Non-corporate Micro Brew Favorites

[aceinyerface]

Splitting off of another thread, one gentleman pointed out that many "micro brews" were bought out by corporate beer giants.

Post up your Non-Corporate Micro Brew favorites.

Mine is the local favorite, Abita Beer. www.abita.com

#1 is Abita Root Beer, made with cane sugar, you will never drink another Coke again!!!

For the alcoholic brews, Jockamo IPA is my favorite. Big big hop flavor! I toured the brewery a few months ago, got to stick my nose into bowls of the two types of hops used in the brewing, pellet form and leaf form ( what I call them, don't remember the real names). You never know what you are missing until you have the real thing.

The entire state eagerly awaits the release of the Strawberry Lager every year. 3 years ago, the run sold out in a month. I bought 4 cases the next year, so I would have enough. This year they stepped up the production, but it still gets scarce.

The Christmas Ale is really good, not as brash as Jockamo but a big bold flavor.

You can tour the brewery in Abita Springs, 55 min all you can drink for FREE. Eat at their brew pub, the Boudin Stuffed Fried Quail with Blueberry Sauce was beyond excellence. Visit the park across from that for the Pavilion and the head of the flowing springs (source of the water used in the brewery). You will fall in love with the place. Should I become independently wealthy, I'll build a house in Abita Springs and never leave.

[YetiDave]

Ginger Marble - an alcoholic ginger beer from a pub in Manchester with their own micro-brewery, called the Marble Arch. Lovely stuff

[aceinyerface]

Ginger Marble - an alcoholic ginger beer from a pub in Manchester with their own micro-brewery, called the Marble Arch. Lovely stuff

That sounds exceptionally good. I love all things ginger.

[ValidPowerDetector]

Sprecher out of Milwaukee.
I like Special Amber the best out of their beer line.
Their root beer is great, but I love the cream soda.

[datzc]

Boulevard in Kansas City has a nice selection of beers and ales - pretty much all I buy these days.

[cb91710]

Hangar-24 Pale Ale and Orange Wheat
Firestone Double Barrel

1st time I had Firestone it was on the recommendation of the waiter at Chuck's Steak House in Santa Barbara.
2nd time I had Firestone my wife and I had taken the bike up the coast and we stayed in Santa Barbara the first night.
We were ordering, and for the life of me I could not remember the name of the brew.
I asked for "Bottom of the barrel?"
Waiter doubled over laughing and brought the Firestone

[doug1066]

Anchor Steam.

[blary54]

Anchor Steam.

Love Anchor Steam...but its like $9.50 a 6 pack in Wisconsin so I rarely get it.


Some of my favorites.
New Glarus- Spotted Cow, Moon Man, Black Top
Capital Brewery- Wisconsin Amber, Capital Maibock.
Oskar Blues- Dales Pale Ale
New Belgium- 1554, Fat Tire, Sunshine.
Flying Dog- In Heat wheat.
Big Sky- Moose Drool

Avery Brewing- White Rascal

[YetiDave]

Anchor Steam.

That was the first beer I had when I went to Canada

[Greyfox]

Founders

[justinp]

I think but don't know that Smuttynose up in New Hampshire is still independent. The Shoals Pale Ale and Smuttynose IPA are both pretty fantastic. The IPA was the first 'good' beer I ever had, and I was hooked! Perfect blend of pine and citrus hop flavors on a huge malt.

[Acmemfg]

Sweetwater 420-Atlanta GA. Quite possibly the BEST beer on the planet.

[Greyfox]

I think but don't know that Smuttynose up in New Hampshire is still independent. The Shoals Pale Ale and Smuttynose IPA are both pretty fantastic. The IPA was the first 'good' beer I ever had, and I was hooked! Perfect blend of pine and citrus hop flavors on a huge malt.

My second favorite IPA. Bell's Two River is my favorite.

[letterk]

If we're counting craft breweries as micro, then my favorite is Lost Abbey.

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

I love Elevator out of Columbus, Ohio but they are only bottling and distributing in the Columbus Area. Glad I brought back 6-6 packs of various beers while visiting my parents!!!

[stobes21]

I usually prefer local beer wherever I am. So when I lived down in new orleans I drank a lot of abita. Their amber is a solid, versatile beer that is interesting enough to drink by itself but is refreshing and good with all types of food and social occasions. The turbodog is a nice stout that is a good winter beer and the andygator is a deceptively strong bock that will kick you in the pants if you aren't aware of the high alcohol content (something I found to my detriment when I hopped off a bar stool after a few of them and all of the sudden felt like I'd had quite a few more). And you're right: their root beer is excellent, when you can find it.

Nowadays I live in St. Louis so I mostly drink Schlafly products. They have a good selection encompassing numerous styles. Nothing out of this world but everything is solid and tasty and there are always new ones to try. And I like knowing that the brewery is just a few miles away. They even have a decent restaurant and bar there where you can buy straight from the source. Can't get any fresher than that without brewing it yourself. Boulevard out of Kansas City and Goose Island out of Chicago are both good regionally available options. Though I think Goose Island was just bought out by one of the big boys.

[OldAF]

Mother's Brewing Company, Springfield Mo. http://mothersbrewing.com/craft-beers/

Drinking their "Winter Grind" Coffee Stout right now. Good flavor but a bit thin. I like to chew my stout... like Founders. I do like their "Three Blind Mice" dark ale.

[gearchow]

I don't know if it's my favorite (Anchor Small Beer being my favorite), but I like this one:

Hammerhead

Unfortunately easy to drink. I think it refers to the next morning.

-jim

[Gammon]

Best beer in the world: Pull Chain, by the Milwaukee Brewing Company

Second best beer in the world: Old Glory, by the Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company

Next would probably be Rock Bottom's Honey Creek (they renamed it Whitetail Ale, but I'll call it Honey Creek forever)



@stobes21 : If memory serves, Goose Island has been owned by Anheuser-Busch for a long time.

[cb91710]

If we're counting craft breweries as micro, then my favorite is Lost Abbey.

Absolutely.

This thread was an offshoot of a comment that I had made in another thread when someone referred to a "micro" that is nearly as available nationwide as Bud and Coors.

Today, it's almost like "micro" has taken on the meaning of "designer jeans"... they aren't made by a hobbyist anymore, they are generally large scale operations who have mostly been bought out by one of the larger corporations.
Today's "craft" is what "micro" was 15-20 years ago.

I love hearing about good craft brews that are available locally!