I'd still out Denver, Grand Rapids, and Asheville a head above the rest. San Diego, Boston, and Detroit too maybe. That the twin cities wasn't included is absolutely laughable. I'd never include Indy, Birmingham, Columbus, Ithica, Charleston on my must visit beer lists. I couldn't name more than two breweries from any and Birmingham I couldn't name one.
You're privileging big cities, and that's not the point of this list. Obviously, big cities have many options -- this is about being
surprisingly strong. Otherwise, the top 5 cities on
every list,
ever, would be: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Los Angeles. For that reason I think Denver should be dropped.
Also, I'm not taking this as a list of the places
with the breweries, but the places
with the best beer culture. They aren't necessarily the same.
I've been to most of those places and I would put Portland far above all the rest. Indianapolis really surprised me when I was there, since it is one of the few places that is both a Dilettante and Mouthbreather paradise at the same time. I've heard San Antonio is like that, too.
The others I would include: Flagstaff AZ, Hood River OR, Frederick MD, Burlington VT, Santa Fe NM, Durham NC.
Michigan seems to suffer from having their breweries scattered all over the place, like Upstate New York.
