Top 10 breweries of 2013

2013 was the "Year of the Beer" for me and my family. I alone visited almost 100 breweries, tasted hundreds of beers maybe a thousand and with 2014 here I would like to reflect and count down my 10 favorite breweries of 2013 that I visited.  I took into account the ambiance, the quality of the beer, and all around experience I had.

10. Horny Goat Brewing, Milwaukee, WI
While the beers here didnt blow me away, the waitress was great, the property is the biggest I've seen for a brewery and this place seems like party central for that community.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/07/horny-goat-brewery-milwaukee-wi.html

9. Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland, OH
Been there twice this year and both times was very impressed. Always a great beer selection, very tasty food, great service and one of the best gift shops I've been to. It's also in a great part of town with 2 other breweries within 2 blocks and some great beer bars.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/great-lakes-brewery-cleveland-oh.html

8. New Holland Brewing, Holland, MI
I appreciate this brewery more now then I did in the moment. The brewery itself is beautiful in a great area of town with lots of shops and restaurants. The place is huge, food was solid, great gift shop and a huge beer list with an electronic beer menu including many different IPAs on tap. Months later I am still buying their beer when I'm in accessible cities and while none of their beers blow me away I like most of them and really appreciate their bottle art and creativity.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/07/new-holland-brewing-holland-mi.html

7. Ithaca Brewing, Ithaca, NY
Flower Power was always a popular beer in the family and it was nice to see the brand new facility where it is brewed. The scenery alone is worth the visit with outside seating with a hell of a view, but the great beer samplers and home grown ingredient pizza didn't hurt one bit.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/08/ithaca-beer-company-ithaca-ny.html

6. Troeggs Brewing, Hershey, PA
This was an impromptu visit and very glad we made it! I really like some of their beers and their brewery is gorgeous. Tons of space, the biggest gift shop I've ever seen, great tasting food and a perfect beer sampler made this random stop very memorable.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/troegs-brewery-hershey-pa.html

5. Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, MI
Founders is a brewery in which I've tried all their beers and have yet to turn one away. Unfortunately the brewery was under construction but it didn't stop over 100 people to be there when we went. Luckily found a table, tried some beers that are exclusive to the brewery, and wow they were fantastic! On top of great service and very great beer, we just found ourselves having a great time and can't wait to go back and see the brand new facility.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/07/founders-brewing-company-grand-rapids-mi.html

4. Tie: Lucky Lab, Deschutes, Hopworks, Cascade, all in Portland, OR
It was tough to pick only one of these because each had something special. Lucky Lab had great ambiance and tasty beers. Deschutes has the history, good pretzels and a great beer sampler. Hopworks had fantastic food and lots of good beers to choose from. Cascade was so good we went twice and with all those sours you just can't beat it! With about 20 breweries visited in Portland they four stood out as the best.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/06/hopworks-urban-brewery-portland-or.html
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/06/lucky-labrador-brewing-portland-or.html
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/06/deschutes-brewery-portland-or.html
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/cascade-brewing-barrel-house-portland-or.html

3. Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville, NC
Very surprised by how quickly a new brewery could already knock it out of the park! Awesome ambiance, two floors of drinking with different beers offered on each floor, really good food, great service and some of their beers were just incredible.  Asheville is a little far for me but if I had any reason to go back this would be it.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/wicked-weed-brewing.html

2. Three Floyds Brewing, Munster, IN
Most beer nerds know of Three Floyds and since I have recently become somewhat of a beer nerd I learned about them. After reading tons of reviews of horrible service, blasting heavy metal, and the troubles of actually finding zombie dust I was nervous. But we got there when they opened, went right to the merchant area and bought a bunch of beers (unfortunately no zombie). Sat down, ordered a few beers and had food. The service wasn't terrible, music wasn't loud but wow the beers killed it. Zombie dust, and a few others we had just were fantastic and the food was incredible also.  I have continued to seek out their beer and the originality of the decor, the art work of the bottles, the food, the beer, everything makes this place so memorable and I look forward to going again some day but for now ill continue just tracking down whatever beers of theirs I can find.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/07/three-floyds-brewing-munster-in.html

Honorable mentions:
Oskar Blues Brewing, Brevard, NC
Great place, looking over the brewery itself is the tasting room with lots of merch, great tasting beer 
and an all around great experience just very far out is the only downfall. 
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/osker-blues-asheville-nc.html

Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY
Just like Ithaca it had an amazing view probably even better than Ithaca. However I didn't love the beers 
I did enjoy some of them. Food was good. Nice gift shop. All around worth a visit!
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/08/brewery-ommegang-cooperstown-ny.html

And my #1 brewery of 2013 goes to....
Fat Heads Brewing, Cleveland, OH
I went to the Pittsburgh Fat Heads in 2012 but I am picking the Cleveland location since I first visited 
it in 2013 and have been back 4 times. It helps we all love their IPA but each trip has brought somethin
different. I've tried 4 different IPAs they've made, had White Rajah on tap there best it's ever tasted,
had some great meals except for one the pizza was meh, and always leave with at least 1 case 
and a couple of growlers. Favorite brewery to visit because its close, is always consistent and usually
has something new to offer. Plan on visiting a lot in 2014 as well.
http://breweryinfo.blogspot.com/2013/05/fat-heads-brewery-pittsburgh.html

So there you have it, my top 10. In 2014 I plan on visiting plenty more...no where near the amount I
saw this year but I can't say I'm disappointed I can't. So until next time, cheers!

Community Beer Works - Buffalo, NY

I'm a Buffalo native, and was VERY happy when I heard a new brewery was coming to town.  I've been to so many different breweries...over a 100 now and I saw what a brewery can and should be. Unfortunately I have never really been a huge fan of what my city has to offer us beer wise...Ithaca and Southern Tier are great but far away.  Fast forward 2 years and now we have Community Beer Works just killing it! 

-Their IPA finished second in the national IPA contest..and I will say I have tried the other 3 beers in the final 4 and I believe they deserved their spot.  The IPA..coming from a big IPA fan is very good..I do feel like some batches are better than others but I have never thought it was bad and sometimes it's been incredible.

-The Frank is better than most Pale Ales you will find, most people I know like the Frank, it's light and easy to drink.

-I'm not a brown ale fan but my girlfriend is and loves the Whale. 

-Their operation is small, only open 2 days a week, but I've been in there many times and they're nothing but polite. You can taste the beers in the small area and fill up half or full growlers. So glad to have these guys in Buffalo and my only request would be is to pump out a few different varieties like maybe a Choc Stout, a pumpkin beer and Christmas beer. For merchandise they have glasses, growlers, coasters, stickers. Check them out...www.communitybeerworks.com/

Woodcock Brothers Brewery - Wilson, NY

 On a long boring day we decided to take a ride out to the brand new Woodcock Brothers Brewery in Wilson, NY.  It isn't a short drive but a nice scenic one at least.  Once you get there and walk in you realize the place is HUGE.  They took an old service building and made it up to look really unique..including the giant table that used to be an elevator.

-I ordered the sampler and my favorite beer was probably their Pale Ale it was light and easy to drink.  The Amber was good, the IPA was really good too, The Summer Ale was good, the Porter was actually one of the better porters I've had, and I had one more which I cannot remember but I believe it was some type of blonde ale.

 

-We ordered pretzels which are made with the same malt used for beer...I must say these were horrible.  No taste, very thick and doughy but thankfully the mustard was good.  We had wings, which are dry rubbed and baked..I appreciate they aren't deep fried greasiness but unfortunately they didn't have tons of flavor that you typically get from a sauce.  Lastly the pizzas are the highlight..we had the hot banana pepper and the Margherita...both were extremely good, the dough was good, I was very satisfied.  

-They have some merch, including wine and beer glasses and a tshirt, I bought the red wine glass.

-The only big issue for us was the service.  From what I've been told the brewery hires mostly family and we have been stuck with an owners wife..maybe not.  Either way the service was horrendous...waiting 20 minutes for a water, never receiving a box for leftovers we asked for, and never even seeming happy to be there (mind you there were maybe 6 other customers in the whole place and she seemed to disappear for chunks of time).  This is just the type of behavior I see on Restaurant Impossible when a business is close to closing their doors...so I hope they train their staff or get an experienced staff cause I am not going back til I hear better things...but check them out and pray you don't get a bad waitress...http://woodcockbrothersbrewery.com/

Middle Ages Brewing Co - Syracuse, NY

Last stop on our mini brewery trip was Middle Ages Brewing Company. They are only open 11:30-5 so we wanted to make sure we got there early.  All they are is basically a small tasting room. From the outside it's just a regular industrial looking building. You walk in, there is a small castle like decorated walk way and then you're in the tasting room. Merchandise is on the walls and beers for sale all around. 

