Grand Rapids! Brewery Vivant is to micro brewing as the Taj Mahal is to architecture. Both are inspired by love, too.
Mike - 11 years ago
GR ROCKS!!
Mike - 11 years ago
GR ROCKS!!
Ted Brindle - 11 years ago
I've had a beer in many of these cities. Grand Rapids has provided the best to me by far.
Jack Bauer - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids Rocks!!!
pureMICH - 11 years ago
Michigan is definitely the GREAT BEER STATE --- but I gotta say, Grand Rapids is Beer City USA!!!
Founders, Brewery Vivant, B.O.B's Brewery, The Hideout Brewing Company, Perrin Brewing, HopCat, Grand Rapids Brewing Company - and so many more. If you've never been -- a West MI brewery tour is a MUST! [you should visit holland + kzoo too!]
Kaitlin - 11 years ago
Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo and yes, it really does have the best beer! Thank you Bell's Brewery!
David Wilcher - 11 years ago
Tampa best beer city in America with the best IPA CCB Jai Alai
Sandy Chappell - 11 years ago
Home of Bell's brewery, enough said!
C Fox - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids continues to add more excellent breweries!
TCB - 11 years ago
Asheville- duh
TCB - 11 years ago
Asheville- duh
TCB - 11 years ago
Asheville- duh
TCB - 11 years ago
Asheville- duh
WNCBadWolf - 11 years ago
Asheville NC, home of the next Betty Ford Clinic
Taylor Harrison - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids need to hold on to the torch!
George Fuller - 11 years ago
Tampa Bay Area best beer city in the country!!
gem - 11 years ago
In Grand Rapids, even the mayor is down with the suds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcOw2UqTKmQ
BTW, the city just decriminalized marijuana, too.
Scott - 11 years ago
Having lived in Asheville most of my life, I love this place. I remember what it was like before we had the title Beer City, and I know how hard people hae worked to make this culture our own. If Grand Rapids has an equal beer culture than Asheville, than I am sure its a pretty cool place. We enjoy drinking Founders down here in the south and Kalamazoo has great beer too. But have the people of Michigan ever experienced grilling out at Green Man brewery after a soccer game, or enjoying a pint of Fire Escape while watching a movie at Asheville Pizza and brewery, or how about having a luncheon at Pack's Tavern with Garrett Oliver. Beer City Festival is June 1st whether we win or not. Asheville has a lot of great beer to celebrate. If the torch gets passed, kudos to the city that gets it.
Henry - 11 years ago
Tampa is great!
David McKay - 11 years ago
Asheville has been and continues to be the best beer city!
Bob Wilson - 11 years ago
In 1956, the US Supreme Court signed an agreement with the Grove Park Inn in Asheville to relocate there is case of a nuclear attack. Apparently the agreement is still in force. What better "argument" for Asheville. If they come here and drink enough of our fine craft beers maybe they'll come to their senses and undo Citizens United!
Tom - 11 years ago
Obviously there are a lot of folks who have not been to Asheville. Population is only 80,000--10 microbreweries up and running. Plus #2 (Sierra Nevada) and #3 (New Belgium) are opening their East coast breweries in the area. Oscar Blues just opened their East Coast operation about 20 miles away. Bottom line--I retired to Beer Heaven.
B - 11 years ago
As if the beer culture in Kalamazoo wasn't enough.
--We're home to Bell’s – the oldest craft brewery east of Colorado. It’s the largest brewery in Michigan, the 7th largest craft brewery (and 14th largest brewery) in the nation, and home to three of the top 18 beers in the world for 2013 (ratebeer.com).
--Kalamazoo was ranked No. 4 in the Top 10 Beer Cities (livability.com), one of the Top 10 Best Vacation Cities for Beer Lovers (The Street) and has one of the largest, and quite possibly the largest (in terms of number of events), Beer Week Celebrations in Michigan.
