Beer City, USA?
"Beer City, USA" is a title that was previously given to a new city each year between 2009 and 2013. Living in Asheville, North Carolina - one of the previous multi-year winners of the title - has been quite the privilege. The beer scene here is amazing! There are plenty of places to go to try a local beer and all of the stores are well-stocked with pretty, shiny, yummy selections. I also find myself in the extremely fortunate position of having family near Grand Rapids, Michigan, another previous "Beer City, USA" winner. A couple of weeks ago, I flew over to Grand Rapids, Michigan, (supposedly to see said family) and it was fantastic. I was able to try a plethora of Michigan-style beers, both in the local pubs and in bottled form. Yum! If you ever get a chance to go, I would highly recommend it. It's got a great downtown with lots of brewpubs and huge beer selections.
But being in two different "Beer Cities" in the same week got me to wondering:
What other beer-centric cities are out there? What cities have won that coveted title of Beer City, USA, and in what years?
This was actually a little difficult to research because there was just a stunning lack of information on the Internet, but here's what I found:
2009 Tie between Asheville, NC and Portland, OR
2010 Asheville, NC
2011 Asheville, NC 2012 Tie between Asheville, NC and Grand Rapids, MI
2013 Grand Rapids, Michigan
Sadly, this poll was short-lived and only lasted five years. This was probably due to it being more of a popularity contest than anything. It was voted on by the general public, so it didn't factor in how many breweries exist, how good the beer is, etc. It did, however, raise beer awareness, helping us to know which cities to watch for great beer to come out of. If my vote counts... I vote for the contest to come back. In my mind, once beer city isn't necessarily always beer city. What's so bad about popularity contests, anyway?
