don't drink asheville micro brew because you all don't respect the people serving it.
GO HOME to FLORIDA!!!!
Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you - 11 years ago
If you all roll your bible up into a nice cylinder, and then plunger yourselves repeatedly in the ass with it, you'll know what it feels like to serve you drunken tourist fools.
sberchey - 11 years ago
@ Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you
Take your labia to a bar that serves shitty beer then.
Mayor George Heartwell - 11 years ago
Wow isn't this a spirited debate! Look, we tied Asheville NC last year, and I want to wish them good luck again. Looks like the citizens of my town are acting like real assholes tonite by slandering a really nice town in Western North Carolina. I wish people would just vote for their favorite town and STFU. I guess the internet gives people a feeling of anonymous confidence they don't deserve. May the best town win.
Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you - 11 years ago
sberchey.
you prob are the
PR director at FB brewery. That crap gives me the worst over hopped headache of all. it's PBR, Stella and High Life for this bitch with my Red Breast Whiskey.
Brandan vannote - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo Michigan
Brandan vannote - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo Michigan
Brandan vannote - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo Michigan
brian batista - 11 years ago
@AshevilleNative - what do the events of early America have to do with great beer now? STFU
Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you - 11 years ago
Hey S berche,
we don't drink over hopped beer.
we drink good whiskey, mixed drinks, and boilermakers. tourist beer is for tourists...
the service industry bars have little to NO local "craft beers" we just want to drink after shift before it is too late.
sberchey - 11 years ago
@ShattuckTheDogFacedBoy You forgot to mention the best brewery in America, French Broad Brewing Co. If you haven't had it you aren't fit to comment here.
S Berchey - 11 years ago
Asheville has it's problems, but it has a great collection of excellent brewers and people who drink their beer. People who say its a town of service industry people and hence do not deserve the title are idiots because who drinks more beer that people who work hard and get paid too little. Grand Rapids MI my ass. I can get budweiser in any town.
marty - 11 years ago
Bells Brewery Kalamazoo Michigan. Bells Two Hearted Ale. Anyone out there that's tries it and does not like it?
Tony B. - 11 years ago
No Seattle makes this list invalid. Any craft beer drinker in the US would put Seattle in the top five IMHO. It's a matter of quality and quantity. Hell, one neighborhood in Seattle (Ballard) should put them on the list. Take in the metro area and forget about it. Plus Bert Grant started the first brewpub in the US in WA, and we grow 70% of the world's hops. We've been drinking quality craft beer before anyone else, and we produce quality beers from a ton of different breweries that don't distribute. Seattle should be in the top five.
Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you - 11 years ago
The "mook" comment was right on." Beer city" titles bring some disrespectful people who are rude and don't tip. It's what we call amateur hour when they all show up. Usually wasted by 11:45pm and cannot hold any integrity. GO HOME!!!
ShattuckTheDogFacedBoy - 11 years ago
Asheville mooks wouldn't know a good beer it you smashed their face in with it. The drinking culture in my fine ex-residence is childish and pretentious at the same time. Why the fuck are you drinking Frenet? Because it's new and trendy, that's why. It's horrible. Have a Jager. Seriously taste test them blind and see what I'm talking about. As for the beer, Asheville leaves much to be desired. If you like pale ales and imperial pale ales that are overhopped and lack balance, then Asheville is your spot. Highland is horrible except for the Thunderstruck Porter, and that's seasonal. ABC is OK. Green Man is OK. The Wedge has a couple great beers, the rest are OK. Same with Wicked Weed. Craggie was fucking awful. The Lab is bad too. Sure there are a TON of breweries, but the overall quality just is mediocre at best. Also, having Sierra Nevada and New Belgium move in is going to make about 300 trucks a day roll down already ill maintained streets through a residential area (Haywood Rd in West Asheville). Fuck what the "Beer City" title has done to Asheville. Let's give it to someone else.
Scott LaRue - 11 years ago
I see Chas on TV, from Schmohz Brewery campaigning for Grand Rapids to be Beer City USA. If they taste the shitty beer Schmohz brews, Grand Rapids will lose for sure!
Brewbee Mcbrewster - 11 years ago
So who the hell is winning? I've never been to these other beer hotspots but I know for me I'm way sad whenever I leave these moutains and the awesome brew that can be easily had anytime and anywhere (well most places anyway). Be it the grocery or the ball park amazing local examples abound. Most other decent places are lucky if they have any selection at all and then are from somewhere else. Really shitty places only have the watered down drivel known as the big producers of which I know you prolly drink... lol, jk! Alright, good luck to those who are lucky enough to enjoy good brew where ever that may be! Cheers!!!