--Imperial Beverage was named the 2010 Craft Beer Distributor of the Year by the National Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association
--Kalamazoo Beer Exchange was ranked as the No. 1 Bar in Michigan (ratebeer.com).
--Restaurants producing their own craft beer include Bell’s Eccentric Café, Bilbo’s Pizza, Bravo! Restaurant and Olde Peninsula Brewpub and Restaurant.
--Alamo Drafthouse has chosen Kalamazoo as the location for its first Michigan theatre. Alamo Drafthouse Kalamazoo will open in 2013 and offer 10 theatres
--By the end of 2013, five new craft brewers will be opening in Kalamazoo (including Arcadia Brewing, Boatyard Brewing, Gonzo’s BiggDogg Brewing, Latitude 42 and Rupert’s Brew House).
TT - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids-Founder's Brewing Co is where it's at!
Fred - 11 years ago
Let's not forget that Grand Rapids is the site for the 2014 National Homebrewers Conference
Guess what I voted ;-)
Calleen - 11 years ago
GR has the best beer. Period. In one word, Founder's. Boom!
G R by Far! Since 1997 Grand Rapids has had an expolsion of craft brewing. It inspired me to open BrewGadgets.com. A home brewing supply store. As a home brewer the beer in GR has inspired many great brews.
Jennifer - 11 years ago
Gr!
Christine Winter - 11 years ago
Tons of good breweries and beer in our town. Love it!!
Matt Fouty - 11 years ago
MBG* Winter Beer Fest, I should say.
Tom - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids has great beer at Founders and several other fine establishments (The BOB).
G.R. is the best!
Fantastic & beautiful city!
Tom
Matt Fouty - 11 years ago
So, Grand Rapids & Asheville shared the honor last year and since then the GR beer scene has exploded. They've added many great new breweries (Perrin, GR Brewing Co., The Mitten, etc.) the existing ones have grown much stronger (see Founders' expansions, Vivant's expansion, Hideout's new ownership, etc.) and the events have grown much larger (MBF Winter Beer Fest, Founder's Fest, HopCat's Wood & Wild Ale Festival, Vivant's Wood Aged & Sour Celebration, Irish on Ionia, etc.). Grand Rapids, all the way.
Mike - 11 years ago
Eight Reasons to Vote Kalamazoo as Beer City USA 2013-
Grand Rapids is a win win for me. Founder's has some of the strongest beer I have had that is also some of the best tasting; plus the environment is always very friendly when I go there :D
Belinda king - 11 years ago
Love GR
Dave - 11 years ago
I have been up and down the East Coast and there are more types of beer then I have ever seen.
T Fricke - 11 years ago
Bells has the greatest In OBERON they started small and now they are the biggest brewery in Michigan
Herbie Hancock - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids all the way!
Danielle B - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo. Bell's. Oberon. Need I say more?
John - 11 years ago
The Greater Phoenix Area Beer Community needs to show their support for our local breweries and supporting businesses, and to vote for the Best BeerCity USA!!
Julie - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids Michigan....all the way. Grand Rapidians are incredibly supportIve of local breweries and local businesses in general. We have some incredible Breweries here...from Founders, Hopcats, GR Brewery to Harmony, The Mitten, Brewery Vivant... Beer drinkers have such a smorgasbord of finely crafted beer to choose from...
Calling on all members of the Greater Phoenix Area Beer Community to vote for the Best BeerCity USA!!
Thomas - 11 years ago
I'm sure all of the cities nominated are great Beer towns, but I"ve got to stick with Asheville. For a city its size to have so many beer options, great food, wonderful people.
I think the combination of easygoing college-town vibe plus longstanding/growing craft beer tradition make Kzoo really hard to beat!
JR - 11 years ago
Crank up your speakers and check out this Beer City video from Asheville on YouTube! It's very fun, hip and creative, and genuinely captures the spirit of and excitement surrounding Asheville's beer culture. You'll easily be able to see why this city deserves to keep the title.
