The Best American Breweries of the Past Decade

I really wish I had discovered this list of the 25 best breweries of the past decade through my own exploration of all things beer. Unfortunately I must extend credit to OrangeCoat for posting it on their blog and thus alerting me (and it is worth noting that the OC credits @davidburn with the initial discovery.  I don’t know this individual but good for him and his find).

So the question is, “Why bother posting a link to this list if others already have?”  Well because isn’t that the whole point of this crazy interconnected communicating tool we like to call the Internet?  And honestly, Paste Magazine (one of my favorite publications, which I had no clue was located not too far away in Georgia) has done a superb job with the list.  As far as I can tell every one of the breweries that they mention deserve the credit which they have received.

I have had the great fortune of drinking beers brewed by almost every one of those breweries on the list.  The few which I have not had the opportunity to try will definitely be added to my “must drink” list of beers.  Ironically (at least I think it is), the only brewery on the list which I have visited is Brewery Ommegang from Cooperstown, NY.  The irony of this is that when I visited it I was much too young to be drinking and thus have not actually had any of their beer (we stopped in when my family was on a trip to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame). 

Anyway, there is something great about reading the phrase “the U.S. is now the greatest nation on earth when it comes to beer.”  Sure it is a patriotic sentiment, but I have to think that it is fucking true.  Sure a lot of other good beer is produced all over the world, but it seems that only in the U.S. (and only in the past couple of decades) has the sheer variety of beer styles and flavors been whole heartedly pursued.  As a beer lover myself, this makes living in the U.S. a very enjoyable thing.

For those of you out there who might not be much into beer, or have maintained yourself predominantly on only the domestic side of beer, I strongly suggest looking into some of the brews produced by the breweries on the list.  And I have to agree with Bear, that there are “legitimate arguments that breweries are being left out.”  So go get yourself a cold one and enjoy the delight that is American Brewing.

 

 

Aside: While I am on the topic of beer, I feel that it is only appropriate to extend a warm congratulation to my friend and brewing buddy Brian Cendrowski, of Untamed Beer, for his inaugural blog post on RateBeer’s HopPress blog.  Brian will be a regular guest blogger on the HopPress, with pieces going up on Thursdays.  And while he humbles himself in saying that he is “more of a beer idiot than a connoisseur,” I will stick up for the dude in saying that there are few (if any) people whom I put more faith in to provide honest and insightful opinions and ideas when it comes to beer and brewing.  The guy is prolific, and he brews some amazing beers (see here and here for two of our Big Brew Days).  I should also extend an apology to Brian again, for having to leave him to his own devices for having to find his own way back from the Brewtopians meeting on Saturday.  Hope it didn’t give you any trouble buddy.

Damn, nothing better than a good beer post to start the week.  It’s only the morning and I could already go for a frosty brew.

~ by Nathaniel on November 16, 2009.