To all the beer artisans of Michigan - thank you for making Michigan the great beer state! Keg stand on! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michigan-Brew-Review/262022040594809
Josh - 11 years ago
Gotta say, the trailer park that this is being drug into by both Asheville and Grand rapids supporters make me think that neither of those cities are deserving of the title.
Christopher - 11 years ago
Guess some people just don't understand craft beer. Key word is "craft". So hard to chose just one spot, Portland Oregon resident... Bend has best beer....
Beer in Michigan with the state that was like prohibition? Nah, don't think so - not Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo or anything close in Michigan. It has to be St. Louis or Milwaukee - they know how to make it right (they have to have something to go with the cheese in Wisconsin.. but beer in Michigan? Not a chance. The last good brew they had here was Strohs.) There hasn't been a good brew come out of the rust belt of Michigan since I don't know when.
Slunky - 11 years ago
@ Dann "I hang in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Love 'em both, but I gotta give this one to Kzoo" I hang in both too and for the life of me I can't figure out why you would give it to Kzoo, there's really no comparison...
How is it San Francisco and Sacramento aren't available as choices? Shameful!
Ralf the wonder mook - 11 years ago
The drinking crowd that shows up in asheville to drink beer are inbreed Mooks.
They treat the people that work their like shit because they are bible belt nuts who take their social ineptitude out on the progressive inhabitants of the city. That's why we don't like tourists...
MOOK:
"The Merchants of Cool." Mooks are archetypal young males(teens-early 20s) who act like moronic boneheads. They are self centered simpletons who live a drunken frat-boy lifestyle(or are frat-boys).
People book their vacations around beer? I think that just sad, beer is just something to get you drunk. Why plan a vacation around beer, just pick up what ever at any store & get your drunk on. Its all the same, beer is beer
Bruce - 11 years ago
@ Steve Body
Actually the reason why Asheville won the original "Beer City USA" is because it has more breweries per capita than any other city in the United States. I guess it really all depends on how you perceive what makes beer city USA.
Now saying one city has the "best" tasting beers is not really a valid point simply because taste is so subjective, but saying one city has the most breweries per capita is a valid point when talking about a competition called: BEER CITY USA!
Asheville knows beer and other people recognize this. It's why large breweries like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are building multi million dollar faciliies in Asheville!
Bruce - 11 years ago
Asheville.... Reigning Champs. It's why Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are opening Breweries here along with about 100 others.
Mary Ellen - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids, MI. !
Steve Brown - 11 years ago
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Steve Brown - 11 years ago
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Steve Brown - 11 years ago
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Erik - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids!!
BILL - 11 years ago
Beer is the life's blood of Asheville. It is the reason many travel near and far to this fair WNC community. Let's keep this a secret lest the riffraff discover our fine selection of all things Hops. Now where's my St. Therese Pale Ale?
laetitia - 11 years ago
Im french and i know where i can find good beer in USgrand rapids michigan!!!!! i m used to drink belgium netherlands and german beers
I wish i could drink more grand rapid's beer
monte - 11 years ago
some of the GR peoples' comments are not even accurate about their own city!. Ive been to most of the cities and try to get local craft brews when I travel and can not see why Denver is not the unanimous Beer City USA!? Sure its larger than most of the other cities but it has to be the most well rounded. Of course there macrobrew Miller-Coors and many of the top micro brews within an hour and so many great hidden gem of beerbars and micro brews scattered through out the area not to mention the national chain bars that the smaller cities do not have
Rogersbv - 11 years ago
Come on GR WE ARE the BEER CITY
Suzy - 11 years ago
Hey everybody — heads up: Grand Rapids sent an e-mail that instructs people how to get multiple votes from the same device. Looks like every other city will have to step up their game. http://ow.ly/kSzxY
Rt3man - 11 years ago
Definitely GR! For it was also named The All American City at one time.
Rt3man - 11 years ago
Definitely GR! For it was also named The All American City at one time.
ya'll spend time gratifying horses - 11 years ago
I don't even like beer that much. I drink sippin' whiskey. But after all this, i dislike asheville and grand rapids even more. Especially you asheville. You are the Trustifarian mecca...
theimfamoustodd - 11 years ago
GR Beerfest enough said
This is Clownschool - 11 years ago
Next year they need to lose the comment section. I can't believe the bozos on this. It's a non scientific poll that is supposed to be fun but there are too many self congratulatory so called beer aficionados taking themselves and the poll too seriously. To be perfectly honest I want the time back that I spent just typing this. Clown School.