It is great to see Cleveland getting some love. We are by no means Beer City USA, but we sure as hell are fighting to get there. Great Lakes Brewing as an anchor and lots of decorated micros around Northeast Ohio. Also, a budding homebrewing scene to rival any Midwest city.
C-Town Pride!
Antityco - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo, by far.
Brian - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids all the way baby. Not only do we have many but we also have some of the best brewery's in not only the US but International as well. Ahem*(Founders)
mary ann moore - 11 years ago
How do you spell Kalamazoo? B-E-L-L'-S!
Jackie - 11 years ago
G*RAP
Kell - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids
Beer Connoisseur - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids is my choice
sethtb101 - 11 years ago
@Mr growler
I live in GR, and i have 12 within 10 miles of my front door. Just saying.
GAY E! - 11 years ago
''I GOT A GAL (& A BEER) IN K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-O . . . ''
Feck - 11 years ago
VIVA ASH-VEGAS!!!!
kalamabeer! - 11 years ago
what's that about Kalamazoo? be nice! we have great beer, great people, and arcadia is even coming home to it's roots!!
Ray - 11 years ago
I am from west mich, and just wondering how kalamazoo got on this list lol? GR def is a front runner, their beers and breweries, are out of this world, its the kind of beer your crave
Phil - 11 years ago
GR again!
Mr. Growler - 11 years ago
No city is close to San Diego. There are 11 craft breweries within 10 miles of my front door, including Stone.
Asheville Y'all - 11 years ago
What's up with all the negativity? I thought this was supposed to be a culture of craft, which lends itself to respecting others' unique styles and opinions. Keep calm and vote on people!
Andrea - 11 years ago
Ann Arbor!!!!!
Kerry - 11 years ago
Yay beer! And yay for a community of people passionate about beer (enough to get all worked up on here about it!!!)!
Grand Rapids, baby. My beer city, for sure, and west Michigan (from down south at Greenbush, all the way up 31 to Right Brian, and everywhere in between) is my all time favorite beer destination. The Lake Michigan water, culture, and people are the greatest!
But really, as long as my beer was brewed in the mitten, I know I'm going to be happy. If you haven't visited us, DO IT! You won't regret it, I promise. And we're all much nicer than *some* of the posters on here would have you think. We're just a passionate bunch. And have sort of been made to feel like underdogs (thanks, Detroit! We all love you even if the rest of the world doesn't understand your beauty!), so we have a tendency to bark loudly when we feel like our state is being diminished or picked on.
Cheers to all of you, and really, I'd love to visit every freaking city on this list and have a pint with all of you.
Happy Mama - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids Michigan is #1
BRad - 11 years ago
I'd be happy if GR, KZoo or Denver won and happy to see the Great Beer State (MI) well represented. I used to live near Ashville but that was 4 years ago so Im sure a lot has changed and its only gotten better as the MI scene has. Denver is more of a classic scene and very well rounded. To the people that point to Ashville with having Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, I think it was more of a geographical business decision to set up mid east coast operations and are truly CA and CO beers. To the guy who thought Comstock was Comstock Park and thought Bell's was brewed there obviously doesn't know anything about the local W. Mi scene or places as Comstock Park, home of Perrin Brewing Co. 10 mi north of GR, Comstock, the CDP in Comstock township, home of Bell's Brewery 10 min West of Kalamazoo.
Sue - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids All The Way!
Mark - 11 years ago
Gr!
Dan Dunn - 11 years ago
Say yes to Michigan.
Michelle - 11 years ago
I've lived in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Asheville. All great cities, but Asheville wins Beer City, hands down. No questions asked. It's not just the numbers of breweries per capita, it's the whole culture.
Tom - 11 years ago
Whether you are drinking a beer at the top of Amway Grand in the Cygnus Room or quenching your thirst with an ice cold beer at any of the Gilmore Collection Resturants. Grand Rapids has made huge strides since its beer brewing infancy to become the # 1 beer city in the country! Let's keep on going Grand Rapids!