-They allow you to taste any and all beers for free which is very nice, but they only do growler fills so you can't go in for a pint or anything. We tasted the Apricot which wasn't bad and smooth, the Wit was light and tasty, Double Wit wasn't as good but not horrible, Rustics Rye was hoppy and decent, Session IPA was hands down my favorite real hoppy and light, Duke of Win Ship Porter was nice, IPA was just eh.
-The guys working were nice, they had some original merchandise like door mats with funny sayings.  I would recommend stopping in but make sure to bring a growler in case you find something you really like...middleagesbrewing.com/‎

Empire Brewing Co - Syracuse, NY

Once we got to Syracuse we stopped off at Empire Brewing Company.  They are located downstairs, but once you go down the dark stairway you walk into a really elegant, crowded restaurant.  We got lucky and got a seat at the bar. 

-We ordered a sampler, they pre select which beers go in the sampler but he substituted for me because I really wanted to try the IPA and rye IPA.  Fortunately for me those two were the only good beers I enjoyed in the sampler.  The Amber Ale was just eh, the Black Magic Stout was kind of watery, and there were to seasonal ales which I do recall the names but one was a coffee like porter that actually wasn't bad, and the other was some type of ESB of sorts which neither of us liked.

-We did not eat here but the food looked good, we planned on eating at Dinosaur BBQ down the road but there ended up being an hour wait there so I wish we would of eaten at Empire.
-If you're in Syracuse go check them out, maybe for lunch since it won't be so packed and try a couple of the brews...middleagesbrewing.com

Brewery Ommegang - Cooperstown, NY

Just East of Ithaca was Cooperstown, the location of Brewery Ommegang. Talk about being in the middle of no where...this place is hidden.  Just like Ithaca, the scenery is just gorgeous.  You won't have trouble parking since there is tons of it.  The building is massive, as you can see.  Once you go through the opening, you will find their gift shop and tasting room/restaurant behind it. From the looks of it, they do tours and have a tasting at the end of the tour.

-Since I don't really enjoy the tours, we went to the tasting room.  Sat at the bar as always and ordered our first flight.  They have about 6 or 7 of their own beers on tap, and then about 8 guest Belgian type beers on tap.  We did a mixture. 

-As for the Ommegang beers, we enjoyed them all.  My girlfriend being a Belgian beer fan she said it was the best place she has been.  We had the Witte it was smooth and nice and light, The Hennepin was both our least favorites..never a big fan of farmhouse ales, BPA which was really good and since my iPhone deleted my list I cannot recall the others however I will say I enjoyed them and I'm not even a Belgian beer fan.

-They have lots of original food, we split the frites which come with two sauces for dipping, and a ham and cheese crepe.  Never saw so many original types of crepes but I will say they were VERY good.  Alittle pricey, but the place was worth the drive (I would NOT go there in winter even though I bet the scenery would be amazing...unless you're a good driver).

-All in all a great visit, nice staff, big gift shop with lots of beer and original items for purchase.  It has limited hours so make sure to check them out ahead of time online...www.ommegang.com/‎

Ithaca Beer Company - Ithaca, NY

This week we decided to take the drive to fellow NY brewery Ithaca. Being a giant fan for years of Flower Power, I was very excited to check them out.  The building is newer and expanded greatly. From what I was told there used to just be a small tasting room, but this is just the opposite.  It is tucked very far back, plenty of parking, a giant bar, tables inside and plenty outside.

-They have plenty of merch from t-shirts to glasses, they also have a giant section where you can buy your favorite Ithaca beers in cases or six packs.

-As for the beer we did all three flights they have listed.  Apricot Wheat was the favorite of the lady...it has a great smell and you taste the apricot for sure, the Nut Brown was decent, Cascazilla was good as usual, Pale Ale was very nice..hoppy and light (we got two growlers of that to go), Flower Power just as good as I expected, Partly Sunny wasn't bad, and I lost my list but we had a couple others including an Imperial Stout they just put on.  All the beers were good, only 1 or 2 were just decent.

-We ordered a pizza in which some of the toppings are fresh and picked right from their own garden.  It was delicious and I would highly recommend it.

-Lots of space although we got there right around opening and by the time we left it was getting crowded.  I highly recommend making the drive if you can, the workers were really knowledgeable and really nice, the ambiance and scenery is just worth the trip I've never been anywhere like it. It's going into my top 5 favorite breweries I think. Check them out...ithacabeer.com/‎