Nolan - 11 years ago
I think we all just need to carpool with one another to all the other cities on the poll and give everyone else's beer a try... maybe then we wouldn't all be needlessly attacking one another on the internet... which means nothing in the end. And besides, we are all drinking delicious craft beer instead of some crappy mass produced beer... so in the end we all win with awesome beer in our hands.
herman'z hurtz - 11 years ago
I am offended by the "but-hurt" comments. It is a nasty gay/anal sex joke. It is an insult to the many LGBTQ people in this country. You are just jealous that you have no body control to enjoy it because you have too many hemorrhoids from the impurities in your lame beer.
Grand Rapids Michigan is THE Beer City USA. Home of Schmoz Beer (Hi Chas) and a myriad of others this All American, Cool City is the place to try craft beer. The other cities can't come close to the great beer we produce plus we are the friendliest city with the most awesome attractions.....can you say ArtPrize, the Grand Rapids Lip Dub, Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, The Grand Rapids Public museum which is one of few museums that have secured the Titanic exhibit which is happening now. All events go well with our home town beer!!
feelbad4ashville - 11 years ago
Poor ashville. I didn't realize how bad life is down there. Credit card debt, worst place to live, food shortages, bigots everywhere, and subpar beer. I wish I could change my vote
Invalid List. Doesn't have Seattle on it and does have Raleigh, Durango, Jacksonville, and a couple of other minor areas on it. I guess that's how Asheville "won" that poll they won, by just leaving off most of the best areas. Seattle is in the top 5, period. Anyone who thinks otherwise knows NOTHING about craft beer. Here's a REAL list: http://blog.seattlepi.com/thepourfool/2013/01/29/americas-ten-best-beer-towns-the-non-fiction-list/
AshevilleNative - 11 years ago
B.B.Rodriguez, I'm sure all of the cities in this contest have better beer than Asheville. If you go back through & read some of my other comments you will see, I do not fight for Asheville in this contest, in fact I want it to loose. I hate all the art, I hate all the hippies, I hate all the pretentious restaurants, I hate almost everything about this town today, I am NOT an Asheville supporter, BUT when it comes to history, I know of what I speak & I am more than capable of providing evidence to support my claims. I do not dispute the slaughter & culling of the Indians, but it was not Asheville or Buncombe county that did it, it was the US government, nor was this something only done in WNC, it was done in every city, town & county in this entire country, Every Indian in every part of the US was forced to leave their homes, due to the Indian removal act of 1830. No city in this country is innocent of crimes against the Indians and Asheville was no better or worse about it than any other part of the country. What is truly comical is your lack of education and your thinking that what happen in every part of the entire US has any bearing on one small town today & what that has to do with this internet poll.
Derek - 11 years ago
And Asheville has 12 Bones BBQ!!!
austinisit - 11 years ago
I live in a progressive city (Austin) and I just voted. I normally don't comment but all the rave and poking caused me to interject. I have been to many of the cities on this ballot. I travel for my job as a regional coordinator for a national firm, and have many nice things to say about all of them. Asheville is a nice town with some good culture. But there really is a tension there between the progressive downtown and the outlying areas. I have experienced much rudeness from the service staff, which is an indicator that there is a terrible job market. If so many residence have college degrees and are forced to work in service industry, there stands a truth to the job market issue and backs up the complaints.
gozz - 11 years ago
why is seattle not part of this ....???...
savage beast - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo!!! There is no other. To the person talking about shakespeare's, your probably drinking an OBERON as u write. Smh
Maybe Noyes - 11 years ago
So much complete and utter nonsense being written about Asheville by people who obviously know nothing about it and are envious of what a great city it is. Funny how a beer contest would bring that out in people. I don't know who BB Rodriguez is, but he clearly has serious Asheville-envy and is politically motivated by some twisted agenda. This is a beautiful area, the crime rate is very low, the music scene is kicking, and breweries continue to want to move here to join the great ones already here. It isn't that difficult to find a job, by the way, which is why most of the people you meet around here have just moved here in the last 2-3 years - or even more recently. True, there is old money here, and there is a good bit of 'young money' now too, with so many baby boomers retiring to the area. The President might even retire here - since this is a fairly progressive area politically - so that says a lot right there. So be as green with envy as you like, but you'll never have Green Man brewing beer in your town!
Johnny Cockburn - 11 years ago
As much as it hurts me to agree with the likes of bb rodwhatever, there is bad juju to asheville. I thinkt it is a very nice town full of very friendly people when i visit. You can feel the underlying tension to cultural influxes vs. the ultra biblethumpers. The place does have nice bars and nightlife, nothing like LA, SF, or any real city, but i do enjoy my visits. I did vote for it, just because i dont go to Michigan but rarely.