Elizabeth Mac Donald~ - 11 years ago
We travel a lot we enjoy many local tap handles while doing so. Enjoyed local taps in Ann Arbor MI-Chicago IL my home town “Cleveland OH.”-Denver-CO.-Jacksonville-FL.-Portland-OR.-Raleigh-NC.-Richmond VA.- San Diego CA.-Saint Louis MO.-Tampa FL. Even last week stopped in at the New England Brewing Company in Connecticut after enjoying their Sea Hag (no Baby Fuzzy Ducks on tap yet) but what I’d like to say is as we enjoy and score many times there is nothing better than to come back home to Asheville NC BEER CITY USA and enjoy all she has going on go Asheville!
Rich - 11 years ago
As an Asheville local, I'm disappointed that this has become such a mis-spirited conversation about an otherwise passionately spirited industry. After living all over the country in many great places, I found Asheville to be where MY heart is. But that's just me and everyone is going to find different places all over the world in which their heart resides. This should be a fun spirited poll, not an ego driven poo slinging fest of otherwise good people who mistakenly feel their very identity is threatened by the results here. Asheville has enjoyed the title for many years, and happily shared it with GR last year. If the title stays, that's great. If it moves on, so will life in general here in our beautiful town. We will not be any less than we previously were, we will simply be what we choose to be. Same goes for all of the other great cities and towns represented in this poll.
Let us ALL not take ourselves so seriously while life is passing us by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSZUztuaLHo
Holly - 11 years ago
There can be no other city more steeped in beer culture than Grand Rapids, Michigan!
Lauren - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo!
Steven - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids...no question about it
Galen Green - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids is #1
Rich - 11 years ago
I agree Kalamazoo has a lot of great beers! But it is also Kalamazoo... Not the safest city around... Therefore it is difficult for me to want to visit all of the local establishments... Gotta go with GR!
Zach - 11 years ago
Kalamazoo is clearly the winner here.... with of course Bell's brewary leading the way being the oldest craft brewary east of Colorodo and largest brewary in Michigan and home of the best Craft Beer Distributer in the Nation Imperial Beverage.
Then we have Alamo Drafthouse opening up in a few months to serve craft beer as well, 5 more new breweries later this year, celebration cinema will start serving at crossroads mall. Kalamazoo clearly sets the standard and paves the way for other cities.
Grand Rapids, MI is not only a GREAT CITY, but they have great BEER Too !!!
Jim McLean - 11 years ago
It was tough picking just one city in MI because there are so many great micro breweries.
Jim McLean - 11 years ago
It was tough picking just one city in MI because there are so many great micro breweries.
Ariel Gaskill - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids all the way! Best [Beer]drinking city on earth!
BigDogMi - 11 years ago
Good luck Grand Rapids!! http://youtu.be/-N8T2RakC14
Mike - 11 years ago
As a professional Beer Drinker from Canada. I can tell you Pure Michigan USA is the Beer Capital but Beer City USA , I love Ann Arbor (AA) My Vote Goes to Grand Rapids!!!!
Chris Sutter - 11 years ago
Grand Rapids HANDS DOWN!!
Gary Kriezel - 11 years ago
Asheville has 13 breweries,not counting New Imperial ,Sierra Nevada ,etc. Not bad for a small city with 70,000 people. Gary Kriezel
Was hoping to vote for Wayesville, NC..........on a per-capita basis, I think they win hands down. However, my closest choice was Asheville...so that's who I voted for. Y'all need to come visit Waynesville and sample our beers.....Bearwaters Brewery, Froglevel Brewery, and the Tipping Point Brewery. We'll let your taste buds decide!
Grand Rapids Mi, is Beer City 2013 already! Vote away, but Grand Rapids is The Best of the Best, Place to get your Drink on! Whatever your Specialty Micro Brew Should Be, you'll find one BETTER here!
!GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR!
