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2019: Beer in Review

2019 was quite a year, I visited my first brewery outside of the United States during a trip to Mexico, visited the Great American Beer Festival, and visited my milestone 200th brewery.


Over the year, I was able to visit 55 new breweries and sampled over 848 unique beers from 287 different breweries. The Great American Beer Festival in Denver, along with several beer festivals in my hometown of St.Louis helped me sample so many different styles of beers. Despite the massive variety, my most common beer style of the year was likely a toss-up between the many IPA varieties and Saisons, however towards the end of the year, I started to venture more into stouts, which is something I usually have stayed away from.


St. Louis, MO (Metro Area)

St. Louis is my hometown, so I would make an effort to visit every brewery within the region. I think as of this year I have visited most, but there is always something new opening. St.Louis is easily one of the best beer scenes in the country. This year I was able to visit nine new St.Louis area breweries.


St. Louis, MO
New Breweries Visited: 9
Rockwell Brewing Company
Old Herald Brewing & Distillery
Bluewood Brewing
Petichor Brewing 
Main & Mill Brewing Company
Melvin Brewing - Eureka 
Lieferbräu Brewing
Hopskeller Brewing
Millpond Brewing




Kansas City, MO (Metro Area) - (July 19th - July 21st)

During the summer of 2019, I picked the hottest day of the year to visit Kansas City and check out their beer scene; fortunately, I spent most of the day inside with ice-cold beer!

My favorite breweries of this trip had to be Alma Mader, who produced some of the best hazy IPA's I have had in KC, I even heard that they plan on collaborating with Side Project out of St.Louis, fingers crossed for that one. The second was Fringe, located int he Missouri suburb of Lee Summit, and this was another brewery where the focus is on fun and high-quality beers. The staff here was excellent, as were the beers.

However, the most fun I had at a brewery was the time I spent at Stockyards, which is a small brewery located in the bar of an old school steakhouse. The vibe was fun, and the bartenders were great.

Overall, Kansas City has some great breweries, more than enough to warrant a trip back.



Kansas City, MO
New Breweries Visited: 12
Smoke Brewing Company
Fringe Beerworks
Crane Brewing
Strange Days Brewing Company
Callsign Brewing
Boulevard Brewing Company
Alma Mader Brewing
Stockyards Brewing Company
Double Shift Brewing Company
Border Brewing Company
City Barrel Brewing
Torn Label Brewing Company



Minneapolis / St.Paul, MN - (October 1st - October 3rd)

Before I headed off to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival, I had a few extra days off and decided to head north to Minneapolis rather than spending the entire week in Denver. I have to say that this was likely one of the best decisions of the week, as I was able to visit several breweries on my wishlist for a while.

I had visited Minneapolis once before about four years ago, but only had enough time to visit one cidery. However, this trip was all about beer, and I was able to visit ten breweries in less than 48 hours. Overall this was a great trip allowing me to visit Surly and discover some other hidden gems.

It's a tough call on my favorite brewery, but my top three of this trip had to be Inbound Brewing Company, Indeed Brewing Company, and Modist Brewing Company. Although if you ever find yourself downtown, be sure to order the Bacon Flight from Day Block Brewing Company!

Minneapolis, MN
New Breweries Visited: 10
Surly Brewing
Insight Brewing
Dangerous Man Brewing Company
Fair State Brewing Cooperative
Indeed Brewing Company
Day Block Brewing Company
Inbound Brewing Company
Fulton Beer Company
Modist Brewing Company
BlackStack Brewing





Denver, CO - (October 3rd - October 8th)

I think this was my 4th or 5th time visiting Denver, and honestly, it never gets old. However, this was my first time visiting for the Great American Beer Festival. I had purchased tickets for the Saturday afternoon session; however, I was also able to secure tickets for Saturday Evenings sessions, which allowed me a full day of exploring the convention center and all the beer it could hold.

If you haven't been to GABF, I will tell you that it is overwhelming at times. So much so that one session is not enough to even scratch the surface of what is offered, if you plan on attending get two courses on separate days and divide up your time between the regions, that way you can explore at a more leisurely pace.

Outside of GABF, I made it a point to visit several breweries around town that I haven't yet gotten to try. On this trip alone, I was able to visit fifteen new Denver breweries over four days.  My favorites had to be TRVE, Woods Boss, Prost Brewing, Mockery, Cerebral, and Bierstadt Lagerhouse (that slow pour Pils was killer). I could go on and on about the beer in Denver, but I need to keep it short. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and I will do my best to answer them.

Denver, CO
New Breweries Visited: 15

Black Sky Brewery 
Crazy Mountain Brewing Company
Renegade Brewing Company 
Bierstadt Lagerhouse
Mockery Brewing 
TRVE Brewing
Baere Brewing Company
Banded Oak Brewing Company
Cerebral Brewing
Woods Boss Brewing Company
New Belgium @ The Source
Great Divide Barrel Brewery
Prost Brewing  Company
Denver Beer Company
Cervecera Colorado






Columbus, OH (Metro Area) - (June 6th - June 8th)

I'll be honest, the primary purpose of my trip to Columbus was to visit and stay at the BrewDog Hotel/Brewery; however, there were several great breweries that I was able to visit and enjoy during this trip. My favorite had to be the Hoof Hearted Brewery & Kitchen, I mean they have a pool outside the brewery!


Columbus, OH
New Breweries Visited: 6
BrewDog - DogTap Columbus
Land-Grant Brewing Company
Hoof Hearted Brewery and Kitchen
Seventh Son Brewing Company
Platform Beer Company
Wolf's Ridge Brewing 





Cincinnati, OH (Metro Area) - (June 8th - June 9th)

Cincinnati, OH
New Breweries Visited: 2
Cincinnati is one of my favorite weekend trips from St.Louis, its cheap, excellent beer scene, and a reasonable drive from St.Louis. I make every attempt to visit Cincy at least once every year. Fortunately, last year I was able to spend a night in Cincy after visiting Columbus and visit a few new breweries.

Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House
Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom



Cancun, Mexico

Mexico
New Brewery Visited: 1
Early in 2019, I needed a break and took a week-long vacation to Mexico, even though beer was provided at the resort, there is only so much Dos Equis one can handle. Since I did my research, I knew that there was a local brewery about 15 minutes from my resort, so I called up a taxi and spent the afternoon enjoying some local Cervezas

Cerveza Artesanal Pescadores









Springfield, MO - (November 9th - November 10th)

In November, I took a quick weekend trip to Springfield, MO, with a group of friends and was able to check out one new brewery and revisit three that I haven't been to in several years. Although I was only able to visit one new brewery, at some point, I want to come back to try some other new breweries.

Great Escape Beer Works
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