Beer is Yummy - 11 years ago
Who's got two thumbs and is an internet tough guy.....? Many of you morons.
"Hey, you live on or near historic Indian land...hence you are an awful person and your beer is gross!"
Frogbenderf - 11 years ago
B.B. Rodriguez, I don't live in Asheville, but thanks for the assumption. I also don't have an Arts degree, but you apparently have no degree. I'm not sure what the "cival war" was, but I do know what the Civil War was. I am also not sure what a "simpathiser" is either. You're really bad at this game. Your knowledge of history seems to be somewhat...skewed. But, carry on showing us your intellectual wit. It's really quite droll.
m - 11 years ago
kinda funny watching ya'll argue about crapper-towns USA.
Portland Oregon is THE beer city. End of story.
jason - 11 years ago
Pfffft. Grand Rapids again. Having the barrel aged rye at Perrin right now. Yes I know, your jealous.
carol - 11 years ago
GO GRAND RAPIDS......!!!!!
Jeff - 11 years ago
Hard not to find craft beer in Ann Arbor. Harder find Bud. Easy to find Bud in GR and Ashville. Ann Arbor hands down the best.
B.B.Rodriguez - 11 years ago
Ashevillenative, you are a NAZI and sympathies with those that murdered estimated 30million Indians. I know the full history of the place, and you cannot go through any law schooling without that little corner of American history. It is just comical to put forth half ass commentary just to get reactions out of people like you who have ego defense mechanism for you beloved " romperroom" of a little art town...
kalamazoo brews the best
Go ZOO!
Guy Gadbois, I don't know what part of Asheville you saw all this in but I assure you that non of those people you saw were native to the south. As a whole the south is embarrassed by Asheville and no longer even consider it part of the south and no self respecting proud southerner would ever live in Asheville, that is why the population of natives are the largest minority in this city. The natives & southerner don't ever go to downtown, we avoid it like the plaque. The ONLY time you will ever hear a southern accent in downtown is if someone comes here on vacation & somehow has never heard much about the city, but once they visit, they quickly find out what the town is like & they either never come back or when they do, they also avoid downtown. The majority of those "over-privileged white kids from rich parents" are from California or New England. The only southerners who live in this town are those like me whose family roots go back 200+ years in the area. Ask anyone who lives in this town & they will all agree that it is rare to see a southerner or native, the vast majority of people have only lived here for 5 years of less, that is the typical length of time someone will stay here before they leave for something better. I am not defending Asheville, I agree with everything you are saying, its just that its not the southerners you are seeing, because we would typically never go to the places that the tourist or transplants go to, we do everything we can to avoid those places & those people.
Love kzooooo!
Mmmmm...beer!
Yankee's don't know how to brew??? Our baseball team is the "Milwaukee Brewers" HA!!!
Asheville!
Asheville Native,
Yes i have been to asheville.
It is full of over-privileged white kids from rich parents that are from conservative areas of the south having a "look at me" moment as they parade around lexington ave. thinking they are at Folsom St Fair. If they were to leave the region and actually live in a progressive area, they would find better beer and modern culture. Yes, there are a clump of Floridiots there who's parents were upper level engineering management on the space coast leaching of others pensions. But mostly over privy trustiafarians from winston-salem, Greenville, Charlotte, and Myrtle Beach gated communities who complain about their conservative christian parents...
Because, Beer Exchange.
Bell's K'zoo. Oberon !!!
Grand Rapids, Mi All The Way!!
Bell's! Kalamazoo
Ha this guy saying us "yankees" don't know how to make stouts.....
*checks top rated stouts*
you're right dude. Vote GR!
Brian, funny that you would say "The south doesn't know how to make a decent stout". The fact of the matter is that NONE of the microbreweries are owned or operated by a single southern, each and every one of them are owned and operated by yankees (native northerners) & some are natives to GR. Not even any of the delivery men or people who work in the bars or tasting rooms are native southerns. So its not the south who doesn't know how to make a decent stout, its yankees who don't know how to make a decent stout, since that is who is making the beer.
Mmmmm... KBS. Some good things do come from MI. But I can order a $2 pint of KBS at one of my favorite restaurants near Asheville, and drink it on the outdoor seating in February while I laugh at my relatives in MI bitch about the snow :)
Guy Gadbois, have you actually been to Asheville? The vast majority of the population of this town are yankees or from Florida or California. Natives are the largest minority here, there are more blacks or Mexicans in this town than there are native southerners.