We love our beer in Grand Rapids! Cheers to all of the cities in the running. Best of luck to all. Grand Rapidians love our brothers in Kalamazoo and we love all Michigan beer however, Grand Rapids has more local breweries and more award winning beers then any other city in the US. As Asheville is also an amazing place for beer and we were proud to share the title with them but we plan on taking the title for ourselves this year.
So why is it that Seattle is missing from this list?
From my understanding and reading we have more breweries than Portland, which means more than many cities on this list and Washington ranks 8th in breweries per capita. Surely Seattle deserves a spot here.
mermantiger - 11 years ago
I live in GR, and have been to many of the cities on this list... including Asheville. I thought Asheville was really cool, but it didn't even come close to being as cool as GR, or even Chicago.
My vote goes to GR! Cheers!
Jimmy - 11 years ago
I dont see GR on this list. ASHEVILLE ALL THE WAY!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/06/travel/usa-beer-towns/index.html
Grand Rapids! Brewery Vivant is to micro brewing as the Taj Mahal is to architecture. Both are inspired by love, too.
GR ROCKS!!
GR ROCKS!!
I've had a beer in many of these cities. Grand Rapids has provided the best to me by far.
Grand Rapids Rocks!!!
Michigan is definitely the GREAT BEER STATE --- but I gotta say, Grand Rapids is Beer City USA!!!
Founders, Brewery Vivant, B.O.B's Brewery, The Hideout Brewing Company, Perrin Brewing, HopCat, Grand Rapids Brewing Company - and so many more. If you've never been -- a West MI brewery tour is a MUST! [you should visit holland + kzoo too!]
Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo and yes, it really does have the best beer! Thank you Bell's Brewery!
Tampa best beer city in America with the best IPA CCB Jai Alai
Home of Bell's brewery, enough said!
Grand Rapids continues to add more excellent breweries!
Asheville- duh
Asheville- duh
Asheville- duh
Asheville- duh
Asheville NC, home of the next Betty Ford Clinic
Grand Rapids need to hold on to the torch!
Tampa Bay Area best beer city in the country!!
In Grand Rapids, even the mayor is down with the suds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcOw2UqTKmQ
BTW, the city just decriminalized marijuana, too.
Having lived in Asheville most of my life, I love this place. I remember what it was like before we had the title Beer City, and I know how hard people hae worked to make this culture our own. If Grand Rapids has an equal beer culture than Asheville, than I am sure its a pretty cool place. We enjoy drinking Founders down here in the south and Kalamazoo has great beer too. But have the people of Michigan ever experienced grilling out at Green Man brewery after a soccer game, or enjoying a pint of Fire Escape while watching a movie at Asheville Pizza and brewery, or how about having a luncheon at Pack's Tavern with Garrett Oliver. Beer City Festival is June 1st whether we win or not. Asheville has a lot of great beer to celebrate. If the torch gets passed, kudos to the city that gets it.
Tampa is great!
Asheville has been and continues to be the best beer city!
In 1956, the US Supreme Court signed an agreement with the Grove Park Inn in Asheville to relocate there is case of a nuclear attack. Apparently the agreement is still in force. What better "argument" for Asheville. If they come here and drink enough of our fine craft beers maybe they'll come to their senses and undo Citizens United!
Obviously there are a lot of folks who have not been to Asheville. Population is only 80,000--10 microbreweries up and running. Plus #2 (Sierra Nevada) and #3 (New Belgium) are opening their East coast breweries in the area. Oscar Blues just opened their East Coast operation about 20 miles away. Bottom line--I retired to Beer Heaven.
As if the beer culture in Kalamazoo wasn't enough.
--We're home to Bell’s – the oldest craft brewery east of Colorado. It’s the largest brewery in Michigan, the 7th largest craft brewery (and 14th largest brewery) in the nation, and home to three of the top 18 beers in the world for 2013 (ratebeer.com).
--Kalamazoo was ranked No. 4 in the Top 10 Beer Cities (livability.com), one of the Top 10 Best Vacation Cities for Beer Lovers (The Street) and has one of the largest, and quite possibly the largest (in terms of number of events), Beer Week Celebrations in Michigan.
