August Beer-a-palooza on Brew Ha Ha!
August 3, 2008 by Kelly Phillips Erb
Filed under Drinks
It’s beer-a-palooza on Brew Ha-Ha this month! In celebration of local breweries (we’ve been on the road this summer, sampling some of the best), we’re dedicating August to finding the best breweries in the world. And who better to ask than you, our readers!
This is the scoop… All during the month of August, we’re asking you to leave the name and location of your favorite brewery in the comments section of this post – URL links to the brewery are encouraged, too. You can also tell us why you like the beer or brewery, if you wish, but it’s not required. At the end of the month, we’re going to do some random draws for beer merchandise including a tee shirt from the Philadelphia Brewing Company and some great stuff from the Weyerbacher Brewing Company. We’ll update the list as more merchandise becomes available (psst, if you’re a brewer and you’d like to contribute, you can send me an email – check the sidebar for the link).
And it gets even better… We’ll contact the brewery that one lucky winner (maybe more, if we’re feeling charitable) singles out as his or her favorite and ask that brewery for an extra little something special. Now, clearly we can’t promise that the brewery that the winner selects as his or her favorite will ante up with some merchandise, but we do promise to make the effort. Even if that brewery doesn’t pony up, the winner will still walk away with something from our favorite breweries! How cool is that?
Some quick rules:
1, Your comment must include the name and location of your favorite brewery or breweries. City and state, or city and province (if outside the US) is sufficient.
2, You may enter more than once but each entry must be different – to prevent spamming, you must enter the names of different breweries each time you leave a comment (oh come on, you have more than one favorite, right?). To be clear, multiple entrants can submit the same brewery but the same individual may not. Make sense?
3, You must leave a valid email address in the “email field” in the comments. This email address will NOT be made public and we will NEVER spam you. The email address is solely so that we can contact the winners.
4, To qualify to enter, you have to leave your comment at this specific post – commenting elsewhere is great but won’t be considered a real entry.
5, Contest ends August 31, 2008 at 11:59pm EST.
So, what are you waiting for? Enter today! Tell us your favorites, starting now…
(c) Brew Ha-Ha, 2008
Yuengling
Pottsville, PA.
Love the black and tan.
Victory Brewing, Downingtown, PA. They’ve got some great brews.
Or perhaps Chimay Brewery, Chimay, Belgium. As far as imports go, nothing beats theirs.
Best brewery, hands down, is Dock Street Brewery in Philly (West Philly, on Baltimore Ave, to be more exact). Wonderful owner, and their beers can’t be beat (especially the coffee flavored stout). Yummy! If my ankle weren’t broken, I’d be there right now :-)
I love Victory as well — in Downingtown, PA.
I’m seconding Cat and going with Dock Street in West Philly!
I’m a big fan of the Flying Fish brewery in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Yuengling
Pottsville, PA.
http://www.yuengling.com/
Victory, Downington, PA.
Harpoon, Boston, MA
Smuttynose, Portsmouth NH
Otter Creek / Wolaver’s, Middlebury, VT
Flying Fish, Cherry Hill, NJ
Iron Hill, West Chester, PA
For local I gotta go Troegs (though Victory is a close second and Dogfishhead equally close third)
Midwest- I go Sprecher even if only based on the extraordinary merits of their Oak Aged Scotch Ale.
Mountain Time has Avery in Colorado.
West coast I go Sierra Nevada who may not be the best brewery but certainly can make beer for my particular taste.
Germany- Weistephaner hands down!
Belgium- Phantome and St Bernadus.
Hope that’s not too much… what else can I say but that I love beer.
Speaking of PA beer:
My choice would definitely not be Iron Hill of West Chester nor Sly Fox of Phoexniville/Royersford. Both have only mediocre beer.
Long Trail Ale, Bridgewater, Vermont. The Blackberry Wheat has been a favorite of mine for years. It’s better in the bottle than in a glass. Website: http://www.longtrail.com
Rooster’s Brewing Co in Ogden, Utah (since you need more “out west votes”
I love the Polygamy Pale Ale and my husband loves the Chocolate Stout.
http://www.roostersbrewingco.com/ogden/main.html
And…these guys make my favorite lately, the “Chasing Tail Golden Ale”.
http://www.squatters.com/
Pilsner Urquell is the best I’ve ever tasted…
Plzen, Czech Rebuplic
Another one that is great beer…
Kronenbourg. Strasbourg, France
Thought of another one:
Port Brewing in San Marcos, CA. http://www.portbrewing.com
Their “Hop 15″ currently the best IPA I’ve ever tasted.
My favorite local brewery is the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs, NC (Holly Springs is right outside of Raleigh). What makes them great? They’re open every Saturday for free tours with tastings, they debut their seasonal beers at local pubs & restaurants and show up to pour free samples, & the seasonal and specialty batches are outstanding. The Winter Porter, Spring Bock, and Oktoberfest (which we had a keg of at my wedding) are excellent. Last year they brewed a special anniversary imperial pilsner that was wonderful. http://www.carolinabrew.com/
The Spoetzl Brewery
Shiner Texas
Their standard brew Shiner Boch was the first beer that I actually enjoyed. In fact for awhile it was all I enjoyed drinking, then I had to attend a conference in Memphis, I didn’t know what to do until I found Blue Moon.
http://www.shiner.com/
Victory Brewing, Downingtown, PA
Iron Hill, Yeungling, Seriously? *face palm*
PBC- Walt Wit- the way to go
Southampton Double White
Definitely all of the Philadelphia Brewing beers…of course!
Victory, Downingtown, PA
Simple reason: They make a great beer in so many of my favorite styles (see Hop Devil, Hop Wallop, Storm King, St Victorious, Scarlet Lady, Prima Pils, I can go on forever.)
My favorite local brewery is the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA. It’s less than a mile from me, as the crow flies. They have good beer and a great restaurant.
Live Oak Brewing Company
Austin, TX
If you are ever in Texas look for their beers on tap, especially the Big Bark Amber Lager….
http://www.liveoakbrewing.com
Mac & Jack’s Brewery
Redmond, WA
Every out of towner that I introduce to their African Amber Ale will agree that this is one of the tastiest beers around.