Asheville = happy place to live. We have great beer, over 13 microbreweries - that is a lot for a town our size - nothing watered down. Our setting is breathtaking. The weather is fantastic! Especially now. We love life here. I think our service is fine. We are laid back happy people who enjoy working hard, great beer and the great outdoors. We are not all conservative, we are not all liberal - just a mix. Any generalizations of any place is rooted in ignorance. To truly know a location you must spend some solid time there. I've never been to Grand Rapids but seems like people really love it there and that is awesome! Maybe one day I'll be passing through that town. I am glad we share the enthusiasm for good craft beer.
I've been to the breweries in both Asheville and Grand Rapids. The two cities remind me of each other quite a bit actually. However what I can say from my own personal experience; The beer and the breweries in Grand Rapids are better. When you look at the top rated beers, NC doesn't have any on most of the lists. Where Michigan has over half a dozen. I've not heard of any beers that became nationwide hits out of Asheville. Where every craft beer drinking in this country has heard of Founders KBS. The south doesn't know how to make a decent stout in my opinion. Even coming from someone who lives in Asheville, the stouts are watered down compared to what we brew in the north. I don't mean to piss on Asheville with this post. In fact, I really enjoyed the city when I had the chance to spend time there. However no beer from there rang out to me, and most of the ones I did try weren't very memorable. Asheville also doesn't seem to be making much of an effort to brew local beers. Michigan is taking leaps and bounds putting in hop yards and barely to create a more local product. They have between 100 and 250 acres of hops. Half of which were put in during the past year. I personally feel that this fact will play a major role in the development of craft beer in each state. It eventually wont be able to be ignored.
I work in a restaurant in Asheville and sometimes when a customer orders one of the local draft beers I will give them Budweiser or Michelob instead and so far not a single customer has ever noticed, in fact many have commented how much they loved it and how it was the best beer they ever had. A couple of times after they have finished their meal and they go to the bar to hang out, they ask for another beer (thinking they have been drinking one of the micro brews) the bar tender not knowing what I have done, go ahead and gives them what they ask for, the customers usually complain because it tastes too hoppy & has a burnt aftertaste and nowhere near as good as the one I brought them. I'll over hear them complaining, so then I tell the bar tender what I did so they can continue giving them Bud or Michelob and then they tell them that they misunderstood what they wanted and gave them something else. Once they get their Bud or Michelob back, they are as happy as can be.
@Guy Gadbois, You say 'racist bumpkins' why? Asheville is the most ethnically diverse part of Western NC by far. Learn you facts please.
I live in Asheville, and have to say, Highland Brewery has yummy brews, especially their seasonal ales. And now Altamont Brewing has some delicious beers as well. Unsure where commenters had their watered down beer; to be clear...if the can said BUSCH or BUD, that is not local. And don't forget Asheville Brewing Company!
Oh, don't take it personal about the service here....being cynical and unemotional is cool.
Yay Grand Rapids!!!
We'll beat the overalls off those racist bumpkins in Asheville!!!
I see that there is a lot of hate towards Asheville, and I don't really care. They still have my vote! I am able to look beyond some of the breweries like Highland or Green Man to see that brewing is a part of the culture here. Don't just judge us by the beers at the bars and breweries, keep in mind that personal craft brewing is a big hobby here. It is part of the culture, we like beer, lots of beer, and we like to make it ourselves.
As for the Asheville brewries themselves i find that the Broad River Brewing company is my favorite, and Dales pale ale coming from nearby Brevard is quite exceptional as well. So what I am trying to get at here is that you shouldn't just judge Asheville based off a few breweries.
I live in Asheville and love it here.. Some of the comments posted just make no sense. This is a vote to name a Beer City of America. The rude comments make no sense at all other than to allow the people posting the negative comments to come across as ignorant..
Bells Oberon
Just voted for Grand Rapids. Send the work and business to Michigan!!!
p.s.
My daughter went to school in AVL and worked at a restaurant that sold micro brew. I will never support that ultraconservative state that yanks rights away from workers and other life necessities "healthcare provision funded by the federal government". Go Grand Rapids !!!
Founders Brewing Co.
That is all.
Thanks
I love Asheville
The Pacific Northwest has real beer. Asheville has watered down crap with lousy servers.
I love asheville, and the past 2 years have really turned the town from a nice place with wonderful people, to a tourist hellhole where out-of-towners come in and are just nasty and destroy wheat we love about the place. WE DON'T WANT BEER CITY, and we are ALL voting against it!!!
sberchey,
We drink really good beer at locals' bars, but we don't drink asheville micro brew because you all don't respect the people serving it.
GO HOME to FLORIDA!!!!
If you all roll your bible up into a nice cylinder, and then plunger yourselves repeatedly in the ass with it, you'll know what it feels like to serve you drunken tourist fools.