--Imperial Beverage was named the 2010 Craft Beer Distributor of the Year by the National Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association
--Kalamazoo Beer Exchange was ranked as the No. 1 Bar in Michigan (ratebeer.com).
--Restaurants producing their own craft beer include Bell’s Eccentric Café, Bilbo’s Pizza, Bravo! Restaurant and Olde Peninsula Brewpub and Restaurant.
--Alamo Drafthouse has chosen Kalamazoo as the location for its first Michigan theatre. Alamo Drafthouse Kalamazoo will open in 2013 and offer 10 theatres
--By the end of 2013, five new craft brewers will be opening in Kalamazoo (including Arcadia Brewing, Boatyard Brewing, Gonzo’s BiggDogg Brewing, Latitude 42 and Rupert’s Brew House).
Grand Rapids-Founder's Brewing Co is where it's at!
Let's not forget that Grand Rapids is the site for the 2014 National Homebrewers Conference
Guess what I voted ;-)
GR has the best beer. Period. In one word, Founder's. Boom!
G R by Far! Since 1997 Grand Rapids has had an expolsion of craft brewing. It inspired me to open BrewGadgets.com. A home brewing supply store. As a home brewer the beer in GR has inspired many great brews.
Gr!
Tons of good breweries and beer in our town. Love it!!
MBG* Winter Beer Fest, I should say.
Grand Rapids has great beer at Founders and several other fine establishments (The BOB).
G.R. is the best!
Fantastic & beautiful city!
Tom
So, Grand Rapids & Asheville shared the honor last year and since then the GR beer scene has exploded. They've added many great new breweries (Perrin, GR Brewing Co., The Mitten, etc.) the existing ones have grown much stronger (see Founders' expansions, Vivant's expansion, Hideout's new ownership, etc.) and the events have grown much larger (MBF Winter Beer Fest, Founder's Fest, HopCat's Wood & Wild Ale Festival, Vivant's Wood Aged & Sour Celebration, Irish on Ionia, etc.). Grand Rapids, all the way.
Eight Reasons to Vote Kalamazoo as Beer City USA 2013-
http://www.michigan.org/blog/guest-blogger/eight-reasons-to-vote-kalamazoo-as-beer-city-usa-2013/
Kalmazoo all the way!!! Best beer all year long.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
Kalamazoo....Bell's, Paw Paw Brewery, etc.
Grand Rapids is a win win for me. Founder's has some of the strongest beer I have had that is also some of the best tasting; plus the environment is always very friendly when I go there :D
Love GR
I have been up and down the East Coast and there are more types of beer then I have ever seen.
Bells has the greatest In OBERON they started small and now they are the biggest brewery in Michigan
Grand Rapids all the way!
Kalamazoo. Bell's. Oberon. Need I say more?
The Greater Phoenix Area Beer Community needs to show their support for our local breweries and supporting businesses, and to vote for the Best BeerCity USA!!
Grand Rapids Michigan....all the way. Grand Rapidians are incredibly supportIve of local breweries and local businesses in general. We have some incredible Breweries here...from Founders, Hopcats, GR Brewery to Harmony, The Mitten, Brewery Vivant... Beer drinkers have such a smorgasbord of finely crafted beer to choose from...
Calling on all members of the Greater Phoenix Area Beer Community to vote for the Best BeerCity USA!!
I'm sure all of the cities nominated are great Beer towns, but I"ve got to stick with Asheville. For a city its size to have so many beer options, great food, wonderful people.
I think the combination of easygoing college-town vibe plus longstanding/growing craft beer tradition make Kzoo really hard to beat!
Crank up your speakers and check out this Beer City video from Asheville on YouTube! It's very fun, hip and creative, and genuinely captures the spirit of and excitement surrounding Asheville's beer culture. You'll easily be able to see why this city deserves to keep the title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSZUztuaLHo
It is great to see Cleveland getting some love. We are by no means Beer City USA, but we sure as hell are fighting to get there. Great Lakes Brewing as an anchor and lots of decorated micros around Northeast Ohio. Also, a budding homebrewing scene to rival any Midwest city.
