You told us, we listened: your picks for who's making the best craft beer
Great Divide Brewing Company
Craft
beer was barely a term 30 years ago; since then, the phrase has been
uttered by everyone from beer aficionados to the average Joe. Everyone’s
talking about it, and everyone wants in on it.
There’s that moment when you try a better beer, a beer that’s not your average Coors/Bud/Pabst/Enter One-Syllable Beer Name Here, and you’re hooked. Not everyone may remember exactly where, or when. You may not even remember what beer it was. But much like a 1-year old who tries his first bite of birthday cake and has his first real taste of sugar, you know you’re never going back to that other beer again.
Craft beer was barely a term 30 years ago; since then, the phrase has been uttered by everyone from beer aficionados to the average Joe. Everyone’s talking about it, and everyone wants in on it.
And everyone has a favorite.
We couldn’t have found more variation when we began to survey our craft beer experts and readers about who they think deserves to be called the best craft beer in America. We asked some of the country’s leading craft beer experts (can we have that job?) for their suggestions of which breweries they thought were among the best in the country. Their nominations included breweries of all sizes, regions, and styles. After all, narrowing down a list of 2,538-plus breweries (the latest numbers from the Brewer's Association) to a mere top three nominations is no easy feat. After we picked through the 72 nominees we received, we put the vote to you, the readers. Thanks to you and the support of these outstanding 72 nominees — who cast more than 11,500 votes — we got our list of the best craft breweries in America.