@ Punch me in the Labia again and i'll burn you
Take your labia to a bar that serves shitty beer then.
Wow isn't this a spirited debate! Look, we tied Asheville NC last year, and I want to wish them good luck again. Looks like the citizens of my town are acting like real assholes tonite by slandering a really nice town in Western North Carolina. I wish people would just vote for their favorite town and STFU. I guess the internet gives people a feeling of anonymous confidence they don't deserve. May the best town win.
sberchey.
you prob are the
PR director at FB brewery. That crap gives me the worst over hopped headache of all. it's PBR, Stella and High Life for this bitch with my Red Breast Whiskey.
Kalamazoo Michigan
Kalamazoo Michigan
Kalamazoo Michigan
@AshevilleNative - what do the events of early America have to do with great beer now? STFU
Hey S berche,
we don't drink over hopped beer.
we drink good whiskey, mixed drinks, and boilermakers. tourist beer is for tourists...
the service industry bars have little to NO local "craft beers" we just want to drink after shift before it is too late.
@ShattuckTheDogFacedBoy You forgot to mention the best brewery in America, French Broad Brewing Co. If you haven't had it you aren't fit to comment here.
Asheville has it's problems, but it has a great collection of excellent brewers and people who drink their beer. People who say its a town of service industry people and hence do not deserve the title are idiots because who drinks more beer that people who work hard and get paid too little. Grand Rapids MI my ass. I can get budweiser in any town.
Bells Brewery Kalamazoo Michigan. Bells Two Hearted Ale. Anyone out there that's tries it and does not like it?
No Seattle makes this list invalid. Any craft beer drinker in the US would put Seattle in the top five IMHO. It's a matter of quality and quantity. Hell, one neighborhood in Seattle (Ballard) should put them on the list. Take in the metro area and forget about it. Plus Bert Grant started the first brewpub in the US in WA, and we grow 70% of the world's hops. We've been drinking quality craft beer before anyone else, and we produce quality beers from a ton of different breweries that don't distribute. Seattle should be in the top five.
The "mook" comment was right on." Beer city" titles bring some disrespectful people who are rude and don't tip. It's what we call amateur hour when they all show up. Usually wasted by 11:45pm and cannot hold any integrity. GO HOME!!!
Asheville mooks wouldn't know a good beer it you smashed their face in with it. The drinking culture in my fine ex-residence is childish and pretentious at the same time. Why the fuck are you drinking Frenet? Because it's new and trendy, that's why. It's horrible. Have a Jager. Seriously taste test them blind and see what I'm talking about. As for the beer, Asheville leaves much to be desired. If you like pale ales and imperial pale ales that are overhopped and lack balance, then Asheville is your spot. Highland is horrible except for the Thunderstruck Porter, and that's seasonal. ABC is OK. Green Man is OK. The Wedge has a couple great beers, the rest are OK. Same with Wicked Weed. Craggie was fucking awful. The Lab is bad too. Sure there are a TON of breweries, but the overall quality just is mediocre at best. Also, having Sierra Nevada and New Belgium move in is going to make about 300 trucks a day roll down already ill maintained streets through a residential area (Haywood Rd in West Asheville). Fuck what the "Beer City" title has done to Asheville. Let's give it to someone else.
I see Chas on TV, from Schmohz Brewery campaigning for Grand Rapids to be Beer City USA. If they taste the shitty beer Schmohz brews, Grand Rapids will lose for sure!
So who the hell is winning? I've never been to these other beer hotspots but I know for me I'm way sad whenever I leave these moutains and the awesome brew that can be easily had anytime and anywhere (well most places anyway). Be it the grocery or the ball park amazing local examples abound. Most other decent places are lucky if they have any selection at all and then are from somewhere else. Really shitty places only have the watered down drivel known as the big producers of which I know you prolly drink... lol, jk! Alright, good luck to those who are lucky enough to enjoy good brew where ever that may be! Cheers!!!
To all the beer artisans of Michigan - thank you for making Michigan the great beer state! Keg stand on! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michigan-Brew-Review/262022040594809
Gotta say, the trailer park that this is being drug into by both Asheville and Grand rapids supporters make me think that neither of those cities are deserving of the title.
Guess some people just don't understand craft beer. Key word is "craft". So hard to chose just one spot, Portland Oregon resident... Bend has best beer....
TAMPA!!!
Grand Rapids, MI !!!! Go bro!
@Brent Stop trolling, idiot. No one is that dumb.
Beer in Michigan with the state that was like prohibition? Nah, don't think so - not Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo or anything close in Michigan. It has to be St. Louis or Milwaukee - they know how to make it right (they have to have something to go with the cheese in Wisconsin.. but beer in Michigan? Not a chance. The last good brew they had here was Strohs.) There hasn't been a good brew come out of the rust belt of Michigan since I don't know when.