C-Town Pride!
Kalamazoo, by far.
Grand Rapids all the way baby. Not only do we have many but we also have some of the best brewery's in not only the US but International as well. Ahem*(Founders)
How do you spell Kalamazoo? B-E-L-L'-S!
G*RAP
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is my choice
@Mr growler
I live in GR, and i have 12 within 10 miles of my front door. Just saying.
''I GOT A GAL (& A BEER) IN K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-O . . . ''
VIVA ASH-VEGAS!!!!
what's that about Kalamazoo? be nice! we have great beer, great people, and arcadia is even coming home to it's roots!!
I am from west mich, and just wondering how kalamazoo got on this list lol? GR def is a front runner, their beers and breweries, are out of this world, its the kind of beer your crave
GR again!
No city is close to San Diego. There are 11 craft breweries within 10 miles of my front door, including Stone.
What's up with all the negativity? I thought this was supposed to be a culture of craft, which lends itself to respecting others' unique styles and opinions. Keep calm and vote on people!
Ann Arbor!!!!!
Yay beer! And yay for a community of people passionate about beer (enough to get all worked up on here about it!!!)!
Grand Rapids, baby. My beer city, for sure, and west Michigan (from down south at Greenbush, all the way up 31 to Right Brian, and everywhere in between) is my all time favorite beer destination. The Lake Michigan water, culture, and people are the greatest!
But really, as long as my beer was brewed in the mitten, I know I'm going to be happy. If you haven't visited us, DO IT! You won't regret it, I promise. And we're all much nicer than *some* of the posters on here would have you think. We're just a passionate bunch. And have sort of been made to feel like underdogs (thanks, Detroit! We all love you even if the rest of the world doesn't understand your beauty!), so we have a tendency to bark loudly when we feel like our state is being diminished or picked on.
Cheers to all of you, and really, I'd love to visit every freaking city on this list and have a pint with all of you.
Grand Rapids Michigan is #1
I'd be happy if GR, KZoo or Denver won and happy to see the Great Beer State (MI) well represented. I used to live near Ashville but that was 4 years ago so Im sure a lot has changed and its only gotten better as the MI scene has. Denver is more of a classic scene and very well rounded. To the people that point to Ashville with having Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, I think it was more of a geographical business decision to set up mid east coast operations and are truly CA and CO beers. To the guy who thought Comstock was Comstock Park and thought Bell's was brewed there obviously doesn't know anything about the local W. Mi scene or places as Comstock Park, home of Perrin Brewing Co. 10 mi north of GR, Comstock, the CDP in Comstock township, home of Bell's Brewery 10 min West of Kalamazoo.
Grand Rapids All The Way!
Gr!
Say yes to Michigan.
I've lived in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Asheville. All great cities, but Asheville wins Beer City, hands down. No questions asked. It's not just the numbers of breweries per capita, it's the whole culture.
Whether you are drinking a beer at the top of Amway Grand in the Cygnus Room or quenching your thirst with an ice cold beer at any of the Gilmore Collection Resturants. Grand Rapids has made huge strides since its beer brewing infancy to become the # 1 beer city in the country! Let's keep on going Grand Rapids!
We travel a lot we enjoy many local tap handles while doing so. Enjoyed local taps in Ann Arbor MI-Chicago IL my home town “Cleveland OH.”-Denver-CO.-Jacksonville-FL.-Portland-OR.-Raleigh-NC.-Richmond VA.- San Diego CA.-Saint Louis MO.-Tampa FL. Even last week stopped in at the New England Brewing Company in Connecticut after enjoying their Sea Hag (no Baby Fuzzy Ducks on tap yet) but what I’d like to say is as we enjoy and score many times there is nothing better than to come back home to Asheville NC BEER CITY USA and enjoy all she has going on go Asheville!
