The Next Big Craft Beer Cities

We all know that there are some American cities that are seen as craft beer Meccas.  Cities like San Diego, Denver, and Portland, all have history and unshakable reputations as bastions for craft beer. But with the industry’s explosive growth there’s a whole new tier of cities deservedly becoming known as craft beer destinations…

And here are three that we are particularly excited about!

Asheville, North Carolina – “The New Epicenter of Craft Beer on the East Coast”

Of all the emerging “new craft beer cities” none are as prominent or as widely known as Asheville, North Carolina. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville’s a beautiful mid-sized city that was already no stranger to beer (Highland, Green Man) even before Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and nearby Oskar Blues decided to come east. The city now boasts 15 breweries within its city limits alone–with cutting edge breweries like Wicked Weed, Twin Leaf and Hi-Wire generating lots of buzz – and dozens more spotted throughout the region.

, The Next Big Craft Beer CitiesAustin, Texas – “Where Music, the Arts & Tech Mix It Up With Serious Beer”

For a city long known as a music, film, and tech capital – and increasing as home to SXSW – Austin is fast becoming an important craft beer destination. “Hill Country” legend Jester King is no doubt the most widely known, talked about, and distributed, brewery in the region – but they’re just a part of Austin’s rich and emerging craft beer scene. Hops & Grain, 512 Brewing or Austin Beerworks are just three of the eighteen licensed breweries attracting beer fans to the region – with even more new breweries planned to come online later this year.

, The Next Big Craft Beer CitiesMinneapolis, Minnesota – Move Over Chicago…There’s A New Player in the Midwest”

Shaun O’Sullivan, the co-founder of and brewmaster at 21st Amendment, reportedly calls the Twin Cites” area, including Minneapolis and neighboring St Paul, “the New Oregon,” and we couldn’t agree with him more. With widely respected craft beer majors like Surly and St Paul’s Summit Brewing (which already distributes to fourteen Midwest states), “new traditionalists” like the Fulton Beer and relative newcomers like the wildly gifted Indeed Brewing – this region is staking its claim as a craft beer city to be reckoned with – and garnering international attention for what they’re brewing.

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