@ Dann "I hang in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Love 'em both, but I gotta give this one to Kzoo" I hang in both too and for the life of me I can't figure out why you would give it to Kzoo, there's really no comparison...
I hang in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Love 'em both, but I gotta give this one to Kzoo.
Shane.Although everyone is being very competitive they all share the same love for craft beer not getting drunk.
How is it San Francisco and Sacramento aren't available as choices? Shameful!
The drinking crowd that shows up in asheville to drink beer are inbreed Mooks.
They treat the people that work their like shit because they are bible belt nuts who take their social ineptitude out on the progressive inhabitants of the city. That's why we don't like tourists...
MOOK:
"The Merchants of Cool." Mooks are archetypal young males(teens-early 20s) who act like moronic boneheads. They are self centered simpletons who live a drunken frat-boy lifestyle(or are frat-boys).
mmmm
People book their vacations around beer? I think that just sad, beer is just something to get you drunk. Why plan a vacation around beer, just pick up what ever at any store & get your drunk on. Its all the same, beer is beer
@ Steve Body
Actually the reason why Asheville won the original "Beer City USA" is because it has more breweries per capita than any other city in the United States. I guess it really all depends on how you perceive what makes beer city USA.
Now saying one city has the "best" tasting beers is not really a valid point simply because taste is so subjective, but saying one city has the most breweries per capita is a valid point when talking about a competition called: BEER CITY USA!
Asheville knows beer and other people recognize this. It's why large breweries like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are building multi million dollar faciliies in Asheville!
Asheville.... Reigning Champs. It's why Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are opening Breweries here along with about 100 others.
Grand Rapids, MI. !
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Wow I just wanted to vote. Why all the hate?
Grand Rapids!!
Beer is the life's blood of Asheville. It is the reason many travel near and far to this fair WNC community. Let's keep this a secret lest the riffraff discover our fine selection of all things Hops. Now where's my St. Therese Pale Ale?
Im french and i know where i can find good beer in USgrand rapids michigan!!!!! i m used to drink belgium netherlands and german beers
I wish i could drink more grand rapid's beer
some of the GR peoples' comments are not even accurate about their own city!. Ive been to most of the cities and try to get local craft brews when I travel and can not see why Denver is not the unanimous Beer City USA!? Sure its larger than most of the other cities but it has to be the most well rounded. Of course there macrobrew Miller-Coors and many of the top micro brews within an hour and so many great hidden gem of beerbars and micro brews scattered through out the area not to mention the national chain bars that the smaller cities do not have
Come on GR WE ARE the BEER CITY
Hey everybody — heads up: Grand Rapids sent an e-mail that instructs people how to get multiple votes from the same device. Looks like every other city will have to step up their game. http://ow.ly/kSzxY
Definitely GR! For it was also named The All American City at one time.
Definitely GR! For it was also named The All American City at one time.
I don't even like beer that much. I drink sippin' whiskey. But after all this, i dislike asheville and grand rapids even more. Especially you asheville. You are the Trustifarian mecca...
GR Beerfest enough said
Next year they need to lose the comment section. I can't believe the bozos on this. It's a non scientific poll that is supposed to be fun but there are too many self congratulatory so called beer aficionados taking themselves and the poll too seriously. To be perfectly honest I want the time back that I spent just typing this. Clown School.
I think we all just need to carpool with one another to all the other cities on the poll and give everyone else's beer a try... maybe then we wouldn't all be needlessly attacking one another on the internet... which means nothing in the end. And besides, we are all drinking delicious craft beer instead of some crappy mass produced beer... so in the end we all win with awesome beer in our hands.
I am offended by the "but-hurt" comments. It is a nasty gay/anal sex joke. It is an insult to the many LGBTQ people in this country. You are just jealous that you have no body control to enjoy it because you have too many hemorrhoids from the impurities in your lame beer.
Bam
Go Grand Rapids
Kalamazoo all the way --- home of Bells!!!
Grand Rapids Michigan is THE Beer City USA. Home of Schmoz Beer (Hi Chas) and a myriad of others this All American, Cool City is the place to try craft beer. The other cities can't come close to the great beer we produce plus we are the friendliest city with the most awesome attractions.....can you say ArtPrize, the Grand Rapids Lip Dub, Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, The Grand Rapids Public museum which is one of few museums that have secured the Titanic exhibit which is happening now. All events go well with our home town beer!!