As an Asheville local, I'm disappointed that this has become such a mis-spirited conversation about an otherwise passionately spirited industry. After living all over the country in many great places, I found Asheville to be where MY heart is. But that's just me and everyone is going to find different places all over the world in which their heart resides. This should be a fun spirited poll, not an ego driven poo slinging fest of otherwise good people who mistakenly feel their very identity is threatened by the results here. Asheville has enjoyed the title for many years, and happily shared it with GR last year. If the title stays, that's great. If it moves on, so will life in general here in our beautiful town. We will not be any less than we previously were, we will simply be what we choose to be. Same goes for all of the other great cities and towns represented in this poll.
Let us ALL not take ourselves so seriously while life is passing us by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSZUztuaLHo
There can be no other city more steeped in beer culture than Grand Rapids, Michigan!
Kalamazoo!
Grand Rapids...no question about it
Grand Rapids is #1
I agree Kalamazoo has a lot of great beers! But it is also Kalamazoo... Not the safest city around... Therefore it is difficult for me to want to visit all of the local establishments... Gotta go with GR!
Kalamazoo is clearly the winner here.... with of course Bell's brewary leading the way being the oldest craft brewary east of Colorodo and largest brewary in Michigan and home of the best Craft Beer Distributer in the Nation Imperial Beverage.
Then we have Alamo Drafthouse opening up in a few months to serve craft beer as well, 5 more new breweries later this year, celebration cinema will start serving at crossroads mall. Kalamazoo clearly sets the standard and paves the way for other cities.
Grand Rapids, MI is not only a GREAT CITY, but they have great BEER Too !!!
It was tough picking just one city in MI because there are so many great micro breweries.
It was tough picking just one city in MI because there are so many great micro breweries.
Grand Rapids all the way! Best [Beer]drinking city on earth!
Good luck Grand Rapids!! http://youtu.be/-N8T2RakC14
As a professional Beer Drinker from Canada. I can tell you Pure Michigan USA is the Beer Capital but Beer City USA , I love Ann Arbor (AA) My Vote Goes to Grand Rapids!!!!
Grand Rapids HANDS DOWN!!
Asheville has 13 breweries,not counting New Imperial ,Sierra Nevada ,etc. Not bad for a small city with 70,000 people. Gary Kriezel
Grand Rapids all the way!!!
Grand Rapids all the way!!!
Was hoping to vote for Wayesville, NC..........on a per-capita basis, I think they win hands down. However, my closest choice was Asheville...so that's who I voted for. Y'all need to come visit Waynesville and sample our beers.....Bearwaters Brewery, Froglevel Brewery, and the Tipping Point Brewery. We'll let your taste buds decide!
Grand Rapids Mi, is Beer City 2013 already! Vote away, but Grand Rapids is The Best of the Best, Place to get your Drink on! Whatever your Specialty Micro Brew Should Be, you'll find one BETTER here!
!GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR GR!
Grand Rapids is tops in the beer category!
We love our beer in Grand Rapids! Cheers to all of the cities in the running. Best of luck to all. Grand Rapidians love our brothers in Kalamazoo and we love all Michigan beer however, Grand Rapids has more local breweries and more award winning beers then any other city in the US. As Asheville is also an amazing place for beer and we were proud to share the title with them but we plan on taking the title for ourselves this year.
Cheers,
Flavor616 Magazine
www.facebook.com/flavor616magazine
Why are the results set to private?
Grand Rapids Gets my vote.!!
So why is it that Seattle is missing from this list?
From my understanding and reading we have more breweries than Portland, which means more than many cities on this list and Washington ranks 8th in breweries per capita. Surely Seattle deserves a spot here.
I live in GR, and have been to many of the cities on this list... including Asheville. I thought Asheville was really cool, but it didn't even come close to being as cool as GR, or even Chicago.
My vote goes to GR! Cheers!
I dont see GR on this list. ASHEVILLE ALL THE WAY!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/06/travel/usa-beer-towns/index.html