Poor ashville. I didn't realize how bad life is down there. Credit card debt, worst place to live, food shortages, bigots everywhere, and subpar beer. I wish I could change my vote
Invalid List. Doesn't have Seattle on it and does have Raleigh, Durango, Jacksonville, and a couple of other minor areas on it. I guess that's how Asheville "won" that poll they won, by just leaving off most of the best areas. Seattle is in the top 5, period. Anyone who thinks otherwise knows NOTHING about craft beer. Here's a REAL list: http://blog.seattlepi.com/thepourfool/2013/01/29/americas-ten-best-beer-towns-the-non-fiction-list/
B.B.Rodriguez, I'm sure all of the cities in this contest have better beer than Asheville. If you go back through & read some of my other comments you will see, I do not fight for Asheville in this contest, in fact I want it to loose. I hate all the art, I hate all the hippies, I hate all the pretentious restaurants, I hate almost everything about this town today, I am NOT an Asheville supporter, BUT when it comes to history, I know of what I speak & I am more than capable of providing evidence to support my claims. I do not dispute the slaughter & culling of the Indians, but it was not Asheville or Buncombe county that did it, it was the US government, nor was this something only done in WNC, it was done in every city, town & county in this entire country, Every Indian in every part of the US was forced to leave their homes, due to the Indian removal act of 1830. No city in this country is innocent of crimes against the Indians and Asheville was no better or worse about it than any other part of the country. What is truly comical is your lack of education and your thinking that what happen in every part of the entire US has any bearing on one small town today & what that has to do with this internet poll.
And Asheville has 12 Bones BBQ!!!
I live in a progressive city (Austin) and I just voted. I normally don't comment but all the rave and poking caused me to interject. I have been to many of the cities on this ballot. I travel for my job as a regional coordinator for a national firm, and have many nice things to say about all of them. Asheville is a nice town with some good culture. But there really is a tension there between the progressive downtown and the outlying areas. I have experienced much rudeness from the service staff, which is an indicator that there is a terrible job market. If so many residence have college degrees and are forced to work in service industry, there stands a truth to the job market issue and backs up the complaints.
why is seattle not part of this ....???...
Kalamazoo!!! There is no other. To the person talking about shakespeare's, your probably drinking an OBERON as u write. Smh
So much complete and utter nonsense being written about Asheville by people who obviously know nothing about it and are envious of what a great city it is. Funny how a beer contest would bring that out in people. I don't know who BB Rodriguez is, but he clearly has serious Asheville-envy and is politically motivated by some twisted agenda. This is a beautiful area, the crime rate is very low, the music scene is kicking, and breweries continue to want to move here to join the great ones already here. It isn't that difficult to find a job, by the way, which is why most of the people you meet around here have just moved here in the last 2-3 years - or even more recently. True, there is old money here, and there is a good bit of 'young money' now too, with so many baby boomers retiring to the area. The President might even retire here - since this is a fairly progressive area politically - so that says a lot right there. So be as green with envy as you like, but you'll never have Green Man brewing beer in your town!
As much as it hurts me to agree with the likes of bb rodwhatever, there is bad juju to asheville. I thinkt it is a very nice town full of very friendly people when i visit. You can feel the underlying tension to cultural influxes vs. the ultra biblethumpers. The place does have nice bars and nightlife, nothing like LA, SF, or any real city, but i do enjoy my visits. I did vote for it, just because i dont go to Michigan but rarely.
Who's got two thumbs and is an internet tough guy.....? Many of you morons.
"Hey, you live on or near historic Indian land...hence you are an awful person and your beer is gross!"
B.B. Rodriguez, I don't live in Asheville, but thanks for the assumption. I also don't have an Arts degree, but you apparently have no degree. I'm not sure what the "cival war" was, but I do know what the Civil War was. I am also not sure what a "simpathiser" is either. You're really bad at this game. Your knowledge of history seems to be somewhat...skewed. But, carry on showing us your intellectual wit. It's really quite droll.
kinda funny watching ya'll argue about crapper-towns USA.
Portland Oregon is THE beer city. End of story.
Pfffft. Grand Rapids again. Having the barrel aged rye at Perrin right now. Yes I know, your jealous.
GO GRAND RAPIDS......!!!!!
Hard not to find craft beer in Ann Arbor. Harder find Bud. Easy to find Bud in GR and Ashville. Ann Arbor hands down the best.
Ashevillenative, you are a NAZI and sympathies with those that murdered estimated 30million Indians. I know the full history of the place, and you cannot go through any law schooling without that little corner of American history. It is just comical to put forth half ass commentary just to get reactions out of people like you who have ego defense mechanism for you beloved " romperroom" of a little art town...
Sierra is actually america's best brewery...